A lamination method for photovoltaic modules

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of laminators, and specifically to a laminating device, a laminating method, and a laminating machine for photovoltaic modules, wherein the laminating device comprises: an upper chamber, a middle chamber, and a lower chamber; the upper chamber, the middle chamber, and the lower chamber are all provided with vacuum pumping equipment and inflation equipment, and the middle chamber is isolated from the upper chamber and the lower chamber respectively by a silicone plate; a heating plate is provided at the upper end of the upper vacuum chamber; and a cooling plate is provided at the lower end of the lower vacuum chamber. The present application can complete the two processes of heating lamination and cooling lamination in a closed laminating device, and is in a completely vacuum compression state during the conversion process of heating lamination and cooling lamination, thereby preventing the problem of wrinkles on the surface of the film of the photovoltaic module when switching between hot and cold. The present application also has the characteristics of small footprint, energy saving, simple structure, easy maintenance, and high product yield.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of laminators, and in particular to a lamination method for photovoltaic modules. Background Art

[0002] Lamination is an important and critical process in photovoltaic manufacturing. After the photovoltaic components such as solar cells, EVA, and films are laid, they are directly put into the laminator for heating and lamination.

[0003] In the field of aerospace, solar energy is the only energy source for all aircraft, satellites, etc., and due to its limited load, there are stringent requirements for the power conversion efficiency, strength, energy density, etc. of photovoltaic modules. For the packaging materials and packaging process requirements of ultra-light and ultra-thin flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules, the lamination process and laminator have been developed; ultra-light and ultra-thin flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules generally refer to the packaging materials used, the thickness of which does not exceed 0.15mm, the overall thickness of the photovoltaic modules after packaging does not exceed 1.0mm, and the weight per square meter of the module does not exceed 500g; the above photovoltaic modules are generally used in: stratospheric fixed-wing solar drones, solar panels for low-Earth orbit satellites, solar airships and other aerospace fields; the packaging materials used in the above photovoltaic modules are: ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyethylene octene co-elastomer (POE), polyimide (PI), etc.

[0004] According to the traditional lamination process of the laminator: the components to be laminated are vacuumed, heated, laminated, and cold pressed to form traditional photovoltaic modules. Heating lamination and cold pressing need to be completed in two or more vacuum chambers. During the transmission between chambers, because the packaging film material used in the above photovoltaic modules is thin, the material itself has insufficient support, and the thermal expansion and contraction coefficients of each film material are different, it often causes deformation of the module or wrinkles on the surface of the module due to the thermal expansion and contraction effect.

[0005] In traditional laminators, the heating and cooling processes are set in completely different equipment units. The common process is to heat and laminate the photovoltaic modules in the heating and laminating equipment unit, and then move the heated and laminated photovoltaic modules into the cooling equipment unit for cooling through the transmission device. Transmission at room temperature and pressure can easily cause module deformation or surface wrinkles, which greatly affects the product yield and production efficiency. Summary of the invention

[0006] A laminating method for photovoltaic modules provided by an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a laminating device for photovoltaic modules, wherein the laminating device comprises: an upper chamber, a middle chamber and a lower chamber; the upper chamber, the middle chamber and the lower chamber are all provided with vacuum pumping equipment and inflation equipment, and the middle chamber is isolated from the upper chamber and the lower chamber respectively by a silicone plate; a heating plate is provided at the upper end of the upper chamber; a cooling plate is provided at the lower end of the lower chamber; the silicone layer is a pure silicone material diaphragm with a thickness of 1 to 3 mm; an annular silicone sealing strip is provided between the two layers of silicone plates in the middle chamber, which is used to The middle chamber is sealed; the heating plate includes an external insulation layer, an electric heating element layer, a temperature measuring element and an internal heating plate, wherein the external insulation layer, the electric heating element layer and the temperature measuring element are all arranged on the outside of the upper chamber; the cooling plate is provided with an S-shaped water channel for controlling the temperature uniformity of the surface of the cooling plate; a movable metal plate is built into the silicone plate, and the metal plate is connected to a metal plate controller arranged outside all three chambers, wherein the metal plate controller is used to control the pressurization movement of the silicone plate on the photovoltaic module; the inflation device of the upper chamber also has a refrigeration function;

[0007] The lamination method comprises:

[0008] The upper chamber, the middle chamber and the lower chamber are set to a normal pressure inflation state;

[0009] After the photovoltaic modules are loaded into the middle chamber, the middle chamber and the upper chamber are evacuated, and the heating plate in the upper chamber heats the photovoltaic modules for lamination;

[0010] After the lamination and heating of the photovoltaic modules is completed, the upper chamber returns to the normal pressure inflation state;

[0011] The lower chamber is evacuated, and the cooling plate of the lower chamber performs lamination cooling on the photovoltaic modules;

[0012] When the heating plate in the upper chamber heats the photovoltaic module for lamination, the metal plate controller controls the silicone plate to pressurize upward to compress the photovoltaic module;

[0013] When the cooling plate in the lower chamber performs lamination cooling on the photovoltaic modules, the metal plate controller controls the silicone plate to pressurize upwards to compress the photovoltaic modules.

[0014] The embodiment of the present invention provides a lamination method for photovoltaic modules, and the lamination device includes: an upper chamber, a middle chamber and a lower chamber; the upper chamber, the middle chamber and the lower chamber are all provided with vacuum equipment and inflation equipment, and the middle chamber is isolated from the upper chamber and the lower chamber respectively by a silicone plate; a heating plate is provided at the upper end of the upper chamber; and a cooling plate is provided at the lower end of the lower chamber. The present application can complete the two processes of heating lamination and cooling lamination in a closed lamination device, and is in a completely vacuum compression state during the conversion process of heating lamination and cooling lamination, thereby preventing the problem of wrinkles on the surface of the film of the photovoltaic module when switching between hot and cold. The present application also has the characteristics of small footprint, energy saving, simple structure, easy maintenance and repair, and high product yield.

[0015] The above general description and the following description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not intended to limit the present application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] One or more embodiments are exemplarily described by corresponding drawings, which do not limit the embodiments. Elements with the same reference numerals in the drawings are shown as similar elements, and the drawings do not constitute a scale limitation, and wherein:

[0017] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an initial state of a laminating device for a photovoltaic module provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 2 is a flow chart of a lamination method for photovoltaic modules provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a lamination heating state of a lamination device for a photovoltaic module provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of a cooling lamination state of a lamination device for photovoltaic modules provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Reference numerals:

[0022] 1: upper chamber; 2: middle chamber; 3: lower chamber; 4: silicone plate; 5: heating plate; 6: cooling plate; 7: silicone sealing strip. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] In order to be able to understand the features and technical contents of the embodiments of the present disclosure in more detail, the implementation of the embodiments of the present disclosure is described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The attached drawings are for reference only and are not used to limit the embodiments of the present disclosure. In the following technical description, for the convenience of explanation, a full understanding of the disclosed embodiments is provided through multiple details. However, one or more embodiments can still be implemented without these details. In other cases, to simplify the drawings, well-known structures and devices can be simplified for display.

[0024] The following description and accompanying drawings fully illustrate specific embodiments of the present invention so that those skilled in the art can practice them. Other embodiments may include structural, logical, electrical, process and other changes. The examples represent possible changes only. Unless explicitly required, separate components and functions are optional, and the order of operations may vary. The parts and features of some embodiments may be included in or replace the parts and features of other embodiments. The scope of the embodiments of the present invention includes the entire scope of the claims, and all available equivalents of the claims. In this article, each embodiment may be represented individually or generally by the term "invention", which is only for convenience, and if more than one invention is disclosed in fact, it is not intended to automatically limit the scope of the application to any single invention or inventive concept. In this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, without requiring or implying any actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "comprises", "includes" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also includes other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprises one..." do not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method or device including the elements. The various embodiments herein are described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments, and the same and similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other. For the methods, products, etc. disclosed in the embodiments, since they correspond to the method part disclosed in the embodiments, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the method part description.

[0025] In addition, the terms "disposed", "connected", and "fixed" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, "connected" can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral structure; it can be a mechanical connection, or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or it can be an internal connection between two devices, elements, or components. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0026] In traditional laminators, the heating and cooling processes are set in completely different equipment units. The common process is to heat and laminate the photovoltaic modules in the heating and laminating equipment unit, and then move the heated and laminated photovoltaic modules into the cooling equipment unit for cooling through the transmission device. The outermost film of the photovoltaic module is generally composed of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyethylene octene co-elastomer (POE), polyimide (PI), etc. When transmitted at room temperature and normal pressure, the above-mentioned film is very likely to cause deformation of the module or wrinkles on the surface, which greatly affects the yield and production efficiency of the product.

[0027] The embodiment of the present invention provides a laminating device for photovoltaic modules, which is applied to a laminating machine. Figures 1 to 3 , is a schematic diagram of a laminating device for photovoltaic modules provided by an embodiment of the present invention. The laminating device comprises: an upper chamber 1, a middle chamber 2 and a lower chamber 3; the upper chamber 1, the middle chamber 2 and the lower chamber 3 are all provided with vacuum equipment and inflation equipment, and the middle chamber 2 is isolated from the upper chamber 1 and the lower chamber 3 respectively by a silicone plate 4; a heating plate 5 is provided at the upper end of the upper chamber 1; and a cooling plate 6 is provided at the lower end of the lower chamber 3. An annular silicone sealing strip 7 is provided between the two layers of silicone plates 4 in the middle chamber 2, which is used to seal the middle chamber 2.

[0028] It should be understood that the upper chamber 1 is used for laminating and heating the photovoltaic modules; the middle chamber 2 is used to place the photovoltaic modules; and the lower chamber 3 is used for laminating and cooling the photovoltaic modules. The three chambers are respectively provided with vacuum equipment to evacuate the corresponding chambers, and the vacuum environment can also be released by the inflation equipment. The three chambers can independently control their own vacuuming and normal pressure inflation states. Under normal circumstances, the heating temperature of the laminator for the photovoltaic modules is about 140°C. The silicone layer is a pure silicone material diaphragm with a thickness of 1 to 3 mm.

[0029] Combination Figure 2 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides a lamination method for a photovoltaic module, comprising:

[0030] S100, setting the upper chamber 1, the middle chamber 2 and the lower chamber 3 to a normal pressure inflation state.

[0031] It should be understood that the purpose of S100 is to set the initial state to facilitate the feeding in the subsequent steps, see Figure 3 .

[0032] S200, after the photovoltaic components are loaded into the middle chamber 2, the middle chamber 2 and the upper chamber 1 are evacuated, and the heating plate 5 of the upper chamber 1 performs lamination heating on the photovoltaic components.

[0033] It should be understood that see Figure 4 , the upper chamber 1 and the middle chamber 2 are evacuated at the same time. The lower chamber 3 is kept at normal pressure. The upper and lower silicone plates are tightly fitted with the heating plate 5 due to the vacuum effect, and the components are heated to between 100-140 degrees through heat conduction. And due to the vacuum state, the upper and lower silicone plates exert an atmospheric pressure on the surface of the component, so that the packaging films of each layer of the component are pressed together into an integral composite material.

[0034] S300, after the lamination and heating of the photovoltaic module is completed, the upper chamber 1 returns to the normal pressure inflation state.

[0035] It should be understood that S300 indicates that the heating is completed and the normal pressure inflation is switched to normal. At this time, after the upper chamber 1 is inflated, the air pressure of the upper chamber 1 will also push the middle chamber 2, and the middle chamber 2 will also gradually move downward. It should be noted that the middle chamber 2 itself is still in a vacuum state.

[0036] S400, the lower chamber 3 is evacuated, and the cooling plate 6 of the lower chamber 3 performs lamination cooling on the photovoltaic module.

[0037] It should be understood, referring to FIG5 , that after the heating and lamination is completed, the upper chamber 1 is changed from a vacuum state to an inflated state, and gradually returns to normal pressure; at the same time, the lower chamber 3 is vacuumed. During this process, the middle chamber 2 itself is still in a vacuum state, and the multiple films on the photovoltaic module remain in a compressed state, which prevents the films of the photovoltaic module from separating and wrinkling due to different thermal expansion and contraction coefficients. The middle chamber 2 remains in a vacuum state, so that the upper and lower silicone plates and components are separated from the heating plate and fit tightly with the cooling plate 6. The photovoltaic module is cooled by heat conduction, and the pressure on the photovoltaic module is kept constant during the cooling process.

[0038] In a preferred embodiment, the laminating device for photovoltaic modules according to claim 1 is characterized in that the silicone layer is a pure silicone material diaphragm with a thickness of 1 to 3 mm.

[0039] In a preferred embodiment, the heating plate 5 includes an external insulation layer, an electric heating element layer, a temperature measuring element and an internal heating plate 5, wherein the external insulation layer, the electric heating element layer and the temperature measuring element are all arranged on the outside of the upper chamber 1.

[0040] In a preferred embodiment, the cooling plate 6 is provided with an S-shaped water channel for controlling the temperature uniformity of the surface of the cooling plate 6 .

[0041] In a preferred embodiment, a movable metal plate is built into the silicone plate 4 , and the metal plate is connected to a metal plate controller disposed outside all three chambers, wherein the metal plate controller is used to control the pressurized movement of the silicone plate 4 on the photovoltaic module.

[0042] It should be understood that the movement of the middle chamber 2 mainly depends on the switching of the vacuum state and the normal pressure inflation state of the upper chamber 1 or the lower chamber 3. In order to better fit, a movable metal plate is built into the silicone plate 4. During the bonding process of the photovoltaic assembly of the middle chamber 2 and the heating plate 5 of the upper chamber 1, the metal plate applies upward pressure to the photovoltaic assembly to make the photovoltaic assembly fit better with the upper chamber 1. Correspondingly, during the bonding process of the photovoltaic assembly of the middle chamber 2 and the cooling plate 6 of the lower chamber 3, the metal plate applies downward pressure to the photovoltaic assembly to make the photovoltaic assembly fit better with the lower chamber 3.

[0043] Correspondingly, the method applied to the laminating device having the metal plate and the metal plate controller further includes:

[0044] S201, when the heating plate 5 of the upper chamber 1 performs lamination heating on the photovoltaic module, the metal plate controller controls the silicone plate 4 to pressurize upward to compress the photovoltaic module;

[0045] S401, when the cooling plate 6 of the lower chamber 3 performs lamination cooling on the photovoltaic module, the metal plate controller controls the silicone plate 4 to pressurize upward to compress the photovoltaic module.

[0046] The embodiment of the present invention further discloses a laminator, which includes the laminating device mentioned above.

[0047] In summary, the embodiment of the present invention provides a lamination method for photovoltaic modules, and the lamination device includes: an upper chamber 1, a middle chamber 2 and a lower chamber 3; the upper chamber 1, the middle chamber 2 and the lower chamber 3 are all provided with vacuum equipment and inflation equipment, and the middle chamber 2 is isolated from the upper chamber 1 and the lower chamber 3 respectively by a silicone plate 4; a heating plate 5 is provided at the upper end of the upper chamber 1; and a cooling plate 6 is provided at the lower end of the lower chamber 3. The present application can complete the two processes of heating lamination and cooling lamination in a closed lamination device, and is in a completely vacuum compression state during the conversion process of heating lamination and cooling lamination, thereby preventing the problem that wrinkles are easily generated on the surface of the film of the photovoltaic module when switching between hot and cold. The present application also has the characteristics of small footprint, energy saving, simple structure, easy maintenance and repair, and high product yield.

[0048] The above description and the accompanying drawings fully illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure so that those skilled in the art can practice them. Other embodiments may include structural, logical, electrical, process and other changes. The embodiments represent only possible changes. Unless explicitly required, separate components and functions are optional, and the order of operations may vary. Parts and features of some embodiments may be included in or replace parts and features of other embodiments. Moreover, the words used in this application are only used to describe the embodiments and are not used to limit the claims. As used in the description of the embodiments and the claims, unless the context clearly indicates, the singular forms of "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include plural forms as well. Similarly, the term "and / or" as used in this application refers to any and all possible combinations of one or more associated listings. In addition, when used in this application, the term "comprise" and its variants "comprises" and / or comprising refer to the presence of stated features, wholes, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, wholes, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "including one..." do not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method or device including the elements. In this article, each embodiment may focus on the differences from other embodiments, and the same and similar parts between the embodiments may refer to each other. For the methods, products, etc. disclosed in the embodiments, if they correspond to the method part disclosed in the embodiments, then the relevant parts can refer to the description of the method part.

[0049] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software may depend on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. The technicians may use different methods for each specific application to implement the described functions, but such implementations should not be considered to exceed the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure. The technicians may clearly understand that, for the convenience and simplicity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described devices, devices and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0050] The flowchart and block diagram in the accompanying drawings show the possible architecture, functions and operations of the device, method and computer program product according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. In this regard, each box in the flowchart or block diagram can represent a module, a program segment or a part of the code, and the module, the program segment or a part of the code contains one or more executable instructions for realizing the specified logical function. In some alternative implementations, the functions marked in the box can also occur in an order different from that marked in the accompanying drawings. For example, two consecutive boxes can actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they can sometimes be executed in the opposite order, which can depend on the functions involved. In the description corresponding to the flowchart and the block diagram in the accompanying drawings, the operations or steps corresponding to different boxes can also occur in an order different from that disclosed in the description, and sometimes there is no specific order between different operations or steps. For example, two consecutive operations or steps can actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they can sometimes be executed in the opposite order, which can depend on the functions involved. Each block in the block diagrams and / or flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowcharts, may be implemented by dedicated hardware-based devices that perform the specified functions or actions, or may be implemented by a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

Claims

1. A lamination method for photovoltaic modules, characterized in that: The laminating device is applied to a photovoltaic module, and the laminating device comprises: an upper chamber, a middle chamber and a lower chamber; the upper chamber, the middle chamber and the lower chamber are all provided with vacuum pumping equipment and gas charging equipment, and the middle chamber is isolated from the upper chamber and the lower chamber respectively by a silicone plate; a heating plate is provided at the upper end of the upper chamber; a cooling plate is provided at the lower end of the lower chamber; the silicone plate is a pure silicone material diaphragm with a thickness of 1mm to 3mm; an annular silicone sealing strip is provided between the two layers of silicone plates in the middle chamber, which is used to seal the middle chamber ... The board includes an external insulation layer, an electric heating element layer, a temperature measuring element and an internal heating board, wherein the external insulation layer, the electric heating element layer and the temperature measuring element are all arranged on the outside of the upper chamber; the cooling plate is provided with an S-shaped water channel for controlling the temperature uniformity of the surface of the cooling plate; a movable metal plate is built into the silicone plate, and the metal plate is connected to a metal plate controller arranged outside all three chambers, wherein the metal plate controller is used to control the pressurization movement of the silicone plate on the photovoltaic module; the inflation device of the upper chamber also has a refrigeration function; The lamination method comprises: The upper chamber, the middle chamber and the lower chamber are set to a normal pressure inflation state; After the photovoltaic modules are loaded into the middle chamber, the middle chamber and the upper chamber are evacuated, and the heating plate in the upper chamber heats the photovoltaic modules for lamination; After the lamination and heating of the photovoltaic modules is completed, the upper chamber returns to the normal pressure inflation state; The lower chamber is evacuated, and the cooling plate of the lower chamber performs lamination cooling on the photovoltaic modules; When the heating plate in the upper chamber heats the photovoltaic module for lamination, the metal plate controller controls the silicone plate to pressurize upward to compress the photovoltaic module; When the cooling plate in the lower chamber performs lamination cooling on the photovoltaic modules, the metal plate controller controls the silicone plate to pressurize upwards to compress the photovoltaic modules.

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