Shingled Solar Module Manufacturing via Strip Re-passivation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The singulation process in solar module manufacturing disrupts the passivation of solar cells, leading to unpassivated surfaces that act as recombination centers, reducing efficiency and requiring costly and inefficient re-passivation methods for large-scale production.
Innovation Solution
A method involving singulating solar cells into strips, sorting, re-passivating exposed surfaces by forming a stack with covered passivated surfaces, and aligning strips for electrical connection using conductive adhesive to form shingled solar modules, ensuring efficient passivation and assembly without affecting primary energy-producing surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If solar cells are singulated into strips, then the cells can be assembled into shingled modules with higher efficiency, but the passivation of the cell surfaces is disrupted creating unpassivated surfaces that act as recombination centers
Solution Approach 1:
The method applies passivation treatment to the solar cell strips before they are assembled into the final module configuration. By pre-passivating the cut surfaces after singulation but before module assembly, the invention eliminates recombination centers in advance, ensuring that the strips are ready for immediate assembly without requiring post-assembly passivation steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention applies passivation selectively to specific locations on the solar cell strips - namely the freshly exposed cut surfaces. Rather than treating the entire surface uniformly, the process targets only the localized areas where passivation was disrupted during singulation, preserving the integrity of already-passivated regions while restoring protection to damaged areas.
2Reliability
If conventional re-passivation methods are used after singulation, then unpassivated surfaces can be treated, but the process is costly and inefficient for large-scale production
Solution Approach 1:
The invention combines the singulation and re-passivation operations into a single integrated process step. The passivation treatment is applied immediately after the cutting process while the strips are still in position, eliminating the need for separate handling, positioning, and treatment steps. This merging of operations dramatically reduces manufacturing complexity and cost while maintaining passivation quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The process is designed so that the singulation operation itself creates the conditions for immediate passivation - the freshly exposed surfaces are in a state that readily accepts passivation treatment. The method leverages the natural state of the freshly cut surfaces to enable self-passivation without requiring complex additional equipment or multi-step procedures.
3Reliability
If re-passivation is applied to all surfaces, then unpassivated portions are treated, but the primary energy-producing surfaces may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The passivation process is applied selectively only to the freshly exposed cut surfaces where passivation disruption occurred during singulation. The treatment targets specific localized areas rather than treating the entire cell surface uniformly, thereby preserving the integrity and optimal performance characteristics of the original energy-producing surfaces that were not affected by cutting.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and treats only the problematic unpassivated portions - the freshly exposed cut surfaces - while leaving the rest of the cell surfaces untouched. This selective approach removes only the necessary treatment to specific locations, avoiding any potential degradation or alteration of the primary energy-producing surfaces.
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
This approach enhances solar module efficiency by eliminating active recombination centers, reducing production costs, and maintaining the integrity of energy-producing surfaces during the re-passivation process, resulting in improved power output and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
re-passivating the unpassivated portions of the plurality of strips placed in the stack, wherein the re-passivation eliminates active recombination centers
Implementation Method 2
depositing electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) between the overlapped portions of the re-passivated strips, wherein the ECA adheres adjacent re-passivated strips to one another and electrically connects the re-passivated strips to form a string
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A method including singulating a solar cell to form a plurality of strips, the singulation exposes unpassivated portions of the solar cell. The method further includes sorting the strips to ensure that similar shaped strips are grouped together, and re-passivating the plurality of strips, wherein the re-passivation eliminates active recombination centers. The method further includes aligning the re-passivated strips in an overlapping pattern, depositing electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) between the overlapped portions of the re-passivated strips, wherein the ECA adheres adjacent re-passivated strips to one another and electrically connects the re-passivated strips to form a string, electrically connecting a plurality of strings in parallel to form a string set, electrically connecting at least two string sets in series, and encapsulating the electrically connected string sets.