Consulting and Design Services

Pordis provides consulting, design, and fabrication services for the photovoltaics research and development industry, with specialization in the following primary areas:

• Data acquisition system design, assembly, and testing; extensive expertise with Campbell Scientific hardware
• Custom test and measurement solutions with complete program management from requirements gathering through design, prototyping, and manufacture.
• Design of autonomous research stations, generally integrated into shipping containers
• Design, fabrication, and deployment of equipment for PV module leakage measurements (sometimes referred to as high voltage bias or potential induced degradation studies)
• MySQL database design for photovoltaic power generation research and analysis
• Meteorological station design and calibration (pyranometers, reference cells, temperature/humidity, etc.)

With expertise that spans all aspects of experimentation from concept through implementation and monitoring, Pordis is ready and capable to deliver a solution that gets you the data and information you need to further your research and development activities. Key aspects of Pordis' organization include not only a network of software experts ready to deliver specialized expertise for the photovoltaics research and development community, but access to professional fabrication and test facilities.

Publications authored or co-authored by Pordis' staff include:

• Low-Current Diagnostic Metric for Photovoltaic Damage. 2024 IEEE Photovoltaics Specialist Conference (PVSC), 9-14 June 2024, Seattle, WA. Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• A Comprehensive Database Approach to Track Industry Trends and Parameter Evolution in Photovoltaic Modules. 2024 IEEE Photovoltaics Specialist Conference (PVSC), 9-14 June 2024, Seattle, WA. Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• A study of Cell Cracks Formation During Freight Shipping : Monitoring Shock and Temperature in Real-Time & Assessing Damages With Pre and Post-Transit Characterizations of PV Modules. 2023 IEEE 50th Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (PVSC), San Juan, PR, USA, 11–16 June 2023.
• Simulated Impact of Shortened Strings in Commercial and Utility-Scale Photovoltaic Arrays. Energies 2023, 16, 7222.
• Review of Potential-Induced Degradation in Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules. Energy Technol. 2023, 11, 2200943.
• Mismatch Losses in Simulated Commercial and Utility-scale PV Arrays due to Shortened Strings (Poster), 2022 IEEE Photovoltaics Specialist Conference (PVSC), 5-10 June 2022, Philadelphia, PA. Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Mismatch losses in a PV system due to shortened strings, Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 250, 2021
• Automatic Fault Classification of Photovoltaic Strings Based on an In-Situ IV Characterization System and a Gaussian Process Algorithm, Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE 43nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 5-10 June 2016, Portland, Oregon. Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Improving Long-Term Back-of-Module Temperature Measurements, SolarPro Magazine, May/June 2015 Issue; pp. 12-18
• Low-cost Solar Variability Sensors for Ubiquitous Deployment, Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 14-19 June 2015, New Orleans, Louisiana. Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Development of an IEC Test for Crystalline Silicon Modules to Qualify Their Resistance to System Voltage Stress, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications (2014), Vol. 22(7), July 2014; pp. 775-783.
  [Presented at the 28th EU PVSEC Conference, Paris, France, October 2013]
• Application of the Terrestrial Photovoltaic Module Accelerated Test-to-Failure Protocol. Proceedings of the 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 8-13 June 2014, Denver, Colorado. Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) pp. 930-936
• Acceleration Factor Determination for Potential-Induced Degradation in Crystalline Silicon PV Modules. Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS), 14-18 April 2013, Anaheim, California. Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) pp. 4B.1.1-4B.1.5
• Testing and Analysis for Lifetime Prediction of Crystalline Silicon PV Modules Undergoing Degradation by System Voltage Stress, IEEE Journal of Phtovoltaics. Vol. 3(1), January 2013; pp. 246-253
  January 2013 [preprint available here]
• Outdoor PV Module Degradation of Current-Voltage Parameters, Proceedings of the World Renewable Energy Forum, 13-17 May 2012, Denver, Colorado (CD-ROM). Boulder, CO: American Solar Energy Society (ASES) 15 pp.
  
• Superior low-light-level performance of upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon modules. In Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE 38th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), Austin, TX, USA, 3–8 June 2012, pp. 2359–2361.
• Back-of-Module Temperature Measurement Methods, SolarPro Magazine, Oct/Nov 2011 Issue; pp. 90-104
  
• The Challenge to Move from “One Size Fits All” to PV Modules the Customer Needs, European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 2011 26th, pp. 3064-3068
  
• System Voltage Potential-Induced Degradation Mechanisms in PV Modules and Methods for Test, Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2011 37th IEEE, pp.814-820
  
• Monitoring System Performance (Presentation), PV Module Reliability Workshop, Golden, Colorado.
  
• Measuring Degradation Rates Without Irradiance Data, Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2010 35th IEEE, pp.1271-1276
  
• Outdoor PV Degradation Comparison, Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2010 35th IEEE, pp.2694-2697