Advanced simulation of a PV module’s color

We apply advanced ray tracing to predict the color of an encapsulated solar cell. Previous studies have predicted the color from the thickness and refractive index of the antireflection coating and encapsulants. Here, we demonstrate how other effects influence the color significantly, applying ray tracing to account for texture, for direct and diffuse insolation, for scattering, and for the observer angle. Despite the sophistication of the ray tracing, solutions for each simulation are attained within seconds. With an accurate and quick way to predict a module's color, researchers can avoid costly experimentation when (i) predicting how cell color will change after encapsulation, (ii) determining production tolerances to limit color variability within a cell or module and (iii) optimizing for a particular color for BIPV applications.