U.S. patent application number 15/642443 was filed with the patent office on 2017-10-19 for solar cell bonded to a flexible support.
This patent application is currently assigned to SolAero Technologies Corp.. The applicant listed for this patent is SolAero Technologies Corp.. Invention is credited to Benjamin Richards, Cory Tourino.
Application Number | 20170301811 15/642443 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 59410766 |
Filed Date | 2017-10-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170301811 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Tourino; Cory ; et
al. |
October 19, 2017 |
SOLAR CELL BONDED TO A FLEXIBLE SUPPORT
Abstract
A solar cell assembly in which a solar cell component is bonded
to a flexible support is disclosed. The solar cell assembly
comprises a flexible support with a predetermined size, a solar
cell component, bonding adhesive between the support and the solar
cell component, wherein the support with the predetermined size has
a uniform borders of 0.003 inch to 0.2 inch in width extending
beyond the edges of the solar cell component.
Inventors: |
Tourino; Cory; (Edgewood,
NM) ; Richards; Benjamin; (Hudson, NH) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SolAero Technologies Corp. |
Albuquerque |
NM |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
SolAero Technologies Corp.
Albuquerque
NM
|
Family ID: |
59410766 |
Appl. No.: |
15/642443 |
Filed: |
July 6, 2017 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
14282610 |
May 20, 2014 |
9728663 |
|
|
15642443 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01L 31/0549 20141201;
Y10T 156/1002 20150115; F24S 20/25 20180501; H01L 51/5275 20130101;
H01L 31/0216 20130101; Y10T 156/1028 20150115; Y10T 156/12
20150115; Y10T 156/1043 20150115; H01L 31/042 20130101; Y10T
156/1044 20150115; Y10T 156/17 20150115; H01L 31/049 20141201; Y02E
10/50 20130101; Y10T 156/1052 20150115; F24S 2025/601 20180501;
Y10T 156/1798 20150115; H01L 51/56 20130101; Y10T 156/1062
20150115; Y02E 10/52 20130101; Y10T 156/1082 20150115 |
International
Class: |
H01L 31/042 20140101
H01L031/042 |
Claims
1. A solar cell assembly, comprising: a flexible support having a
top side and a bottom side and a predetermined size; a flat,
non-bowed solar cell component having a top side and a bottom side;
and bonding adhesive located between the top side of the support
and the bottom side of the solar cell component; wherein the
support has substantially uniform borders of 0.003 inches to 0.2
inches in width extending beyond the edges of the solar cell
component.
2. The solar cell assembly of claim 1, wherein the bonding adhesive
comprises rigid particles of substantially uniform size.
3. The solar cell assembly of claim 1, wherein the solar cell
component comprises multiple mechanical standoffs that are
interconnects or shims on the bottom side of the solar cell
component.
4. The solar cell assembly of claim 2, wherein the rigid particles
are composed of glass and are spherical or substantially spherical
in shape.
5. The solar cell assembly of claim 1, wherein the solar cell
component is selected from the group consisting of a solar cell, a
coverglass-interconnect-cell (CIC) assembly, a string of solar
cells, a string of a coverglass-interconnect cells (CICs), and
combinations thereof.
6. The solar cell assembly of claim 1, wherein the border has a
width of 0.003 inches and 0.1 inches.
7. The solar cell assembly of claim 1, wherein the border had a
width of 0.003 inches to 0.05 inches.
8. The solar cell assembly of claim 1, wherein the border has a
width of 0.005 inches to 0.025 inches.
9. The solar cell assembly of claim 1, wherein the border has a
width of 0.010 inches to 0.025 inches.
Description
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional of co-pending U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 14/282,610 filed May 20, 2014.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a solar cell assembly and a
method of bonding a solar cell component to a flexible support in
order to manufacture the solar cell assembly.
Description of the Related Art
[0003] A solar cell assembly can be manufactured by bonding a solar
cell component to a support. In the solar cell assembly, bonding
adhesive is disposed between the solar cell component and the
support, in order to bond the solar cell component to the support.
In the prior art, US20120090661A1 discloses individually
encapsulated solar cells and solar cell strings, U.S. Pat. No.
8,107,777B2 discloses a polyimide support bonded on other support,
and WO2006108314A1 discloses a solar cell module and a method of
encapsulating the solar cell module.
[0004] A bowing phenomenon often occurs in solar cells, especially
in large area solar cells. The bowing phenomenon in solar cells
means that the front surfaces and the back surfaces of the solar
cells are not ideally flat. Further, the degrees of the bowing
phenomenon may differ among solar cells. In other words, some solar
cells may have relatively bigger bow as illustrated in FIG. 1A,
while some other solar cells may have relatively smaller bow as
illustrated in FIG. 1B. It should be understood that FIGS. 1A and
1B are illustrative and do not denote the real size of the solar
cells and the real degrees of bowing. The real degrees of bowing of
the solar cells are much lower than those as illustrated by FIGS.
1A and 1B.
[0005] Above bowing phenomenon causes the following problem.
Specifically, a relatively bigger bow renders a relatively bigger
space between a solar cell and a support, and a relatively smaller
bow renders a relatively smaller space between a solar cell and a
support. When bonding adhesive is disposed between the solar cell
and the support in order to bond them together, a relatively larger
amount of bonding adhesive can reside in the relatively bigger
space between the solar cell with a relatively bigger bow and the
support as illustrated in FIG. 1A. However, when bonding adhesive
is disposed between the solar cell and the support in order to bond
them together, a relatively smaller amount of bonding adhesive can
reside in the relatively smaller space between the solar cell with
a relatively smaller bow and the support as illustrate in FIG. 1B.
In this case, excessive amount of bonding adhesive may flows to the
edges. The excessive amount of bonding adhesive flowing to the
edges may further flow away from the edges and contaminate the
solar cell and the support, which is unfavourable.
[0006] Thus, a method of bonding a solar cell to a support, in
which the bonding adhesive is prevented from flowing away from the
edges, are needed in the art.
SUMMARY
[0007] According to an aspect of an embodiment of the present
disclosure, there is provided a method of bonding a solar cell
component to a support, the method comprising: (a) Cutting the
support to a predetermined size, (b) Dispensing bonding adhesive on
top of the support or on back of the solar cell component, (c)
Laying down the solar cell component onto the support, wherein the
support is flexible and the support has uniform borders of 0.003
inch to 0.2 inch in width extending beyond the edges of the solar
cell component.
[0008] According to an implementation, the method may further
comprise: weighting the solar cell component after laying down the
solar cell component onto the support.
[0009] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present
disclosure, there is provided a solar cell assembly, comprising: a
flexible support with a predetermined size, a solar cell component,
bonding adhesive bonding the support and the solar cell component,
wherein the support with the predetermined size has uniform borders
of 0.003 inch to 0.2 inch in width extending beyond the edges of
the solar cell component.
[0010] Further aspects, features and advantages of the present
invention will be understood from the following description with
reference to the drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and
constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of
the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain
the principles of the invention.
[0012] FIG. 1A is a simplified view schematically illustrating a
case of solar cell having a relatively bigger bow.
[0013] FIG. 1B is a simplified view schematically illustrating a
case of solar cell having a relatively smaller bow.
[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates a preferable embodiment of the method of
bonding a solar cell component to a flexible support according to
this invention.
[0015] FIG. 3 is a simplified view schematically illustrating a
possible pattern of the bonding adhesive dispensed on top of the
support or on back of the solar cell component.
[0016] FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C schematically illustrate the
configuration of the solar cell assembly obtained by the preferable
method of this invention.
[0017] FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a further preferable
embodiment of the method of bonding a solar cell component to a
flexible support according to this invention.
[0018] FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C are simplified views schematically
illustrating the configurations of the solar cell assemblies
obtained by the further preferable method.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0019] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in
detail below with reference to the drawings. Note that similar
reference numerals are used to refer to similar elements throughout
the drawings, and thus repetitive descriptions thereof are
omitted.
[0020] FIG. 1A is a simplified view schematically illustrating a
case of solar cell having a relatively bigger bow. FIG. 1B is a
simplified view schematically illustrating a case of solar cell
having a relatively smaller bow. FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a
preferable embodiment of the method of bonding a solar cell
component to a flexible support according to this invention.
[0021] An insulating flexible support is prepared in advance. The
insulating flexible support can be made of a flexible material. For
example, it can be made of a polyester, polyamide or polyimide
material. It is preferable that the insulating flexible support is
made as a continuous strip or sheet.
[0022] A solar cell component is also prepared in advance. The
solar cell component can be in form of an individual solar cell, a
coverglass-interconnect-cell (CIC) assembly, a string of solar
cells or a string of CICs. In a string of solar cells or a string
of CICs, it is preferable that the solar cells or CICs are attached
and connected together by welding, soldering, wire boding,
conductive paste or the like.
[0023] The method of bonding a solar cell component to a flexible
support according to this application will be described with
reference to FIG. 2.
[0024] In step S201, the flexible support is cut to a predetermined
size. According to a preferable embodiment of this invention, the
flexible support is cut, so that support with the predetermined
size has uniform borders of 0.003 inch to 0.2 inch in width
extending beyond the edges of the solar cell component. The
particularly designed uniform borders of 0.003 inch to 0.2 inch in
width extending beyond the edges of the solar cell component are
advantage over the prior art. Specifically, the uniform borders are
particularly designed, because it is found by the inventors that
such designed uniform borders enable the fluid bonding adhesive to
wick and stay adjacent the edges of the solar cell by surface
tension. That is, the particularly designed uniform borders of
0.003 inch to 0.2 inch in width help to prevent the fluid bonding
adhesive from flowing away from the edges.
[0025] In step S202, the bonding adhesive is dispensed. The bonding
adhesive can be dispensed on top of the support or on back of the
solar cell component. The bonding adhesive can be dispensed in a
pattern. For example, the bonding adhesive can be dispensed on the
solar cells 300 in a pattern 301 as illustrated in FIG. 3. However,
the pattern 301 of the bonding adhesive is not limited, as long as
the solar cells can be bonded to the flexible support. Instead of
dispensing the bonding adhesive on back of the solar cells 300 as
illustrated in FIG. 3, the bonding adhesive can also be dispensed
on top of a support. It is preferable that the bonding adhesive's
viscosity ranges between 1000 millipascal-second and 50000
millipascal-second.
[0026] In step S203, the solar cell component is laid down onto the
support. The solar cell component is aligned with the support, in
order to leave uniform borders of 0.003 inch to 0.2 inch in width
of the support extending beyond the edges of the solar cell
component. It is more preferable to make the border width range
between 0.003 inch to 0.1 inch, 0.003 inch to 0.05 inch, 0.005 inch
to 0.025 inch or even 0.010 inch to 0.025 inch.
[0027] The solar cell component is bonded with the flexible support
with the bonding adhesive. If a solar cell is bowing, the flexible
support conforms to the bow of the solar cell. Accordingly, the
bonding adhesive has roughly uniform thickness under a solar cell.
A part of bonding adhesive flows to the borders of the flexible
support. Since the flexible support conforms to the bow of the
solar cell, the space between the solar cell and the support does
not vary significantly between the case of a relatively bigger bow
and the case of a relatively small bow. Accordingly, the amount of
bonding adhesive flew to the border does not vary significantly
between the case of a relatively bigger bow and the case of a
relatively small bow. Because of the particularly designed uniform
borders of 0.003 inch to 0.2 inch in width extending beyond the
edges of the solar cell component, the fluid bonding adhesive wicks
and stays adjacent the edges of the solar cell by surface tension.
Accordingly, the particularly designed uniform borders of 0.003
inch to 0.2 inch in width help to prevent the fluid bonding
adhesive from flowing away from the edges.
[0028] After the step of S203, another optional step S204 can also
be performed. In step S204, the solar cell is weighted to
facilitate the flowing of the bonding adhesive.
[0029] FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C schematically illustrate the
configuration of the solar cell assembly obtained by above
preferable method. FIG. 4A illustrates a case that a solar cell is
not bowing. FIG. 4B illustrates the case that a solar cell has a
relatively bigger bow. FIG. 4C illustrates the case that a solar
cell has a relatively smaller bow. Although the solar cell
component is illustrated as one solar cell in FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C,
it should be understood that the solar cell component can be in
various forms. For example, the solar cell component can be a
coverglass-interconnect-cell (CIC) assembly, a string of solar
cells or a string of CICs, instead of one solar cell. Although not
illustrated, each solar cell component may include multiple
mechanical standoffs on its back side. For example, the multiple
mechanical standoffs are interconnects or shims.
[0030] In each of FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C, the bonding adhesive between
the solar cell component and the support has a rough uniform
thickness. The flexible supports conform to the bows of the solar
cells, regardless of the degrees of bowing of the solar cells.
[0031] In all cases as illustrated by FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C, the
flexible support have uniform borders extending beyond the solar
cells of 0.003 inch to 0.2 inch in width. A part of the bonding
adhesive flows to the border of the support extending beyond the
solar cell. This part of bonding adhesive wicks and stay adjacent
the edges of the solar cell by surface tension, instead of flowing
away from the edges.
[0032] FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a further preferable
embodiment of the method of bonding a solar cell component to a
flexible support according to this invention.
[0033] This embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5 is similar to that as
illustrated in FIG. 2, except that the bonding adhesive includes
rigid particles of uniform size. It is preferable that the rigid
particles are spheres or rough spheres. The rigid particles can be
made of rigid material, such as glass. The material of the
particles is not limited, as long as the particle is rigid.
[0034] FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C are simplified views schematically
illustrating the configurations of the solar cell assemblies
obtained by the further preferable method.
[0035] As illustrated by FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C, the rigid particles
of uniform size function to support the solar cells on the support.
Accordingly, the uniform size of the rigid particles further
facilitates to ensure a uniform thickness of the bonding adhesive,
regardless of the degrees of bowing of the solar cells. As a
result, the amount of bonding adhesive flew to the border of the
support can be controlled better.
[0036] Moreover, the terms "front," "back," "top," "bottom,"
"over," "under" and the like in the description and in the claims,
if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for
describing permanent relative positions. It is understood that the
terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances
such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are,
for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those
illustrated or otherwise described herein.
[0037] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that
boundaries between the above described operations merely
illustrative. The multiple units/operations may be combined into a
single unit/operation, a single unit/operation may be distributed
in additional units/operations, and units/operations may be
operated at least partially overlapping in time. Moreover,
alternative embodiments may include multiple instances of a
particular unit/operation, and the order of operations may be
altered in various other embodiments.
[0038] In the claims, the word `comprising` or `having` does not
exclude the presence of other elements or steps then those listed
in a claim. The terms "a" or "an," as used herein, are defined as
one or more than one. Also, the use of introductory phrases such as
"at least one" and "one or more" in the claims should not be
construed to imply that the introduction of another claim element
by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim
containing such introduced claim element to inventions containing
only one such element, even when the same claim includes the
introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite
articles such as "a" or "an." The same holds true for the use of
definite articles. Unless stated otherwise, terms such as "first"
and "second" are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the
elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily
intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such
elements. The fact that certain measures are recited in mutually
different claims does not indicate that a combination of these
measures cannot be used to advantage.
[0039] The present invention can be embodied in various ways. The
above described orders of the steps for the methods are only
intended to be illustrative, and the steps of the methods of the
present disclosure are not limited to the above specifically
described orders unless otherwise specifically stated. Note that
the embodiments of the present disclosure can be freely combined
with each other without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention.
[0040] Although some specific embodiments of the present invention
have been demonstrated in detail with examples, it should be
understood by a person skilled in the art that the above examples
are only intended to be illustrative but not to limit the scope of
the present invention. It should be understood that the above
embodiments can be modified without departing from the scope and
spirit of the present invention which are to be defined by the
attached claims.
* * * * *