Photovoltaic Module Polymer Front Face
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing photovoltaic modules face challenges in achieving a balance between flexibility, mechanical robustness, lightness, and resistance to shocks and loads, particularly when glass is not used on the front face, leading to issues with weight, integration, and thermal expansion.
Innovation Solution
A photovoltaic module design featuring a discontinuous transparent polymer front face made of nanostructured impact polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) with a Young's modulus greater than 75 MPa and a thickness between 0.4 and 1 mm, along with a rigid encapsulating assembly, which allows for flexibility and improved mechanical resistance without the use of glass.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If glass is used to form the front face of the photovoltaic module, then mechanical strength and flatness are improved, but weight increases and flexibility decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from glass to a polymer composite material with specific mechanical properties (Young's modulus between 2-10 GPa, tensile strength ≥50 MPa). This parameter change allows the front face to maintain adequate mechanical strength while significantly reducing weight and enabling flexibility, directly resolving the contradiction between strength and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite material structure consisting of a polymer matrix reinforced with inorganic fillers (such as silica, alumina, or titania particles). This composite approach provides enhanced mechanical strength comparable to glass while maintaining the low weight and flexibility characteristics of polymers, thus resolving the strength-weight contradiction.
2Shape
If glass is used to form the front face of the photovoltaic module, then flatness and mechanical resistance are improved, but ease of integration and adaptability to non-flat surfaces worsen
Solution Approach 1:
By changing the material from rigid glass to a flexible polymer composite with adjustable mechanical properties, the front face can adapt to non-flat surfaces while maintaining adequate flatness where needed. The material's flexibility parameter enables integration on curved roofs and irregular surfaces, resolving the contradiction between flatness and adaptability.
3Weight of moving object
If polymer material is used to replace glass on the front face, then weight is reduced and flexibility is improved, but resistance to shocks and mechanical loads decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite material system where a polymer matrix is reinforced with inorganic fillers (silica, alumina, titania particles) and potentially fibrous reinforcements. This composite structure significantly enhances shock resistance and mechanical load bearing capacity while maintaining the inherent advantages of polymer materials (low weight and flexibility), thus resolving the contradiction between weight reduction and shock resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality enhancement by concentrating reinforcement materials (inorganic fillers and fibers) in specific regions or layers of the front face material. This allows optimized shock resistance in critical areas while maintaining overall flexibility and lightness, resolving the contradiction between local strength requirements and global flexibility.
4Ease of manufacture
If continuous polymer sheet is used for the front face, then ease of manufacture is improved, but differential expansion stresses and risk of delamination increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a segmented or layered structure within the polymer composite front face, where different material layers or reinforcement phases are arranged in specific configurations. This segmentation allows differential thermal expansion in different directions or layers, reducing internal stresses and preventing delamination at interfaces, while still maintaining ease of manufacture through standardized composite material production.
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 design provides a lightweight, flexible, and robust photovoltaic module that can withstand mechanical loads and thermal stresses, enhancing its application on non-flat surfaces and reducing the risk of breakage and delamination.
Implementation Method 1
a first transparent layer forming the front face of the photovoltaic module intended to receive a luminous flux
Implementation Method 2
an assembly encapsulating the plurality of photovoltaic cells... the rigidity of the encapsulating assembly is defined by a Young's modulus of the encapsulating material greater than or equal to 75 MPa
Implementation Method 3
photovoltaic cells arranged side by side and electrically connected to one another
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The main subject matter of the invention is a photovoltaic module (1) comprising a transparent first layer (3) forming the front face of the photovoltaic module (1), a set (4) of a plurality of photovoltaic cells (5), and an assembly (6a, 6b) encapsulating the photovoltaic cells (5). The photovoltaic module (1) is characterised in that the first layer (3) comprises a plurality of plates (8) independent from each other, each plate (8) being located opposite a photovoltaic cell (5), in that the rigidity of the encapsulating assembly (6a, 6b) is defined by a Young's modulus (E) of the encapsulation material greater than or equal to 75 MPa at ambient temperature and a thickness (e) of the encapsulating assembly (6a, 6b) of between 0.4 and 1 mm, and in that the first layer (3) consists of at least one transparent polymer material belonging to the acrylic block copolymers or of a composition comprising at least one acrylic block copolymer having the following general formula (A) nB, in which: n is an integer greater than or equal to 1; A is an acrylic or methacrylic homo- or copolymer having a glass transition temperature greater than 50°C; and B is an acrylic or methacrylic homo- or copolymer having a glass transition temperature less than 20°C.