JP2002144431A - Laminating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laminating apparatus having a pressurizing and heating means capable of effectively pressurizing and heating a material to be laminated without using a diaphragm for a pressurizing means of the material. SOLUTION: The laminating apparatus comprises a chamber formed to airtightly connect a lower chamber case 1 to an upper chamber case 2 and to house the material to be laminated, performing evacuation into vacuum in the chamber. The apparatus heats, pressurizes and laminates the material 11. The apparatus further comprises a support plate 3 installed in the case 1 to mount the material 11 on a upper surface, a heating plate 43 mounted in the case 2 to heat the material 11 so that one or both of the plate 3 or the plate 43 are vertically movably provided in the chamber to pressure and heat the material 11 in the chamber.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laminating apparatus for laminating an object to be laminated such as a solar cell module.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an apparatus for laminating a solar cell module, an object to be laminated is housed in an upper and lower split type chamber, the chamber is sealed, and the chamber is evacuated to remove the object to be laminated. After bubbling, heating,
2. Description of the Related Art A laminating apparatus for applying pressure is known. A heating apparatus uses a heating plate, and a heating means uses a heating / pressing means of supplying and exhausting gas to a diaphragm provided in a chamber. General.

A laminating apparatus using the above-mentioned diaphragm as a pressurizing means presses the diaphragm by introducing air into the diaphragm, so that it is possible to apply a uniform evenly distributed load to the object to be laminated. Since the diaphragm repeatedly expands and contracts each time it is processed, the diaphragm is easily damaged, and therefore needs to be replaced periodically. However, replacing the diaphragm requires not only labor and time, but also the need to interrupt the lamination itself, which reduces productivity and increases the cost of replacing the diaphragm.
This was causing the production cost to rise.

[0004] In the pressurization by the diaphragm, if the object to be laminated contains a filler which is heated and melted as in the case of a solar cell module, the object to be laminated is removed before the evacuation is completed. Since heating is performed by the heating plate, not only bubbles may remain, but also cell strings may be displaced because pressing may be performed after the filler is melted.

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned prior art, the present invention provides a pressurizing apparatus capable of effectively pressing and heating a laminated object without using a diaphragm as a pressing means for the laminated object. It is an object of the present invention to provide a laminating apparatus provided with a pressure / heating means.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The structure of the laminating apparatus according to the present invention, which has been made to solve the above problems, is as follows.
A lamination in which a body to be laminated is accommodated inside a chamber formed so that the lower chamber case and the upper chamber case can be hermetically bonded and the inside of the chamber is evacuated, and the body to be laminated is heated and pressed to perform lamination. In the apparatus, a support plate for mounting the object to be laminated is provided on the upper surface in the lower chamber case, and a heating plate for heating the object to be laminated is provided on the lower surface in the upper chamber case, and the support plate Alternatively, one or both of the heating plates are provided so as to be able to move up and down in the chamber so that the object to be laminated is pressurized and heated in the chamber. In this case, the heating plate surface is provided with a cushioning material having an air spring characteristic, and has a plurality of application points of the pressing force (transmission points of the pressing force by the driving source) in order to make the pressure distribution on the pressing surface uniform. It is desirable to form it as follows.

That is, in the laminating apparatus of the present invention, as an example, a support plate on which an object to be laminated is placed is installed on the upper surface in the lower chamber case, and a heating plate for heating the object to be laminated is installed on the lower surface in the upper chamber case. Installed, at least one of the support plate and the heating plate is provided so as to be able to move up and down in the chamber, and a cushioning material having an air spring characteristic is attached to the surface of the heating plate, so that excellent quality can be obtained without using a diaphragm. Laminate, pressurize,
A load that is distributed almost uniformly to the object to be laminated at the time of heating can be applied, and a high-quality laminated product can be obtained.

[0008]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where an object to be laminated is heated and pressed by an example of the laminating apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a solar cell module as an example of the object to be laminated.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a lower chamber case (hereinafter, referred to as a lower case), 2 denotes an upper chamber case (hereinafter, referred to as an upper case). On the upper surface side of the case 1, a laminated body 11 (solar cell module 11) to be described later is formed via a support plate 3. Reference numeral 4 denotes a heating means provided in the upper case 2, in which four fluid pressure cylinders 41 are arranged side by side so as to act on the heating surface at a substantially equal pitch. A heating plate 43 is integrally fixed to the tip of 42. The heating plate 43 has a cushioning material 44 having the characteristics of an air spring, such as damp tron (trade name), attached to the surface (lower surface) thereof. rod
The object to be laminated is
11 can be heated simultaneously with pressing. 5
Is a supply / exhaust hole provided in the lower case 1.

FIG. 2 schematically shows a cross section of a solar cell module 11 which is an example of an object to be laminated. The solar cell module 11 is provided between a moisture-proof sheet 12 made of vinyl fluoride or the like and a cover glass 13. The battery cell strings 16 are sandwiched between fillers 14 and 15 made of EVA resin or the like.

The step of laminating the solar cell module 11 illustrated in FIG. 2 using the laminating apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is as follows.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the upper case 2 is separated from the lower case 1 and the solar cell module 11 is placed on the upper surface of the support plate 3 of the lower case 1. By lowering or raising the lower case 1, the upper case 2 is placed on the lower case 1 to seal the entire chamber C, and the lower case 1 is evacuated through the suction and exhaust holes 5. By this evacuation, bubbles in the solar cell module 11 are removed.

Next, the heating plate 43 is driven, and at the same time, the cylinders 41 of the heating means 4 are driven.
By making contact with the upper surface of the solar cell module 11 via 44, the heating material 43 and the solar cell module 11 sandwiched between the support plates 3 are laminated.

As described above, when the solar cell module 11 is laminated, the outside air is supplied to the chamber C to separate the lower case 2 from the upper case 1, and the laminated solar cell module 11 is taken out.

Through the above steps, a high-quality solar cell module 11 having no bubbles inside can be obtained.
This is because the solar cell module 11 is evacuated without heating, and then the heating plate is
43 presses and heats the entire surface of the module 11 at substantially the same time, so that it is possible to prevent bubbles from remaining in the module 11 and, of course, to prevent so-called cell cracking and displacement of the cell strings 16 during lamination. Does not occur. In the above embodiment, the solar cell module 11 has been described as an example of the object to be laminated. However, the laminating apparatus of the present invention can be used for laminating various articles.

In the above embodiment, the heating plate 43 is raised and lowered by the plurality of fluid pressure cylinders 41 so as to function also as a pressure plate. In the present invention, the heating plate 43 is fixed in the upper case 2. The support plate 3 of the lower case 1 may be raised and lowered by a plurality of hydraulic cylinders 41, and the support plate 3 may have a pressurizing function. In the present invention, the heating plate
Both the 43 and the support plate 3 can be made up and down freely.

[0017]

The present invention is as described above. The object to be laminated is housed inside a chamber formed so that the lower chamber case and the upper chamber case can be hermetically joined together, and the chamber is evacuated. In a laminating apparatus that performs laminating processing by heating and pressing a body to be laminated,
A support plate for placing the object to be laminated on the upper surface is installed in the lower chamber case, and a heating plate for heating the object to be laminated is installed on the lower surface in the upper chamber case, and
By providing one or both of the support plate and the heating plate so as to be able to move up and down in the chamber, the object to be laminated is pressurized and heated in the chamber, so that the object to be laminated can be added without using a diaphragm. Pressure, heating,
As a result, the problems caused by using the diaphragm can be solved, and since there is no need to perform the replacement work unlike the case of the diaphragm, various costs due to the diaphragm can be saved.

Further, after the chamber is evacuated, the entire surface of the object to be laminated is pressed by a substantially uniform pressing force on a heating plate having a buffering action of an air spring characteristic, so that lamination is performed. Does not occur, thereby improving the processing quality and increasing the production efficiency.
Therefore, according to the laminating apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently perform a laminating operation with good processing accuracy,
Laminating cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an object to be laminated is heated and pressed by an example of the laminating apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a solar cell module as an example of an object to be laminated.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Case of lower chamber 2 Case of upper chamber 3 Support plate 4 Heating means 41 Fluid pressure cylinder 42 Rod 43 Heating plate 44 Buffer plate 5 Intake / exhaust hole 11 Solar cell module C chamber

Claims (3)

[Claims] An object to be laminated is accommodated in a chamber formed so that the lower chamber case and the upper chamber case can be hermetically bonded together, and the inside of the chamber is evacuated, and the object to be laminated is heated and pressurized. In a laminating apparatus that performs a laminating process, a support plate for placing the object to be laminated on the upper surface is installed in the lower chamber case, and a heating plate for heating the object to be laminated is installed on the lower surface in the upper chamber case, A laminating apparatus, wherein one or both of the support plate and the heating plate are provided so as to be able to move up and down in the chamber so that the object to be laminated is pressed and heated in the chamber. 2. The laminating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cushioning material having an air spring characteristic is attached to a surface of the heating plate. 3. The support plate or the heating plate is provided with a plurality of points of application of the lifting / lowering force in a substantially uniform distribution with respect to the plate surface.
3. The laminating apparatus according to 1 or 2.