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US 2009/0260671 A1Published application
Systems and methods of parallel interconnection of photovoltaic modules
AssigneeFirst Solar, Inc.
InventorsRoger Thomas Green, John Kenneth Christiansen, Ricky C. Powell, Michael David Ross
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A photovoltaic system includes a first submodule and a second submodule connected in parallel.
Claims69
A photovoltaic system comprising:
- a transparent conductive layer on a substrate;
- and
- a first submodule and a second submodule connected in parallel and contacting the transparent conductive layer through a shared cell, the first submodule having an electrical contact region including a first trench pattern, wherein the first trench pattern is a pattern of photovoltaic cells connected in series and a last cell in the series is the shared cell.
A method of manufacturing a system including:
- providing a transparent conductive layer on a substrate;
- contacting a first submodule and a second submodule with the transparent conductive layer through a shared cell, the first submodule and second submodule being connected in parallel, the first submodule having an electrical contact region including a first trench pattern, wherein the first trench pattern is a pattern of photovoltaic cells connected in series and a last cell in the series is the shared cell.
A photovoltaic structure including:
- a semiconductor layer on a transparent conductive layer, the semiconductor layer having a scribe pattern that forms a cell;
- a metal layer over the cell;
- and
- a first and second electrical contact between the transparent conductive layer and the metal layer.
1 more element
A method of forming a photovoltaic structure including:
- depositing a semiconductor layer over a transparent conductive layer;
- scribing the semiconductor layer to form a cell, the cell comprising a semiconductor material shared by two parallel connected submodules;
- and
- metallizing the cell.
1 more element
A method of forming a photovoltaic structure including:
- depositing a semiconductor layer over a transparent conductive layer;
- scribing a semiconductor layer to form a cell;
- placing a metal layer over the cell;
- and
- forming two electrical contacts between the transparent conductive layer and the metal layer.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.