Analysis of the output of two isotype cell sets compared to a precision spectroradiometer

Spectrally resolved measurements of the solar irradiation are needed to assess the outdoor performance of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) technologies that employ GaAs based multi-junction cells. One coarse technique for obtaining such data – without the need to operate a full spectroradiometer system – is to measure the current output of different junctions of multi-junction cells. Specially prepared component or ‘isotype’ cells having the same optical characteristic as the whole multi-junction device but with the electrical characteristics of one single sub-cell are commonly used for this purpose. Although this provides a convenient way to measure the solar spectrum appropriate for CPV technologies that use such cells, the present literature lacks detailed comparisons of these sensors against high quality spectroradiometer systems[1]. In this work we evaluate two different sets of isotype sensors and compare with data from an OL750 spectroradiometer.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc