JP2001358354A - Method and apparatus for manufacturing thin-film solar cell module - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of a thin-film solar cell module which improve the workability and mounting accuracy of auxiliary wiring and prevent curling of a solar cell, thereby improving mass productivity as a whole. I do. An auxiliary wiring sheet is formed by laminating an auxiliary wiring having a conductive adhesive on one side and an insulating coating layer on the other side on a release sheet by adding an automatic line for auxiliary wiring to the conventional method. 35 is unwound from a roll 26, and a heat release film 36 unwound from a different roll 27 is pressed against the insulating coating layer by a press roll 37 to form a sheet 36a.
Create The sheet 36 from which the release sheet has been removed and the conductive adhesive has been exposed is superimposed on a predetermined position on the first film 21 and the auxiliary wiring is adhered to the predetermined position with the conductive adhesive. In the heating roll 38, the heating roll 38 is peeled and removed by heating. Finally, all the materials are thermocompressed in the thermocompression unit 25.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of connecting a plurality of solar cell units, each having a plurality of solar cells connected in series on a film substrate having electrical insulation, to a main output positive and negative wiring and an auxiliary wiring. For manufacturing a thin-film solar cell module in which the solar cell unit, the main wiring and the auxiliary wiring are thermocompression-bonded via an adhesive layer between a front surface protection material and a back surface protection material. And equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, research and development of clean energy are being promoted from the standpoint of environmental protection. Above all, solar cells are attracting attention because of their infinite resources (solar rays) and no pollution. A typical example of a solar cell (photoelectric conversion device) in which a plurality of solar cell elements formed on the same substrate are connected in series is a thin-film solar cell.

The above-mentioned thin-film solar cell is formed by laminating a thin first electrode layer (lower electrode layer), a photoelectric conversion layer, and a second electrode layer (transparent electrode layer) on a flexible electrically insulating film substrate. A plurality of photoelectric conversion elements are formed. By repeatedly electrically connecting the first electrode of a certain photoelectric conversion element and the second electrode of the adjacent photoelectric conversion element, the first electrode of the first photoelectric conversion element and the second electrode of the last photoelectric conversion element are repeatedly connected.
A voltage required for the electrodes can be output.

[0004] Amorphous silicon solar cells formed on a flexible insulating substrate such as a plastic film are light and flexible, and hard and heavy solar cells such as conventional crystalline solar cells and glass substrate amorphous silicon solar cells. A wide variety of applications are expected because of ease of use different from batteries. Since the plastic film is supplied by a roll, it is easy to increase the throughput of the manufacturing process by the roll-to-roll method, and is suitable for mass production. In the case of a thin-film solar cell, a structure in which a series connection structure is formed on one substrate so that a single solar cell can obtain a voltage high enough to directly connect to a 200 V input inverter can be easily obtained. can get.

[0005] Since the above-mentioned thin-film solar cell is installed outdoors, for example, ethylene vinyl acetate (EV) is used for the purpose of securing weather resistance and preventing damage during the installation work.
It is sealed with a moisture-proof film made of a fluororesin having higher weather resistance, for example, ETFE (ethylene / tetrafluoroethylene copolymer) via an adhesive such as A).

FIG. 3 shows an example of a solar cell module laminated with a moisture-proof film. FIG. 3A is a perspective plan view, and FIG. 3B is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 3A. Solar cell units 1 arranged at predetermined intervals
Reference numeral 3 denotes two main wirings 11 and 12 arranged on both outer sides thereof.
And an auxiliary wiring 16 with a conductive adhesive connected to the back electrode (thin film electrode) of the solar cell unit 13 together with an adhesive (E
VA) 3, a mesh-like plastic fiber 6 and a moisture-proof film 4 made of a highly weather-resistant fluorine film, for example, ETFE (ethylene / tetrafluoroethylene copolymer)
And the side opposite to the light receiving side (non-light receiving side) is EV
The ETFE film 4 is laminated and sealed via A3.

In the above description, for example, the size of the thin-film solar cell unit 13 is 40 cm × 80 cm, a wire made of a solder-coated copper material having a width of about 10 mm and a thickness of 100 μm is used, and as an auxiliary wire, , About 1 width
An aluminum tape with a conductive adhesive having a thickness of 0 mm and a thickness of 50 μm is used. This auxiliary wiring is provided with an insulating coating layer of, for example, PTE (polyethylene terephthalate) on the side opposite to the conductive adhesive, and a release sheet is laminated on the surface of the conductive adhesive to perform electrical connection. The release sheet is removed, and the electrical connection is performed simultaneously with the mechanical connection by the conductive adhesive.

The thin-film solar cell unit, the main wiring and the auxiliary wiring are thermocompression-bonded between the surface protection material and the back surface protection material via an adhesive layer, as described above, to produce a long roll. It is possible to do.

The laminated body is subjected to a vacuum heat treatment at, for example, 150 ° C. to perform cross-linking and curing of EVA.
Also, ETFE is bonded. Thereby, the safety of the electrical connection between the back electrode of the solar cell, the auxiliary wiring 16 and the main wirings 11 and 12 can be ensured. In addition, the solar cell module M including the predetermined number of solar cell units 13 is obtained by cutting the long laminated body at the CC section in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of an apparatus for manufacturing a solar cell module as described above. Referring to FIG. 4, an outline of a conventional manufacturing method will be described below. First film 21 with surface protection film and adhesive stuck together
Is unwound from the unwinding roll 17 with the adhesive layer facing upward, two main wirings 22 are unwound from a different roll 19 on the first film, and the two main wirings are unrolled from the first film. Is adhered to a predetermined position on the adhesive layer.

Next, between the two main wirings 22 on the unwound first film 21, a thin-film solar cell unit 23 is provided.
Are installed sequentially. After that, the + end 14 and the + main wiring 11 of the solar cell unit 23 and the − end 15 and the − main wiring 12 of the solar cell unit are connected by the auxiliary wiring 16. Next, the second film 24 on which the back surface protective film and the adhesive are bonded is unwound from the roll 20 with the adhesive layer facing downward, and all the materials are thermocompression-bonded in the thermocompression bonding unit 25, and the thin film solar cell The module is completed, and is taken up on a take-up roll 18. In FIG. 4, 51 and 52 are:
2 shows a roller for press-fit conveyance.

[0012]

However, the conventional method for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell module as described above has the following problems.

First, as described above, the auxiliary wiring is provided with, for example, a PTE insulating coating layer on the side opposite to the conductive adhesive, and a release sheet is laminated on the surface of the conductive adhesive to perform electrical connection. In such a case, since the release sheet is removed and the electrical connection is made simultaneously with the mechanical connection by the conductive adhesive, the work of attaching the auxiliary wiring has been a manual work. Therefore, mass productivity of the thin-film solar cell module is poor, and there is a problem in accuracy.

Further, since a thin-film solar cell having a plastic substrate as a substrate is easily curled, there is a problem that it is difficult to sufficiently adhere to the first film, and it is difficult to position and hold the solar cell.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to improve workability and mounting accuracy of auxiliary wiring, prevent curling of a solar cell, and improve mass productivity as a whole. To provide a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a thin film solar cell module.

[0016]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a solar cell unit comprising a plurality of solar cells connected in series on an electrically insulating film substrate. And the main wiring and the auxiliary wiring are thermocompression-bonded via an adhesive layer between the front surface protection material and the back surface protection material. The method for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell module according to the present invention includes the following steps (the invention of claim 1). 1) The surface protection material (first film) provided with the adhesive layer was unwound from a roll and unwound from a different roll.
A step of bonding the main wiring of the book to a predetermined position on the adhesive layer of the first film 2) a step of sequentially disposing solar cell units on the adhesive layer of the first film 3) one side An auxiliary wiring sheet comprising a conductive pressure-sensitive adhesive and an insulating coating layer on the other side is disposed and laminated on a release sheet via a conductive pressure-sensitive adhesive. The released thermal release film,
A step of forming an auxiliary wiring sheet with a heat-releasing film by pressing the insulating wiring layer of the auxiliary wiring with a press roll. 4) After removing the release sheet from the auxiliary wiring and removing the auxiliary wiring sheet with a heat-releasing film, 2) The auxiliary wiring is superimposed on a predetermined position on the first film after the step 2), and the auxiliary wiring is bonded to the solar cell unit and the main wiring by the conductive adhesive, and subsequently heated by a heating roll. 5) Step of removing the heat-peelable film 5) Unwinding the back surface protective material (second film) provided with the adhesive layer from the roll, and the first step after the step 4)
The step of laminating on the solar cell unit and the main wiring and the auxiliary wiring adhered on the film of 6) 6) The step of thermocompression bonding the laminate obtained in the step 5) and winding it up. According to the method, the auxiliary wiring material unwound from the roll is brought into contact with the heat release film unwound from the roll by a press roll, whereby the auxiliary wiring material is transferred from the release sheet to the heat release film, and this is further predetermined. At the position of, align the + side or-side main wiring with the + end or-end of the thin film solar cell unit,
By passing through a heating roll maintained at a predetermined temperature, the auxiliary wiring material can be transferred from the heat release film to the first film side, and the above-described problems of the workability and the mounting accuracy of the auxiliary wiring can be solved.

In the manufacturing method according to the first aspect, in the step (3), when the heat-peelable film is pressed on the auxiliary wiring of the auxiliary wiring sheet by a press roll, the heat-releasing film is distributed by the step (2). The press roll is pressed against the first film to flatten the provided solar cell unit (the invention of claim 2).
Is more preferable. This can solve the problem that the curl of the solar cell is flattened by pressing and it is difficult to position and hold the solar cell.

Further, the following method is preferable as an embodiment of the first or second aspect of the present invention. That is, in the manufacturing method according to claim 1 or 2, the heating temperature in the step of removing the thermal release film is 90 ° C to 1 ° C.
The temperature is set to 10 ° C. (the invention of claim 3).

Further, as a manufacturing apparatus for carrying out the above method, the invention of claim 4 is preferable. That is, a plurality of solar cell units, each having a plurality of solar cells connected in series on a film substrate having electrical insulation, are connected in parallel to output positive and negative main wirings via auxiliary wirings, and In a device for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell module in which a battery unit, a main wiring, and an auxiliary wiring are thermocompression-bonded between a front surface protection material and a back surface protection material via an adhesive layer, a front surface having an adhesive layer is provided. A means for transporting and bonding two main wirings to a predetermined position on the adhesive layer of the protective material (first film), and an auxiliary having a conductive adhesive on one side and an insulating coating layer on the other side. Wiring, on the insulating coating layer of the auxiliary wiring sheet obtained by arranging and laminating on a release sheet via a conductive adhesive, a means for pressure-bonding a thermal release film to form an auxiliary wiring sheet with a thermal release film, Auxiliary wiring sheet with thermal release film After peeling and removing the release sheet, the auxiliary wiring is bonded to the solar cell unit and the main wiring with the conductive adhesive, and subsequently heated by a heating roll to remove the thermal release film; Means for laminating a back surface protective material (second film) provided with an agent layer on a solar cell unit or main wiring and auxiliary wiring adhered on the first film, and means for thermocompression bonding the laminate. Shall be provided.

In the apparatus, various modifications are possible within the scope of the technical concept of the present invention, for example, the means for heating and film transport need not necessarily be a roll.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a solar cell module manufacturing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention. FIG.
Is a view corresponding to FIG. 4. In FIG. 1, the same members as those in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. The difference between FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 is that FIG.
Automation line for auxiliary wiring (part numbers 26, 27, 35, 35
a, 36, 37, and 38). Referring to FIG. 1, the manufacturing procedure according to the first aspect of the present invention will be described below.

First, the first film 21 on which the surface protective material and the adhesive layer are bonded is unwound from the unwinding roll 17 with the adhesive layer facing upward, and has a width of about 10 mm made of a solder-coated copper material. Two main wirings 22 having a thickness of 100 μm
Is unwound onto the first film and adhered in place. Next, on the adhesive layer of the unwound first film 21 and between the two main wirings 22, a thin-film solar cell unit 23 having a serial connection structure formed on a flexible substrate is sequentially placed. Install.

Next, an auxiliary wiring having a conductive adhesive on one side and an insulating coating layer (PET) on the other side is provided and laminated on a release sheet via the conductive adhesive. The sheet 35 is unwound from the roll 26, and a different roll 27
The heat releasing film 36 unwound from the above is pressed against the insulating coating layer of the auxiliary wiring by a press roll 37 to form an auxiliary wiring sheet 36a with a heat releasing film.

The auxiliary wiring is an aluminum tape (thickness: 50 to 1 μm) with a conductive adhesive (thickness: 25 to 50 μm) having a width of about 10 mm.
00 μm). The auxiliary wiring sheet 35 becomes 36a when the PET is bonded to the heat release film 36, and the heating roll 3
Before the heating roll 38 is reached, the release sheet is removed by applying a release force to the release sheet by a release unit (not shown).

Subsequently, the auxiliary wiring sheet 36 with the heat-releasable film from which the release sheet has been removed and the conductive adhesive has been exposed on the surface is superimposed on a predetermined position on the first film 21 so that the auxiliary wiring is covered by the sun. The conductive adhesive is applied over the battery unit and the main wiring. At this time, the position of the auxiliary wiring is adjusted to the position connecting the + end and the + main wiring of the thin film solar cell unit 23 and the position connecting the − end and the − main wiring of the thin film solar cell unit.

Thermal release film 36a with auxiliary wiring attached
Is a heating roll 38 maintained at a temperature of 90 ° C. to 110 ° C.
At this time, the adhesive loses its adhesive force by heating and is removed by a peeling means (not shown).

Next, the second film 24 on which the back surface protective material and the adhesive layer are bonded is placed on the roll 2 with the adhesive layer facing downward.
Then, all the materials are thermocompression-bonded in the thermocompression bonding section 25 to complete the thin-film solar cell module, and the module is taken up by the take-up roll 18.

In the above, as the heat release film 36, "Riba Alpha" manufactured by Nitto Denko was used.
“Riba Alpha” is a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet, which has an adhesive strength of 0 at 90 ° C. or higher for PET film, and has an adhesive strength of 0 at a temperature of 100 ° C. within 1 second or less.
Is a heat-peelable film having the property of

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an apparatus for manufacturing a solar cell module according to the second aspect of the present invention. FIG.
In FIG. 7, the same members as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. The difference between FIG. 2 and FIG.
In FIG. 2, the press roll 47 in the auxiliary wiring automation line is provided after the step of sequentially arranging the solar cell units in FIG. 1 and provided on the first film transport line. .

Thus, when the heat-peelable film 36 is pressed on the auxiliary wiring of the auxiliary wiring sheet by the press roll 47, the solar cell unit disposed in the preceding stage is converted into the first film by the press roll 47. Thus, even if curl exists in the solar cell, the solar cell is flattened by the press, and the above-described problem of difficulty in positioning and holding the solar cell can be solved.

[0032]

According to the present invention, as described above, a plurality of solar battery units each having a plurality of solar battery cells connected in series on an electrically insulating film substrate are connected to the positive and negative output main wirings. And a thin film solar cell module in which the solar cell unit, the main wiring and the auxiliary wiring are thermocompression-bonded via an adhesive layer between a front surface protection material and a back surface protection material. 1) Unwinding a surface protective material (first film) provided with an adhesive layer from a roll and unwinding from a different roll
A step of bonding the main wiring of the book to a predetermined position on the adhesive layer of the first film 2) a step of sequentially disposing solar cell units on the adhesive layer of the first film 3) one side An auxiliary wiring sheet comprising a conductive pressure-sensitive adhesive and an insulating coating layer on the other side is disposed and laminated on a release sheet via a conductive pressure-sensitive adhesive. The released thermal release film,
A step of forming an auxiliary wiring sheet with a heat-releasing film by pressing the insulating wiring layer of the auxiliary wiring with a press roll. 4) After removing the release sheet from the auxiliary wiring and removing the auxiliary wiring sheet with a heat-releasing film, 2) The auxiliary wiring is superimposed on a predetermined position on the first film after the step 2), and the auxiliary wiring is bonded to the solar cell unit and the main wiring by the conductive adhesive, and subsequently heated by a heating roll. 5) Step of removing the heat-peelable film 5) Unwinding the back surface protective material (second film) provided with the adhesive layer from the roll, and the first step after the step 4)
6) a step of laminating on the solar cell unit and the main wiring and the auxiliary wiring adhered on the film, 6) a step of thermocompression bonding the laminate obtained in the step 5), and a step of winding the laminate. In the step 3), when the heat release film is pressed on the auxiliary wiring of the auxiliary wiring sheet by a press roll, the press roll is used to flatten the solar cell unit disposed in the step 2). As a result, the workability and the mounting accuracy of the auxiliary wiring can be improved, the curl of the solar cell can be prevented, and the mass productivity can be improved as a whole.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an apparatus for manufacturing a solar cell module according to the invention of claim 1;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an apparatus for manufacturing a solar cell module according to the invention of claim 2;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a solar cell module.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional solar cell module manufacturing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

3: adhesive, 4: moisture-proof film, 11, 12, 22: main wiring, 13, 23: solar cell unit, 16: auxiliary wiring, 17: unwind roll, 18: take-up roll, 2
1: First film, 24: Second film, 35: Auxiliary wiring sheet, 36: Thermal release film, 36a: Auxiliary wiring sheet with thermal release film, 37, 47: Press roll, 38: Heating roll, 25: Thermocompression section.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of solar battery units each having a plurality of solar battery cells connected in series on a film substrate having electrical insulation properties are connected in parallel to output positive and negative main wirings via auxiliary wirings. In a method of manufacturing a thin-film solar cell module in which the solar cell unit, the main wiring and the auxiliary wiring are thermocompression-bonded between a surface protection material and a back surface protection material via an adhesive layer, the following steps are included. A method for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell module, comprising: 1) The surface protection material (first film) provided with the adhesive layer was unwound from a roll and unwound from a different roll.
A step of bonding the main wiring of the book to a predetermined position on the adhesive layer of the first film 2) a step of sequentially disposing solar cell units on the adhesive layer of the first film 3) one side An auxiliary wiring sheet comprising a conductive pressure-sensitive adhesive and an insulating coating layer on the other side is disposed and laminated on a release sheet via a conductive pressure-sensitive adhesive. The released thermal release film,
A step of forming an auxiliary wiring sheet with a heat-releasing film by pressing the insulating wiring layer of the auxiliary wiring with a press roll. 4) After removing the release sheet from the auxiliary wiring and removing the auxiliary wiring sheet with a heat-releasing film, 2) The auxiliary wiring is superimposed on a predetermined position on the first film after the step 2), and the auxiliary wiring is bonded to the solar cell unit and the main wiring by the conductive adhesive, and subsequently heated by a heating roll. 5) Step of removing the heat-peelable film 5) Unwinding the back surface protective material (second film) provided with the adhesive layer from the roll, and the first step after the step 4)
6) A step of laminating on the solar cell unit and the main wiring and the auxiliary wiring adhered on the film 6) A step of thermocompression bonding the laminate obtained in the step 5) and winding it up 2. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein in the step 3), when the heat-peelable film is pressed on the auxiliary wiring of the auxiliary wiring sheet by a press roll,
A method for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell module, comprising pressing the first film with the press roll to flatten the solar cell unit provided in the step 2). 3. The method for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell module according to claim 1, wherein the heating temperature in the step of removing the heat-peelable film is 90 ° C. to 110 ° C. 4. A plurality of solar cell units, each having a plurality of solar cells connected in series on a film substrate having electrical insulation, are connected in parallel to output positive and negative main wirings via auxiliary wirings. An apparatus for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell module, wherein the solar cell unit, the main wiring, and the auxiliary wiring are thermocompression-bonded between a surface protection material and a back surface protection material via an adhesive layer. Surface protection material (1st
Means for transporting and bonding the two main wirings to predetermined positions on the adhesive layer of the film), and a conductive adhesive on one side,
An auxiliary wiring having an insulating coating layer on the other side is disposed and laminated on a release sheet via a conductive adhesive. Means for making an auxiliary wiring sheet with, after peeling off the release sheet in the auxiliary wiring sheet with a heat release film, the auxiliary wiring is adhered by the conductive adhesive across the solar cell unit and the main wiring, and subsequently Means for removing the heat release film by heating with a heating roll, and a solar cell unit, main wiring, and an auxiliary member having a back surface protective material (second film) provided with an adhesive layer adhered on the first film; An apparatus for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell module, comprising: means for laminating on a wiring; and means for thermocompression bonding the laminate.