Brian Thomas Egaas

US Patent:

8239165, Aug 7, 2012

Filed:

Sep 25, 2008

Appl. No.:

12/237452

Inventors:

David L. Young - Golden CO, US
Brian Egaas - Golden CO, US
Pauls Stradins - Golden CO, US

Assignee:

Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC - Golden CO

International Classification:

G06F 11/30
G06F 11/00

US Classification:

702182, 702183, 702188, 702189

Abstract:

An apparatus for measuring quantum efficiency (QE) of solar cells. The apparatus includes a light source including an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) that each emit light corresponding to a differing portion of a test spectrum and each LED is driven by a sinusoidal power supply that operates at a unique frequency. The light source includes an optical coupling focusing the LED light into a test beam targeted on a solar cell, and a signal conditioner converts analog current signals generated by the solar cell into digital voltage signals. A QE measurement module determines a QE value corresponding to each of the LEDs based on the digital voltage signals using a Fast Fourier Transform module that processes the digital voltage signals to generate values for each operating frequency. The QE measurement module determines the QE values by applying a conversion factor to these values. Since all the LEDs can be power-modulated simultaneously and the corresponding cell responses to each of the LEDS can be analyzed simultaneously, the QE spectrum measurement time is greatly shortened as compared to conventional methods.