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US 12,701,792 B2Granted
PV laminate with shingled PV cells and methods of assembly
OwnerMingchong Dai, Jianfang Si +4inventors
InventorsMingchong Dai, Jianfang Si, Qiang Zhang, Hongshuai Xu, Jialin Shen, Nicholas Berry
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Abstract
A PV laminate and methods of assembly are provided. The PV cells of exemplary PV laminates may comprise a shingled linear array of PV cells where one or more spacers are employed near the connections between adjacent PV cells of the linear array. These spacers can serve to reduce stresses during assembly of the PV laminate and may be later substantially subsumed in encapsulant once assembly of the PV laminate is completed.
Claims16
A process of assembling a PV laminate, the process comprising:
- positioning a PV laminate back sheet and a first PV laminate encapsulant sheet into a PV laminate encapsulation work area;
- positioning a first back-side spacer into the PV laminate encapsulation work area;
- the first back-side spacer having a length,
- after positioning the first back-side spacer, placing a plurality of overlapping linear arrays of PV cells into the encapsulation work area, wherein once positioned, the first back-side spacer extends above or below each of the linear arrays of the plurality of linear arrays, the first back-side spacer having a lateral width smaller than a lateral width of an individual PV cell of the plurality of overlapping linear arrays of PV cells, wherein a first linear array of the plurality of overlapping linear arrays of PV cells comprises a first PV cell, and a second linear array of the plurality of overlapping linear arrays of PV cells comprises a second PV cell, the first linear array being shingled over the second linear array, the first PV cell having a light receiving side, and the second PV cell having a light receiving side;
- after positioning the plurality of overlapping linear arrays of PV cells,
- positioning a first front-side spacer over the first linear array, the first front-side spacer having a length, the first front-side spacer having a lateral width smaller than a lateral width of an individual PV cell of the plurality of overlapping linear arrays of PV cells;
- positioning a second PV laminate encapsulant sheet and a PV laminate front sheet over the plurality of overlapping linear arrays of PV cells in the encapsulation work area;
- applying heat to at least a portion of the PV laminate encapsulation work area;
- and applying pressure to press the PV laminate back sheet and the PV laminate front sheet towards each other.
6 more elements
A process of assembling a PV laminate, the process comprising:
- positioning a PV laminate back sheet and a first PV laminate encapsulant into a PV laminate encapsulation work area;
- placing a first linear array of shingled PV cells in the encapsulation work area, the first linear array comprising a first PV cell and a second PV cell, the first PV cell having a light receiving side, the light receiving side having a portion that overlaps and is positioned above the second PV cell;
- positioning a first front-side spacer in the encapsulation work area and above the first PV cell, the first front-side spacer having an elongated shape and extending across a width of the first linear array of shingled PV cells, and the first front-side spacer having a lateral width smaller than a lateral width of an individual PV cell of the first linear array of shingled PV cells;
- positioning a second PV laminate encapsulant and a PV laminate front sheet over the first front-side spacer and over the first linear array of shingled PV cells;
- applying heat to the PV laminate encapsulation work area;
- and
- applying pressure to press the PV laminate back sheet and the PV laminate front sheet towards each other.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.