Primary Reference Cell Calibrations

Interested in Primary Reference Cell Calibrations?

Primary reference cells are calibrated for in-house use and for use by other national laboratories to provide clients and partners with a path for traceability to standards.

Our laboratory is one of only four facilities in the world certified to calibrate reference cells in accordance with the World Photovoltaic Scale, and these measurements are accredited to International Organization for Standardization 17025 standards. We are the only laboratory certified to calibrate primary reference cells, secondary reference cells, secondary reference modules, cells, and modules.

Once we obtain a reference cell, we subject it to carefully devised calibration procedures that minimize errors from the temperature-dependent spectral correction. Read about the accuracy of NREL's PV performance measurements.

Major Instrumentation for Primary Reference Cells Measurements
System	Typical Applications	Special Features	Light Source	Wavelength Range	Bandwidth
Linearity test bed	Determines the linearity of the short-circuit current (I_sc) versus the total irradiance (E_tot); 0.01-sun - several suns	Agilent 6-1/2 digit multimeter; calibrated 10 ohms resistance; insensitive to the light spectra or spatial nonuniformity changing with irradiance	400-W incandescent lamp (x2)	280 to 1,900 nm	10 nm full width at half maximum
Eppley HF primary absolute-cavity radiometer	Total irradiance; outdoor; 5.0° field of view	Calibration: Integrating hemisphere; calibrated at the World Radiation Center (Davos, Switzerland)	Sunlight	300 to 3,000 nm	>1 nm full width at half maximum
ASD Spec-Pro spectroradiometer	Spectral irradiance (extended using a comprehensive spectral model derived from Modtran); outdoor; 5.0° field of view	VNIR: silicon photo-diode array (350 to 1000 nm) SWIR1: InGaAs, photo-diode (1000 to 1830 nm) SWIR2: InGaAs, photo-diode (1830 to 2500 nm)	Sunlight	350 to 2,500 nm	3 nm (VNIR) to 10 nm (SWIR) full width at half maximum