TOPCon battery sintering furnace

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of photovoltaic cell manufacturing equipment, and particularly discloses a TOPCon cell sintering furnace. In order to solve the problems that a traditional tunnel furnace or a vertical sintering furnace is generally high in energy consumption, waste gas generated after high-temperature sintering is directly discharged, and energy is wasted, the sintering furnace comprises a furnace body, a heating element, a bearing rotating mechanism and a gas circulating pipeline, and the interior of the furnace body is separated from top to bottom and communicated with a gas heating chamber and a sintering working chamber; the heating element is arranged in the gas heating chamber and is used for feeding the heated gas into the sintering working chamber below; the bearing and rotating mechanism is arranged in the sintering working chamber and used for bearing and driving the battery piece to move; the inlet end of the gas circulation pipeline communicates with the exhaust port of the sintering working chamber, the outlet end of the gas circulation pipeline communicates with the gas inlet of the gas heating chamber, and the gas circulation pipeline is used for guiding gas obtained after heat exchange in the sintering working chamber back to the gas heating chamber to be reheated and recycled. The situation of energy waste caused by heat loss in the sintering furnace can be reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of photovoltaic cell manufacturing equipment technology, and in particular to a TOPCon cell sintering furnace. Background Technology

[0002] As a new generation of high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells, the metallization sintering process is a key step in the production of TOPCon cells. This process involves heat treatment at high temperatures to ensure that the silver or aluminum paste printed on the front and back of the cell forms good ohmic contacts and conductive electrodes, and its quality directly determines the final conversion efficiency of the cell.

[0003] Traditional tunnel furnaces or vertical sintering furnaces generally suffer from two main problems: first, high energy consumption, as the waste gas generated after high-temperature sintering is directly emitted, and the large amount of residual heat it carries is not effectively recovered, resulting in energy waste; second, difficulty in ensuring thermal uniformity. Since solar cells are typically stationary or transported in one direction within the furnace, uneven hot air distribution can easily lead to temperature differences in different locations or even different areas of the same solar cell, resulting in inconsistent sintering degrees of the slurry and affecting the consistency and yield of battery performance. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In order to reduce heat loss in the sintering furnace and the resulting energy waste, this application provides a TOPCon battery sintering furnace.

[0005] The TOPCon battery sintering furnace provided in this application adopts the following technical solution:

[0006] A TOPCon battery sintering furnace, comprising:

[0007] The furnace body, which is divided into and connected from top to bottom, includes a gas heating chamber and a sintering chamber.

[0008] A heating element is disposed in the gas heating chamber and is used to send the heated gas into the sintering chamber below;

[0009] A rotating support mechanism is provided in the sintering chamber to support and drive the movement of the battery cells.

[0010] A gas circulation pipeline is provided, with its inlet end connected to the exhaust port of the sintering chamber and its outlet end connected to the inlet of the gas heating chamber. This pipeline is used to guide the gas that has undergone heat exchange in the sintering chamber back to the gas heating chamber for reheating and recycling.

[0011] Furthermore, the heating element is an electric heating rod, and the bottom of the gas heating chamber is provided with multiple air supply pipes that connect to the sintering chamber.

[0012] Furthermore, the bearing rotation mechanism includes a rotating disk rotatably disposed within the sintering chamber, and a drive motor for driving the rotating disk to rotate. The rotating disk has multiple workstations for placing battery cells evenly arranged along its circumference.

[0013] Furthermore, the outlets of the multiple air supply pipes correspond one-to-one with the multiple workstations on the rotary table in the vertical direction.

[0014] Furthermore, each of the workstations is provided with a clamping assembly, which includes clamping plates disposed on both sides of the workstation and a driving component that drives the clamping plates on both sides to move toward each other or backwards to clamp or release the battery cells.

[0015] Furthermore, a circulating air pump and a gas filter are sequentially arranged along the airflow direction on the gas circulation pipeline.

[0016] Furthermore, the gas heating chamber is connected to a fresh air intake pipe, and the fresh air intake pipe is equipped with a regulating valve for adjusting the intake air volume.

[0017] Furthermore, it also includes a control unit, which is electrically connected to the heating element, the circulating air pump and the drive motor. The control unit is configured to control the sintering furnace to sequentially perform the drying process and the high-temperature sintering process of the battery cells.

[0018] Furthermore, the control unit is configured to execute the following control logic:

[0019] Acquire the gas temperature signal at the exhaust port of the sintering chamber;

[0020] Based on the gas temperature signal, it is determined whether the current process is drying or sintering.

[0021] Adjust the output power of the heating element and / or the gas flow rate in the gas circulation pipeline according to the determined process stage.

[0022] Furthermore, the control unit is specifically configured to perform:

[0023] When the gas temperature signal is lower than the first set temperature threshold, it is determined to be a drying process, and the heating element is controlled to operate at a first power, and the circulating air pump is controlled to operate at a first flow rate.

[0024] When the gas temperature signal reaches or exceeds the second set temperature threshold, it is determined to be a sintering process. The heating element is controlled to operate at a second power higher than the first power, and the opening of the regulating valve of the fresh air intake pipe is increased.

[0025] In summary, this application includes at least one of the following beneficial technical effects:

[0026] 1. After placing the solar cells into the sintering chamber, the operator closes the furnace door and starts the system. The upper gas heating chamber begins operation, heating the air or process gas. The hot gas, under pressure, is sent into the lower sintering chamber to heat the solar cells, completing the drying and sintering process. Simultaneously, the rotating mechanism within the sintering chamber slowly rotates the solar cells. The cooled exhaust gas, after heat exchange, is not directly discharged but is drawn back to the upper gas heating chamber for secondary heating through a gas circulation pipeline, forming a closed loop. This gas circulation pipeline recovers and utilizes the waste heat of the exhaust gas, significantly reducing the energy consumption required to maintain the process temperature compared to traditional direct-discharge sintering furnaces, achieving the fundamental goal of energy saving and consumption reduction. Furthermore, the upper and lower chamber structure clearly defines functional zones, making the heating and reaction environments easier to control independently.

[0027] 2. The drive motor at the bottom of the sintering chamber starts working, driving the rotating disk to rotate at a constant speed around its central axis via a transmission mechanism. Multiple workstations evenly distributed around the circumference of the rotating disk allow the batch of solar cells to revolve with the disk. Every point on each cell periodically passes through all possible micro-temperature zones within the furnace, automatically averaging out unavoidable minor non-uniformities in the thermal field. This significantly improves the uniformity and consistency of sintering from a dynamic perspective, changing the traditional heating mode where solar cells are stationary or move in one direction in a tunnel furnace.

[0028] 3. The outlets of multiple air supply ducts are precisely positioned vertically, ensuring that the airflow is directed towards the center of each workstation on the rotary table. During operation, regardless of the rotation of the rotary table, the main airflow of hot air from a specific air supply duct always acts on a specific workstation or set of workstations. This achieves one-to-one precise delivery of hot air resources, avoiding airflow waste and mixing interference, ensuring that each battery receives almost identical direct convection heating conditions, and achieving batch product consistency.

[0029] 4. After the solar cell is placed in the workstation, the drive unit starts, pushing the clamping plates on both sides of the workstation to move towards each other until the solar cell is gently and firmly clamped from both sides. Throughout the sintering process, the clamping plates remain clamped. After the process is completed, the drive unit moves in the opposite direction, causing the clamping plates to move backward to release the solar cell. The clamping assembly ensures that the solar cell will not shift or fall off under the centrifugal force of high-speed rotation, avoiding fragmentation or uneven heating; at the same time, the stable clamping also reduces the vibration that may occur when the solar cell is subjected to hot air impact, ensuring the stability and safety of the process.

[0030] 5. The circulating air pump operates continuously, generating negative pressure in the pipeline to extract the exhaust gas from the top of the sintering chamber. The exhaust gas then flows through a gas filter, where volatile organic compounds, trace dust, and other impurities are adsorbed and retained by the filter media. The purified gas, driven by the air pump, re-enters the inlet of the gas heating chamber. The circulating air pump provides stable and controllable power for the entire gas circuit, making circulation possible; secondly, the gas filter continuously purifies the circulating gas, preventing contaminants from accumulating in the closed system and contaminating the battery cells or affecting the lifespan of the heating elements, thus ensuring long-term process stability and product yield.

[0031] 6. The two processes of drying and sintering, which traditionally may have to be completed in separate sections or with separate equipment, are integrated into the same equipment cavity and continuously completed by a single control system. This eliminates the transfer, cooling and reheating of solar cells between processes, significantly shortens the production cycle and improves production efficiency.

[0032] Secondly, this integrated control ensures the precision and consistency of the process. By uniformly managing the heating elements, circulating air pumps, and drive motors, the control unit ensures a smooth transition from drying to sintering and precise parameter matching, avoiding temperature and atmosphere fluctuations caused by manual switching or equipment connection, thereby significantly improving the performance uniformity and yield of the solar cell products.

[0033] Finally, this integrated intelligent control provides the optimal path for energy conservation and consumption reduction. The control system can allocate energy input and gas flow at each stage according to the complete process curve under the most energy-efficient operating conditions. For example, it can adopt a high-circulation, low-power mode in the drying stage and switch to a precise high-temperature, strong-atmosphere mode in the sintering stage, thereby maximizing energy utilization efficiency and achieving the effect of reducing overall production costs while improving product quality. Attached Figure Description

[0034] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0035] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the battery sintering furnace according to an embodiment of this application;

[0036] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the gas heating chamber shown in the embodiment of this application;

[0037] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram showing the internal structure of the sintering chamber in an embodiment of this application.

[0038] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached drawings: 1. Furnace body; 2. Gas heating chamber; 21. Air supply duct; 22. Fresh air intake duct; 3. Sintering chamber; 4. Bearing rotation mechanism; 41. Rotary disk; 411. Workstation; 412. Sliding groove; 42. Drive motor; 43. Drive gear; 44. Gear groove; 5. Gas circulation pipeline; 51. Circulating air pump; 511. First circulating air pump; 512. Second circulating air pump; 6. Clamping assembly; 61. Clamping plate; 62. Drive component; 7. Furnace door. Detailed Implementation

[0039] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of this application clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this application, not all of them. Therefore, the detailed description of the embodiments of this application provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed application, but merely to represent selected embodiments of this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this application without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0040] The following combination Figures 1-3 This application will be described in further detail.

[0041] This application discloses a TOPCon battery sintering furnace, referring to... Figure 1 The furnace includes a vertical cylindrical furnace body 1, which comprises an upper and lower gas heating chamber 2 and a sintering chamber 3, separated by a high-performance heat insulation plate. This layout tightly integrates the heat source preparation and process reaction areas in the vertical space, reducing heat loss from external connecting pipelines, achieving miniaturization and efficient heat insulation of the equipment, and laying the physical foundation for building a uniform and controllable thermal field inside.

[0042] Reference Figure 1 and Figure 2 The gas heating chamber 2 is equipped with heating elements, which are electric heating rods (not shown in the figure). Multiple electric heating rods are densely arranged in a matrix inside the gas heating chamber 2, serving as the core heat source. A fresh air intake pipe 22 is connected to the top of the gas heating chamber 2. One end of the fresh air intake pipe 22 is inserted into the inner cavity of the gas heating chamber 2. A regulating valve (not shown in the figure) is installed on the fresh air intake pipe 22 to precisely regulate the flow rate of fresh gas entering the gas heating chamber 2. Multiple vertically downward air supply pipes 21 are evenly connected to the bottom surface of the gas heating chamber 2. The lower opening of the air supply pipes 21 extends and penetrates into the sintering chamber 3 below.

[0043] External gas enters the gas heating chamber 2 through the fresh air intake duct 22. As it descends, it must pass through a three-dimensional heating network composed of uniformly distributed electric heating rods. The airflow makes full contact with the surface of each incandescent electric heating rod, achieving efficient heat exchange and thus being rapidly and uniformly heated to the target temperature. The heated gas gathers at the bottom of the chamber and is then evenly distributed into multiple vertical air supply ducts 21 arranged along the circumferential wall, delivering the heated gas to the sintering chamber 3.

[0044] The electric heating rods are arranged in a matrix pattern, rather than in a concentrated or linear arrangement. This creates a uniform heat source distribution across the entire cross-section of the gas heating chamber 2, fundamentally eliminating heating blind spots and ensuring consistent heat input wherever air flows. The fresh air intake duct 22 is located at the top of the gas heating chamber 2, allowing the low-temperature gas to flow downwards. This creates a counter-current heat exchange effect with the upward natural convection trend, improving heat exchange efficiency. Furthermore, the fresh air must traverse the entire heating area before exiting, ensuring the gas is fully and thoroughly heated and preventing localized underheating caused by airflow short-circuiting, thus guaranteeing effective energy utilization.

[0045] Reference Figure 1 and Figure 3 A furnace door 7 is provided on the outer wall of the furnace body 1. After opening the furnace door 7, the battery can be sent into the sintering chamber 3. The sintering chamber 3 is equipped with a supporting rotation mechanism 4, which includes a rotating disk 41 rotatably set in the sintering chamber 3 and a drive motor 42 that drives the rotating disk 41 to rotate. The upper surface of the rotating disk 41 has several circular grooves precisely machined along its circumference, forming a workstation 411 for supporting the battery cells. The outlet centerline of each air supply pipe 21 is precisely aligned with the center of a specific workstation 411 on the rotating disk 41 below in the vertical direction, so that the air supply pipe 21 corresponds one-to-one with the workstation 411. When the workstation 411 is stationary, the hot air is evenly and equally distributed to the space occupied by each battery cell, realizing the fairness of heat resource distribution and the integrity of spatial coverage.

[0046] Reference Figure 1 and Figure 3 The drive motor 42 is installed at the bottom of the furnace body 1. The output shaft of the drive motor 42 passes through the sintering chamber 3 and is fixedly connected to the drive gear 43. An insertion groove for the drive gear 43 is opened at the center of the rotating disk 41. The side wall of the insertion groove is provided with a tooth groove 44 that matches the drive gear 43. When the drive gear 43 rotates, the cooperation between the drive gear 43 and the tooth groove 44 drives the rotating disk 41 to rotate in the sintering chamber 3.

[0047] During rotation, each cell passes sequentially and in turn beneath each air duct 21, receiving heating from the hot air blown out by all the ducts 21. Since the hot air from all the air ducts 21 is theoretically at the same temperature and mass, this means that every point on the surface of the cell has the opportunity to be heated by hot air from all directions during rotation. Even if a small temperature or flow deviation exists in a particular air duct 21 due to manufacturing defects or airflow disturbances, rotation will transform this fixed, positional deviation into periodic, transient, and averaged-out small fluctuations across all the cells. This significantly improves the uniformity and consistency of sintering from a dynamic perspective.

[0048] The core principle of achieving highly uniform heating in this embodiment lies in the synergy between static uniform distribution and dynamic averaging effect. First, by achieving a one-to-one correspondence between the outlet of the air duct (21) and the workstation (411) in a static state, the initial uniform distribution of hot air in spatial position is realized, providing an equal heating starting point for each battery cell and eliminating structural thermal field inhomogeneity. Subsequently, by driving the rotating disk (41) to rotate at a uniform speed, an averaging mechanism in the time dimension is introduced. For any battery cell, it periodically traverses the area below all air ducts during rotation, thereby transforming any fixed, local airflow or temperature micro-deviations into fluctuations that rapidly alternate over time and can be averaged out as a whole. This principle of fixed-point air supply combined with rotational heating transforms the spatial fixed deviations that are difficult to overcome in traditional static heating into dynamic variables that can be eliminated through time integration, thus achieving a uniformity level far exceeding that of static equipment in both theory and practice.

[0049] Reference Figure 3 Each workstation 411 is equipped with a clamping assembly 6, which includes clamping plates 61 disposed on both sides of the workstation 411, and a driving component 62 for driving the clamping plates 61 to move towards or away from each other to clamp or release the battery cells. Each workstation 411 has a linear sliding groove 412 on both sides that communicates with the circular groove of the workstation 411. The size of the clamping plate 61 is adapted to the width of the sliding groove 412, allowing the clamping plate 61 to move along the opening direction of the sliding groove 412. The driving component 62 is an electric telescopic rod, which is fixed to the inner wall of the sliding groove 412 at the end away from the workstation 411. The output end of the electric telescopic rod is fixedly connected to the side of the clamping plate 61 away from the workstation 411.

[0050] After opening the furnace door 7 and placing the solar cell into the corresponding workstation 411, the push rod of the electric telescopic rod extends, pushing the clamping plate 61, which is fixedly connected to its output end, to move precisely and smoothly towards the center of workstation 411 along the pre-cut straight sliding grooves 412 on both sides of workstation 411. Because the dimensions of the clamping plate 61 are precisely matched to the width of the sliding grooves 412, the movement of the clamping plate 61 is strictly limited to the axial direction of the sliding grooves 412, avoiding any lateral swaying or deflection. When the clamping plates 61 on both sides move towards each other under the drive of the electric telescopic rod until they contact the edge of the solar cell, a preset, constant clamping force will continue to be applied until the solar cell is securely constrained in the center of workstation 411, completing the clamping process. At the end of the process, the electric telescopic rod retracts, pulling the clamping plate 61 to move away from the original sliding grooves 412, releasing the constraint on the solar cell and allowing it to be retrieved.

[0051] The linear sliding groove 412 provides a rigid guide track for the clamping plate 61, ensuring that the clamping force is strictly applied radially to the solar cell. This avoids micro-movements, displacement, or even cell skipping caused by device shaking or force angle deviations during high-speed rotation, ensuring process safety and heating uniformity. Combined with the electric telescopic rod, the stroke and thrust can be precisely controlled, resulting in highly repeatable clamping actions. This ensures that each cell is fixed in the designed center position while controlling the clamping force to avoid mechanical damage or microcracks to the brittle silicon wafer. Simultaneously, the electric telescopic rod is embedded inside the rotating disk 41, allowing the clamping plate 61 to be completely retracted into or flush with the sliding groove 412 when not in operation. This minimizes its projection within the workstation 411 space, ensuring the dynamic balance of the rotating disk 41 and preventing obstruction of the hot airflow blowing vertically downwards, achieving seamless compatibility between mechanical fixation and thermal processing.

[0052] Reference Figure 1A gas circulation pipeline 5 is installed between the sintering chamber 3 and the gas heating chamber 2. An exhaust port is located on the side wall of the sintering chamber 3, and one end of the gas circulation pipeline 5 is connected to the exhaust port. An air inlet is located at the top of the gas heating chamber 2, and the other end of the gas circulation pipeline 5 is connected to the air inlet. A gas filter (not shown in the figure) is installed inside the gas circulation pipeline 5, filled with a high-efficiency filter element. A circulating air pump 51 is also installed along the airflow path of the gas circulation pipeline 5. The circulating air pump 51 includes a first circulating air pump 511 located at the exhaust port and a second circulating air pump 512 located at the air inlet. When the sintering furnace is started and enters the process stage, the high-temperature gas heats the battery cells inside the sintering chamber 3, causing the gas temperature to drop and transform into process waste gas. At this time, the first circulating air pump 511 located at the exhaust port on the side wall of the sintering chamber 3 starts first. It generates a stable negative pressure at the exhaust port, actively and efficiently drawing the cooled waste gas from inside the sintering chamber 3 and pumping it into the gas circulation pipeline 5. The exhaust gas then enters a gas filter installed in the middle of the pipeline. As it flows through the filter chamber filled with a high-efficiency filter element, impurities such as volatile organic compounds, trace amounts of metal oxide dust, and other process byproducts carried in the exhaust gas are effectively intercepted and adsorbed, resulting in significant purification. The purified gas continues to flow forward in the pipeline, reaching the air inlet at the top of the gas heating chamber 2. Here, the second circulating air pump 512 starts operating, generating a positive driving force to actively and controllably pump the purified gas into the gas heating chamber 2. After entering the heating chamber, this gas mixes with a small amount of fresh gas supplied through the fresh air intake pipe 22 and flows again through the incandescent electric heating rod matrix, being reheated to the high temperature required for the process, thus completing a full cycle of use-recovery-purification-reheating.

[0053] The coordinated operation of the first circulating air pump 511 and the second circulating air pump 512 enables active, segmented, and precise control of the airflow path, ensuring efficient extraction of waste gas and stable return of purified gas, making the circulation more stable and reliable. The high-efficiency filter placed in the pipeline continuously purifies the circulating gas, maintains the cleanliness of the process atmosphere inside the furnace for a long time, protects the heating elements, and prevents battery cell contamination. Finally, the system can recover and reuse more than 80% of the waste heat in the sintering waste gas. Compared with traditional direct-discharge sintering furnaces, it can reduce heating energy consumption by 30%-40%, and the energy-saving effect is extremely significant.

[0054] It also includes an integrated control unit (not shown in the figure). The control unit is typically implemented using an industrial-grade programmable logic controller (PLC) or an industrial computer system with equivalent functions. It is electrically connected to all the aforementioned controlled components and sensors via signal lines, forming a complete closed-loop control system. Specifically, the analog output module of the control unit is connected to the power regulator of the heating element for continuously and accurately setting and adjusting the output power of the electric heating rod. Its digital and analog output channels are respectively connected to the frequency converters or servo drives of the first circulating air pump 511, the second circulating air pump 512, and the drive motor 42 to control their start, stop, and speed. The digital output of the control unit is also connected to the solenoid valves or direct drive modules of the electric telescopic rods in the clamping assemblies 6 of each station 411 to control the clamping and releasing actions of the clamping plates 61. At the exhaust port of the sintering chamber 3, a temperature sensor (not shown in the figure) is installed for real-time detection of the exhaust gas temperature. The temperature sensor is electrically connected to the analog input module of the control unit, and the control unit collects the signal from the temperature sensor installed at the exhaust port of the sintering chamber 3 in real time.

[0055] The control unit is pre-programmed and configured with its core logic set to control the sintering furnace to automatically and continuously execute the drying and high-temperature sintering processes of the solar cells sequentially. Its operating principle is based on a dynamic sense-decision-execution cycle. After the process starts, the control unit first sends commands to the drive motor 42 and the circulating air pump 51, causing the rotating disk 41 to begin rotating at a uniform speed and establishing a stable airflow in the gas circulation pipeline 5. Subsequently, it controls the heating elements to start operating at initial power.

[0056] Throughout the process, the control unit continuously samples and processes the temperature signal from the exhaust port at high speed, using it as the primary basis for determining the process stage. The control unit internally stores two key temperature threshold parameters: a first set temperature threshold T1 (corresponding to the end of the drying stage) and a second set temperature threshold T2 (corresponding to the start of the sintering stage). The control unit's logic processor continuously compares and analyzes the real-time temperature signal against these two thresholds.

[0057] When the real-time temperature signal is below the first threshold T1, the control unit determines that the equipment is in the drying process. At this stage, its control strategy focuses on efficiently and uniformly removing solvent from the slurry. The control unit executes the first set of parameters: controlling the heating element to operate at a relatively low "first power," sufficient to provide the heat required for solvent evaporation while preventing premature reaction of the slurry; simultaneously, controlling the first and second circulating air pumps 512 to operate in coordination at a higher "first flow rate," aiming to enhance gas circulation within the furnace, quickly remove solvent vapor, and promote uniform heat distribution; at this time, the regulating valve on the fresh air inlet pipe 22 remains at a small opening.

[0058] As heating continues, the exhaust temperature rises. When the control unit detects that the real-time temperature signal reaches or exceeds the second threshold T2, it immediately determines that the process has entered the high-temperature sintering stage. The control logic then seamlessly switches. The control unit immediately increases the power setpoint of the heating element to a significantly higher "second power" to provide a sufficient high-temperature heat source for the cell metallization reaction. At the same time, it significantly increases the opening of the fresh air regulating valve to inject more fresh protective gas, thereby maintaining the pure process atmosphere required at high temperatures and expelling reaction byproducts. During this stage, the flow rate of the circulating air pump 51 can be adjusted according to the optimization model, for example, switching to the "second flow rate" to balance temperature uniformity and atmosphere renewal rate.

[0059] Once the process time reaches the set value, the control unit initiates the cooling program, shuts off the heating, and increases the fresh air cooling. After the furnace temperature drops to a safe level, the control unit releases the battery cells from the clamping assembly 6 and prompts for unloading. The entire process requires no manual intervention, achieving fully automated and intelligent operation. This control scheme ensures the accuracy and consistency of the process through adaptive adjustment based on physical state feedback. Furthermore, while maintaining product quality, it achieves significant energy savings through phased energy efficiency optimization.

[0060] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of this application and is not intended to limit this application. Various modifications and variations can be made to this application by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this application should be included within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A TOPCon battery sintering furnace, characterized in that, include: The furnace body (1) is divided into a gas heating chamber (2) and a sintering chamber (3) from top to bottom. Heating element, which is disposed in the gas heating chamber (2) and is used to send the heated gas into the sintering chamber (3) below. The rotating support mechanism (4) is located inside the sintering chamber (3) and is used to support and drive the movement of the battery cells. The gas circulation pipeline (5) has its inlet end connected to the exhaust port of the sintering chamber (3) and its outlet end connected to the inlet of the gas heating chamber (2). It is used to guide the gas that has completed heat exchange in the sintering chamber (3) back to the gas heating chamber (2) for reheating and recycling.

2. The TOPCon battery sintering furnace according to claim 1, characterized in that, The heating element is an electric heating rod, and the bottom of the gas heating chamber (2) is provided with multiple air supply pipes (21) that connect to the sintering chamber (3).

3. The TOPCon battery sintering furnace according to claim 2, characterized in that, The bearing rotation mechanism (4) includes a rotating disk (41) rotatably disposed in the sintering chamber (3) and a drive motor (42) for driving the rotating disk (41) to rotate. The rotating disk (41) has a plurality of workstations (411) for placing battery cells evenly arranged along its circumference.

4. A TOPCon battery sintering furnace according to claim 3, characterized in that, The outlets of the multiple air supply pipes (21) correspond one-to-one with the multiple workstations (411) on the rotating disk (41) in the vertical direction.

5. A TOPCon battery sintering furnace according to claim 3, characterized in that, Each of the workstations (411) is provided with a clamping assembly (6), which includes clamping plates (61) disposed on both sides of the workstation (411) and a drive unit (62) for driving the clamping plates (61) on both sides to move towards each other or away from each other to clamp or release the battery cell.

6. The TOPCon battery sintering furnace according to claim 1, characterized in that, A circulating air pump (51) and a gas filter are sequentially arranged along the airflow direction on the gas circulation pipeline (5).

7. A TOPCon battery sintering furnace according to claim 6, characterized in that, The gas heating chamber (2) is connected to a fresh air intake pipe (22), and the fresh air intake pipe (22) is equipped with a regulating valve for adjusting the intake volume.

8. A TOPCon battery sintering furnace according to claim 7, characterized in that, It also includes a control unit, which is electrically connected to the heating element, the circulating air pump (51) and the drive motor (42), and the control unit is configured to control the sintering furnace to sequentially perform the drying process and the high-temperature sintering process of the battery cells.

9. A TOPCon battery sintering furnace according to claim 8, characterized in that, The control unit is configured to execute the following control logic: Obtain the gas temperature signal at the exhaust port of the sintering chamber (3); Based on the gas temperature signal, it is determined whether the current process is drying or sintering. Adjust the output power of the heating element and / or the gas flow rate in the gas circulation pipeline (5) according to the determined process stage.

10. A TOPCon battery sintering furnace according to claim 9, characterized in that, The control unit is specifically configured to perform: When the gas temperature signal is lower than the first set temperature threshold, it is determined to be a drying process, the heating element is controlled to operate at the first power, and the circulating air pump (51) is controlled to operate at the first flow rate; When the gas temperature signal reaches or exceeds the second set temperature threshold, it is determined to be a sintering process. The heating element is controlled to operate at a second power higher than the first power, and the opening of the regulating valve of the fresh air intake pipe (22) is increased.

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