APPLICATION OF INTELLIGENT MATERIALS TO THE DESIGN OF SOLAR MODULES FOR THEIRACTIVE DISASSEMBLY AND THE RECYCLING AND REUSE OF THEIR COMPONENTS

摘要

The photovoltaic market started to take off around 30 years ago. As this is precisely the working lifetime of a photovoltaic module, it is nowadays that we are disposing the first end-life photovoltaic modules. In thenext future the amount of waste generated from photovoltaic modules will grow exponentially and it hence is ofabsolute importance to define a policy to deal with this waste. The MINERVA project addresses the issue ofrecycling and revaluing end-life photovoltaic modules. Several recycling techniques have been investigated formodules built with the current crystalline silicon technology. In addition, research has been conducted in order todesign a new module which can be easily disassembled in an automatic and efficient process. Intelligent materialswith response to chosen stimuli have been used in the design of the module.