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US 2019/0165196 A1Published application
Methods of hermetically sealing photovoltaic modules
AssigneeFirst Solar, Inc.
InventorMarkus Eberhard Beck
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Abstract
In various embodiments, photovoltaic modules are hermetically sealed by providing a first glass sheet, a photovoltaic device disposed on the first glass sheet, and a second glass sheet, a gap being defined between the first and second glass sheets, disposing a glass powder within the gap, and heating the powder to seal the glass sheets.
Claims22
-20. (canceled)
A method of hermetically sealing a photovoltaic module, the method comprising:
- providing a structure comprising:
- a first glass sheet,
- disposed on the first glass sheet, a photovoltaic device configured to absorb at least a portion of a solar spectrum and convert the at least a portion of the solar spectrum into electricity,
- a second glass sheet disposed over the photovoltaic device, the first glass sheet and the second glass sheet thereby defining a gap at least a portion of which is spanned by the photovoltaic device, and
- a powder consisting essentially of glass disposed within the gap at an edge region proximate an edge of at least one of the first glass sheet or the second glass sheet, the powder being free of glass frit, frit material, organic fillers, binders, solvents, and lead;
- and
- thereafter, heating the powder within the gap to seal the first and second glass sheets at the edge region with a layer of melted glass powder.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.