Half-cut shade, tab loss and cell-count checker

1. Shade from the bottom edge of the module

Module position

Module height covered by shade, from the bottom edge (%)

Light left under the shade (% of full light)

Model results, not measurements. Invented cell values, ideal bypass diodes, no tab loss, shade edge straight and level. The half-cut module is the 120 half-cell twin layout (two blocks in parallel, one diode per string pair). The conventional module is 60 cells in 3 substrings. Values between grid points are interpolated (shade height 1% steps, light 5% steps).

2. Tab (ribbon) loss: full cells against half cells

Tab loss in the full-cell module (% of module power)

Current in the tabs halves, so I²R loss falls to about one quarter for the same ribbons. Tab loss only. This follows the Fraunhofer CSP statement of a quarter, with 3% as its example loss. Cell-level series resistance is not reduced. Real gain also depends on tab width, spacing and busbar count.

3. Cells in series from the printed cell count

Module Voc at STC (V)

Printed cell count

Blocks of cells wired in parallel

The sheet may not print the layout. Compare the result with the maker's cell Voc. The defaults are the Canadian Solar CS6R-420MS print (108 [2 x (9 x 6)]; the two-block reading is our inference). Type 37.6 or 37,6; 1.000 is rejected as unclear.

Half-cut checker: shade, tab loss and cell count

1. Shade from the bottom edge of the module

2. Tab (ribbon) loss: full cells against half cells

3. Cells in series from the printed cell count