ACHIEVING FASTER LAMINATION PROCESS FOR CRYSTALLINE PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULES BY USING LATEST LAMINATION TECHNOLOGIES

摘要

The lamination process is the most critical process of the photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing. It decides the end-product quality of the PV module [1]. The present lamination process time in the PV market for glass-backsheet (GB) and glass-glass (GG) modules with ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulant are around 7.5 to 15 minutes, depending on the single step or two-step process. The module components play an important part in module quality, and one of the main components is the encapsulant. In this paper, EVA encapsulant is used for testing and improving the process, as still more than 90% of PV market is captured by EVA [2]. The paper is focused on methods and fundamentals to reduce the lamination process time by 20% while maintaining or achieving the same or better quality of the module respectively. Several tests like cross-linking, gel content, temperature measurement, electroluminescence test, and edge thickness measurement were performed. Finally, the reduction in manufacturing cost per module due to process time improvement will be calculated and presented for both GB and GG modules.