Repaired solar panel and method of preparing same

#This application claims the priority of German patent document 101 30 441.1, filed Aug. 10, 2001, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein, and is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/214,729, filed Aug. 9, 2002.

#The invention relates to a method for repairing solar a cell panel.

#Heretofore, the repair of a solar cell panel with one or more defective solar cells, solar cell modules or solar cell strings has conventionally been accomplished by the complete removal and replacement of the defective cell or cells (sometimes referred to as a solar cell array), as described, for example, in German Patent Document DE 1 927 387. Moreover, German Patent Document DE 2 113 410 describes a repair-friendly arrangement of solar cells, in which a defective cell can easily be removed from a module or string of solar cells. Furthermore, German Patent Document DE 195 39 699 C2 describes the utilization of defective solar modules of a laminated construction, in which the solar cells are delaminated and the solar cell module is disassembled into its components. This state of the art in each case requires a relatively high-expenditure intrusion into the solar cell panel or into the solar cells, such that the resulting repaired solar cell panels may suffer damage.

#FIG. 1 is a broken away view of a cutout of a solar cell panel with a defective solar cell;

#FIG. 2 is a broken away sectional view of a cutout of the solar cell panel in FIG. 1, with a replacement solar cell prepared for priming; and

#FIG. 3 is a broken away sectional view of a solar panel prepared according to the invention.

#The broken away portion of a solar cell panel 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 shows a defective solar cell 2 and its electrical integration between two adjacent intact solar cells 3 and 4. Here, solar cells are particularly also solar cell assemblies (SCAs) consisting of a solar cell, a solar cell connector and cover glass. The electrical series connection of the solar cells takes place in a known manner by means of n-connectors 5 and p-connectors 6, several connectors in each case being combined to a welding island. (In the illustrated embodiment, these are 4 n- or p-connectors per welding island.) The solar cells illustrated in FIG. 1, for example, each have three welding islands for n- and p-connectors. However, instead of individual solar cells 2, 3, 4, a plurality of solar cells can also be provided in each case; for example, a complete solar cell module or a solar cell string or another defined grouped plurality of solar cells.

#A repaired solar cell panel 1 corresponding to the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 3 and will be explained in greater detail hereinafter. Such a repaired solar cell panel 1 can then, for example, be produced as follows:

#First, the solar cell panel 1 is covered by means of a Kapton foil which is cut out over the defective solar cell or cells 2. The window edges of the Kapton foil are glued, for example, by means of an adhesive tape onto the adjacent intact solar cells 3, 4. Subsequently, the n- and p-connectors are exposed at the defective solar cell or cells 2. For this purpose, for example, the cover glass 7 can be partially removed over the welding islands of the n-connectors 5. In this case, on the welding islands of the p-connectors 6, the defective solar cell or cells 2 may be partially removed, starting from the cover glass down to the p-connectors 6 in the area of the welding islands. The webs of the exposed n- and p-connectors are separated and bent up.