Available Facilities

• Indoor PV Characterization & Reliability Facility – Swansea University

  Indoor testing

  

  • Dedicated platform for performance, stability, and degradation testing of photovoltaic devices and modules under fully controlled environmental conditions
  • Co-located with roll-to-roll (R2R) and sheet-to-sheet (S2S) scale-up lines, enabling direct feedback between manufacturing, characterization, and reliability assessment

  Solar Simulators & Light Sources

  • Multiple Class AAA solar simulators (xenon arc) for standard device and module performance evaluation
  • LED-based G2V Sunbrick systems with spectral tuning capability
    • Measurements up to 50 × 50 cm
    • Integrated MPPT tracking or open-circuit operation
    • Temperature/humidity control via dedicated environmental chambers (for small-area devices)
  • Sulphur plasma light source (Solixon)
  • Atlas Suntest system (open circuit only) — long-term exposure capability
  • Fully calibrated low-light testing system, developed in collaboration with NPL (National Physical Laboratory)

  Environmental Stress Testing

  • Dark weathering chambers (mini-module up to 50 × 50 cm capacity)
  • Damp-heat
  • Thermal cycling
  • Humidity-freeze (cell only)
  • UV exposure
  • Salt-spray corrosion testing

  Lamination

  • Large-area vacuum lamination
  • Butyl rubber edge sealing, for glass/glass or glass/polymer module formats

  Optoelectronic Characterization (pre- and post-stress)

  • TRPL (time-resolved photoluminescence)
  • PL (photoluminescence)
  • EL (electroluminescence)
  • LBIC mapping (light beam induced current)

  Additional Techniques

  • IMPS/IMVS (intensity-modulated photocurrent/photovoltage spectroscopy)
  • Materials analysis:
    • XPS/UPS (including mapping)
    • XRD (X-ray diffraction)
    • Raman spectroscopy (with PL/LBIC mapping)
    • SEM/FEG-SEM
    • UV-Vis
    • FTIR
    • Profilometry
    • Contact angle
    • BET surface area analysis

• Outdoor Test Facility – Swansea University

  Outdoor Testing

  

  • Provides a relatively unique environment for evaluating performance and durability of PV cells and modules in a harsh marine climate
  • Exposed to aggressive coastal conditions, offering a valuable testbed for accelerated real-world weathering studies

  Testing Capabilities

  • Supports both cell-level and module-level measurements
  • Devices operated under:
    • Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)
    • Periodic current–voltage (JV) sweeps

  Current Equipment

  • Programmable DC loads, capable of testing modules up to 120 V and 30 A
  • Typical test protocol: JV sweeps every 5 minutes, followed by holds at maximum power point

  Planned Upgrade

  • Addition of Undalogic miniSMU MS01 units (up to 12 V and 180 mA)
  • Enables high-precision MPPT control for small-area devices

  Environmental Monitoring & Data

  • Integrated weather monitoring:
    • Irradiance
    • Temperature
    • Humidity
    • Wind
  • High-frequency data acquisition for both environmental and electrical parameters
  • Coastal location + controlled MPPT/JV cycling enables detailed correlation of device performance with environmental stress factors
  • Data centrally stored and remotely accessible for analysis and long-term degradation tracking