Enhancing Solar Energy Research: A Database Approach for Photovoltaic Laboratories

Abstract

This work presents a novel database architecture designed to support laboratory-based experimentation with photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules using different kinds of measurements, such as Electroluminescence (EL) Images or Current-Voltage (I-V) curves. The database is implemented in MySQL following established design principles. A web-based application is presented for efficient data insertion and retrieval. The initial population includes over 800 EL images and I–V curves of PV cells, and more than 1100 records of PV modules from diverse installations. This database provides a foundational tool for advancing automated diagnostics, performance analysis, and the integration of Artificial Intelligence in PV research environments. Future work will focus on enhancing the system’s scalability, interoperability, and support for real-time data ingestion and user management.