I started my research career during my bachelors. During B.Tech I completed an industry defined project with collaboration of Swiss Glascoat Pvt Ltd, as a part of which I designed and developed a Jacket diaphram for the reactor vessel. It was during this point in time when I felt overjoyed and excited for my contributions to the industrial and scientific community, which ultimately leads to greater good of the society. Then after I decided to pursue masters. As a part of my M.Tech project, I successfully manufactured ultra-thin silicon wafers of 130±10 μm. The power generation using solar cells is a wide field of research with tremendous scope of improvement. Therefore I decided to write a project proposal on PERC solar cell and applied for a doctorate which will enable me to dive deep in this area. Currently, I am exploring laser ablation process to ablate passivation layer in PERC solar cells.
Currently, I am working on effective ablation of the passivation layer in PERC solar cell with minimum thermal and electrical damage using nanosecond laser.
I focussed my research for improving the efficiency of standard silicon-based solar cells by reducing the thickness of the wafer through wire-Electrical discharge machining (wire-EDM). The induced thermal damage and residual stress are the main concerned while doing so. Therefore, I created wire-EDM to optimize process parameters to reduce thermal damage and residual stress.
I have designed and developed a jacket diaphragm for the reactor vessels. Moreover, static and thermal analysis were also performed on the jacket diaphragm to make sure industrial standards are being adhered to.
An Experimental Study on Laser Ablation of Ultra-thin SiNx Layer of PERC Solar Cell.
An Experimental Study on Laser Ablation of Ultra-thin SiNx Layer of PERC Solar Cell.
Work on the laser (nano/pico/femto) ablation of the passivation layer (SiNx/SiOy/SiOxNy) in Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact (PERC) solar cell to effectively remove the passivation layer and reduces recombination losses to reduce manufacturing cost and improve the efficiency of the solar cell.
During my undergraduate, I have developed a decent understanding of the field of mechanical and production engineering. Moreover, I have received various awards and a scholarship for securing a good rank in GATE.
P Rana, A Singh, A Kottantharayil, D Marla
P Rana, DP Khatri, A Kottantharayil, D Marla
T Ner, P Rana, D Marla
SS Deshmukh, P Rana, A Goswami
P Rana, D Bhartiya, D Marla
D Bhartiya, P Rana, MA Singh, D Marla
Recently, due to increase demand of energy power generation using photovoltaic solar cell received a great attention. Solar photovoltaic (PV) cells are of two types; the standard conventional silicon-based solar cells, and Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact (PERC) solar cells. The PERC solar cell is a more efficient variant of a conventional solar cell fabricated by coating an extra layer at the rear side, called the passivation layer. A small opening is required in the passivation layer to create a metal contact and to complete the electrical circuit. Creating these small openings is a crucial step in the manufacturing of PERC solar cells as any inaccuracy in shape and size may enhance losses (recombination) and eventually lead to lower efficiency. My research revolves around precisely Manufacturing these openings using pulsed laser ablation of the passivation layer.
Fabricate efficient PERC solar cell by removal of the SiNx layer using a laser with minimum thermal and electrical damage.
1) Improve the thermo-mechanical model by incorporating the phase explosion mechanism and Marangoni convection. Further, use the model for the textured surface.
2) Extend the single pulse model to the multi-pulse model by considering pulse over-lap.
3) Conduct multi-pulse experiments and optimize the process parameters using response surface methodology (RSM).
4) Fabricate PERC solar cell using optimize laser process parameter and evaluate the performance of the PERC solar cell.
5) Perform experiments using femtosecond laser to understand the material removal mechanism and to optimize parameters for minimal subsurface and electrical damage.
6) Fabricate the PERC solar cell using optimize femtosecond laser parameters and compare the performance with PERC solar cell fabricated using nanosecond laser.
Detailed future plan with timeline
Here are few images related to my research project.
between 10:00 to 18:00 from Monday to Friday
F-36, Mechanical Department, IIT Bombay