TESTING PHOTOVOLTAIC TRANSDUCERS

摘要

A method is provided for predicting a response characteristic of photovoltaic transducer which is to be cut from an elongate web of flexible dye-sensitised photovoltaic material. The preferred method comprises irradiating (15) a portion of the surface of the photovoltaic material with a regular array of LEDs and sensing (16) the resulting electrical response of the photovoltaic material. It is thereby possible to predict (17) the response characteristic of the resulting photovoltaic transducer module which is to be cut from the web. Furthermore, the electrical response is used to control (24) a manufacturing process of the photovoltaic transducer by way of a feedback loop. The measured electrical response characteristic can be printed (22) in encoded form on to a side edge of the flexible web.