Automated Carousel Assembly for Back-Contact Photovoltaic Panels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current photovoltaic panel assembly processes, particularly for H-type panels, are manual, labor-intensive, and prone to variability, inefficiency, and high costs, limiting the production of second-generation back-contact panels due to lack of automated machinery and competitive backsheet availability.
Innovation Solution
An automated apparatus with a carousel configuration and verification stations for precise loading, deposition, and encapsulation of back-contact photovoltaic panels, ensuring correct alignment and attachment of components without premature polymerization of encapsulating materials, facilitating targeted deposition and increased production efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual assembly processes are used for H-type panels, then flexibility in handling variable backsheet compositions is maintained, but labor intensity and production cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The assembly process is divided into discrete stations within a carousel system, each performing a specific function (loading, alignment, encapsulant application, curing). This segmentation allows automated processing while maintaining adaptability through programmable control of each station.
Solution Approach 2:
The carousel-based apparatus is designed as a universal platform that can accommodate different backsheet compositions and panel configurations through programmable positioning and deposition parameters, enabling automated processing of various backsheet types without requiring manual intervention.
2Reliability
If manual assembly processes are used, then operator experience can guide quality control, but variability and errors in welding and assembly increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates sensors and control systems that monitor the assembly process in real-time, providing feedback on component positioning, encapsulant deposition, and curing status. This automated feedback mechanism ensures consistent quality control while enabling high-speed automated operation.
Solution Approach 2:
Components are pre-positioned and pre-aligned before the encapsulant application step, ensuring correct placement before the irreversible curing process begins. This preliminary positioning action prevents assembly errors and ensures consistent quality throughout production.
3Device complexity
If rectilinear strings and ribbons are used for cell connection, then circuit layout is simplified, but encapsulating material thickness must increase to accommodate the combined cell and conductor thicknesses
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from planar rectilinear string connections to three-dimensional serpentine or meandering conductor patterns that route connections in multiple dimensions. This dimensional change allows for more efficient space utilization, reducing the required encapsulant thickness while maintaining circuit functionality.
4Strength
If conventional heating methods are used for encapsulant attachment, then polymerization occurs prematurely, but adequate heating is needed for proper bonding
Solution Approach 1:
The system precisely controls heating parameters (temperature, duration, distribution) to achieve adequate bonding strength without triggering premature polymerization. By optimizing these parameters, the process maintains encapsulant flexibility while ensuring proper attachment to substrates.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables high-quality, cost-effective, and durable photovoltaic panels with increased production capacity, improved repeatability, and reduced rejects, addressing the limitations of manual processes and enhancing quality control.
Implementation Method 1
said one or more heating sources that are adapted to allow said one or more encapsulating layers to attach to each other by means of the activation of the adhesives and/or of said one or more encapsulating layers themselves without triggering the polymerization thereof
Data Source
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AI summary
Apparatus and method for the automatic assembly of photovoltaic panels with back-contact architecture, the apparatus comprising a series of six stations that are configured in sequence in a carousel with recirculation of trays and a control device, which is adjacent to one or more of the stations, for controlling the correctness of the processes performed, the control device enabling the processing or the mere transit of the tray into the subsequent station by comparing the actual state with a predefined state. If one or more of the controls performed in the transfers between the six stations yields a negative outcome regarding the correctness of the operation performed previously, the control device enables the mere transit of the tray with its content to the subsequent stations until it reaches the first station without undergoing any tipping.