Method and apparatus for manufacturing lead wire for solar cell
AssigneeNeturen Co., Ltd.
InventorsYoshiki Seto, Kunihiro Kobayashi, Nobumoto Ishiki, Hisaaki Watanabe
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing a lead wire for a solar cell includes heating a wire material by a direct resistance heating or by an induction heating to reduce a 0.2% proof stress of the wire material while conveying the wire material and plating the wire material that is in a heated condition obtained by the direct resistance heating or by the induction heating while further conveying the wire material. An apparatus is configured to implement the method, and includes a plating bath, a conveyor mechanism configured to convey the wire material, a heater configured to heat the wire material, and a controller configured to control the conveyor mechanism and the heater.
Claims4
An apparatus for manufacturing a lead wire for a solar cell, the apparatus comprising:
- a plating bath configured to contain a molten plating solution;
- a conveyor mechanism configured to convey a wire material along a conveying path, the conveyor mechanism comprising a turning conveyor roll disposed inside the plating bath, a feeding conveyor roll disposed upstream of the plating bath, and a pulling-up conveyor roll disposed downstream of the plating bath;
- a heater configured to heat, by a direct resistance heating or by an induction heating, a portion of the wire material that is being conveyed by the conveyor mechanism between the feeding conveyor roll and the turning conveyor roll;
- and
- a controller configured to control the conveyor mechanism and the heater,
- wherein the controller controls a conveying speed of the wire material by the conveyor mechanism and an amount of power supply to the heater such that the wire material is heated to reduce a 0.2% proof stress of the wire material while conveying the wire material and such that the wire material, that is in a heated condition obtained by the direct resistance heating or by the induction heating, is dipped and plated in the plating solution while further conveying the wire material, and
- wherein the plating bath and the heater are arranged such that the wire material is plated directly after being heated by the heater.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.