Foldable Solar Panel Wire Isolation for Repeated Bending
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional foldable solar panels face issues with interconnection wires breaking due to reduced flexibility from hardened adhesive films and exposure risks, leading to increased resistance, local heating, fire hazards, and safety risks from wire penetration.
Innovation Solution
A foldable solar panel design with an integrated isolation layer between the interconnection wire and adhesive film layers, allowing the wire to move freely and be protected, using an isolation layer made of insulating material to prevent adhesion and exposure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If adhesive films are used to secure wires in the folding region, then the wires are fixed and protected, but the hardened adhesive films reduce wire flexibility and cause wire breakage after repeated bending
Solution Approach 1:
A Teflon tape is introduced as an intermediary layer between the adhesive film and the interconnection wire. This mediator prevents the adhesive from directly contacting and bonding to the wire surface, allowing the wire to maintain its flexibility while still being protected by the adhesive film's structural support. The Teflon tape acts as a barrier that eliminates the harmful adhesion effect while preserving the beneficial protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a Teflon tape, which is a flexible thin film material, to wrap around the interconnection wire in the folding region. This flexible film maintains the wire's ability to bend repeatedly without breaking, while still providing a protective layer. The thin film structure allows the wire to move freely without the rigidity imposed by hardened adhesive.
2Adaptability or versatility
If wires pass through the folding region to connect sub-units, then the solar panel achieves foldability and portability, but the wires are repeatedly bent and prone to breaking
Solution Approach 1:
The Teflon tape wrapping creates a flexible protective shell around the wire in the folding region. This flexible protection allows the wire to undergo repeated bending cycles required for foldability while preventing wire breakage. The thin film structure does not restrict the wire's movement but provides necessary protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The Teflon tape is applied to the wire before the wire undergoes repeated bending during folding operations. This beforehand protection cushions the wire against the mechanical stress of repeated bending, preventing breakage before it occurs. The protective layer is in place prior to the harmful action, allowing the wire to withstand the folding cycles.
3Strength
If adhesive films are applied at high temperature, then proper adhesion is achieved, but the hardened adhesive becomes harder than the wire and reduces wire flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The Teflon tape serves as an intermediary barrier that prevents the adhesive from bonding to the wire, even when the adhesive is applied at high temperatures. The mediator allows the adhesive to achieve proper bonding strength with other components while the wire remains unaffected by the adhesive's hardening process, maintaining its flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The Teflon tape forms a flexible protective layer around the wire that prevents the hardened adhesive from directly contacting the wire. This flexible film ensures that even when the adhesive hardens into a rigid structure, the wire underneath maintains its flexibility because it is isolated by the flexible Teflon shell.
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
Enhances durability and safety by preventing interconnection wire breakage and exposure, maintaining flexibility, and reducing safety risks, with improved bending resistance and reliability.
Implementation Method 1
The isolation layer is made of Teflon material and has a sleeve-like structure. Two isolation layers are provided and arranged at two opposite sides of the interconnection wire, respectively.
Implementation Method 2
an isolation layer is arranged between the interconnection wire and the adhesive film layer and at least covers a part of the interconnection wire located in the bent region, to isolate the part of the interconnection wire located in the bent region from the adhesive film layers at two sides of the interconnection wire
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
A foldable solar panel includes a power generation layer (100) and two adhesive film layers (200) located on two opposite sides of the power generation layer (100). The power generation layer (100) includes a plurality of sub-power generation panels (110) arranged at intervals and an interconnection wire (120). A bent region (2000) is formed in a gap between two adjacent sub-power generation panels (110). The two adjacent sub-power generation panels (110) are electrically connected by the interconnect wire (120) passing through the bent region (2000). An isolation layer (300) is arranged between the interconnect wire (120) and the adhesive film layer (200).