CN220774393U - Tubular heat treatment furnace - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides a tubular heat treatment furnace, including: the furnace body is provided with an air inlet, an air outlet and a furnace door; the wafer boats are used for bearing solar cell slices to be processed; the wafer boat support is provided with a bearing part and a lap joint part, and the bearing part bears a plurality of wafer boats; and the conveying paddles are lapped with the lap joint parts, wherein the conveying paddles are provided with heating devices, and the heating devices are arranged on the outer surfaces of the conveying paddles or in the conveying paddles. The heating device can compensate heat which is not absorbed by the solar cell to be treated due to the shielding of the conveying paddles, so that the temperature of the shielded part is the same as or is close to that of the non-shielded part, the heating uniformity of the solar cell to be treated is improved, and the temperature difference between the parts is reduced.

Description

Tubular heat treatment furnace

Technical Field

The application relates to the field of solar cell manufacturing, in particular to a tubular heat treatment furnace.

Background

In the solar cell production process, the solar cell sheet needs to be subjected to heat treatment for a plurality of times. For example, the diffusion process requires doping the solar cell sheet under high temperature conditions to form a doped layer; the high temperature oxidation process requires oxidation treatment of the solar cell sheet at high temperature to form an oxide layer. The production equipment for heat treatment mainly comprises laser heat treatment equipment and a tubular heat treatment furnace, wherein the tubular heat treatment furnace can be used for simultaneously treating a plurality of battery pieces, and has a simple and reliable structure.

The basic process of using a tube heat treatment furnace to carry out diffusion technology on solar cells comprises the following steps: placing a wafer boat carrying solar cells into a furnace body; introducing process gas into the furnace body, and heating the solar cell; and taking out the wafer boat after cooling. Reducing the non-uniformity of the diffusion layer thickness, as well as improving the uniformity of the dopant, is one of the keys to producing acceptable solar cells. When heating the solar cell, ensuring that the solar cell is heated uniformly is an important precondition for reducing the thickness non-uniformity of the diffusion layer and improving the uniformity of the dopant.

Disclosure of Invention

The technical problem to be solved in the application is to provide a tubular heat treatment furnace, which can enable solar cells to be heated uniformly and reduce the temperature difference between all parts of the solar cells.

The technical scheme that this application adopted for solving above-mentioned technical problem is a tubular heat treatment furnace, includes: the furnace body is provided with an air inlet, an air outlet and a furnace door; the wafer boats are used for bearing solar cell slices to be processed; the wafer boat support is provided with a bearing part and a lap joint part, and the bearing part bears the plurality of wafer boats; and a conveying paddle overlapping the overlapping portion, wherein the conveying paddle is provided with a heating device, and the heating device is arranged on the outer surface of the conveying paddle or in the conveying paddle.

In an embodiment of the present application, the heating device includes a plurality of heating wires, wherein the plurality of heating wires are wound around the outer surface of the conveying paddle.

In an embodiment of the present application, the plurality of heating wires are distributed at intervals along the extending direction of the conveying paddle.

In an embodiment of the present application, the number of the plurality of heating wires is four.

In an embodiment of the present application, a plurality of thermocouples are further included, each of the thermocouples being disposed adjacent to one of the heating wires.

In an embodiment of the present application, the conveying paddle has a through hole penetrating along an extending direction thereof, and the heating device is disposed in the through hole.

In this application still include the intake pipe in an embodiment, the one end of intake pipe passes the air inlet is deep into the inside of furnace body, the other end of intake pipe is located the outside of furnace body.

In this application still include the outlet duct in an embodiment, the one end of outlet duct with the gas outlet is connected, the other end of outlet duct is located the outside of furnace body.

In an embodiment of the present application, each of the boats has opposite ears extending away from a main body portion of the boat.

In an embodiment of the present application, the carrying portion has opposite beams, and an ear portion of each wafer boat is lapped on the corresponding beam.

The heating device in the tubular heat treatment furnace can compensate heat which is not absorbed by the solar cell to be treated due to the shielding of the conveying paddles, so that the temperature of the shielded part is the same as or is close to that of the non-shielded part, the heating uniformity of the solar cell to be treated is improved, and the temperature difference between the parts is reduced.

Drawings

In order to make the above objects, features and advantages of the present application more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below, wherein:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic perspective views of a tube heat treatment furnace according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2A is a schematic perspective view of a tube heat treatment furnace according to an embodiment of the present application with the furnace body removed;

FIG. 2B is an enlarged schematic view of a portion of FIG. 2A at circle A;

FIG. 2C is a schematic perspective view of a tube heat treatment furnace according to an embodiment of the present application with the furnace body and boat support removed;

FIG. 2D is an enlarged schematic view of a portion of FIG. 2C at circle B;

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of a wafer boat according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3B is a schematic front view of the boat of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a boat support and a transfer paddle according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5A is a schematic top view of a transport paddle in an embodiment;

FIG. 5B is a schematic front view of a transfer paddle in an embodiment;

fig. 5C is a side view schematic of a transfer paddle in an embodiment.

Reference numerals

First ear 144 of furnace body 110

Second ear 145 of air inlet 111

Wafer boat support 150 with air outlet 112

Furnace door 113 bearing part 151

First cross member 151a of air intake pipe 120

The other end 121 of the air inlet pipe is provided with a second cross beam 151b

Overlap 152 of outlet duct 130

The other end 132 of the air outlet pipe has a first step structure 152a

Second step structure 152b of boat 140

Upright 141 conveying paddle 160

Through hole 161 of bottom plate 142

Top plate 143 heating apparatus 170

Detailed Description

In order to make the above objects, features and advantages of the present application more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present application, but the present application may be practiced otherwise than as described herein, and therefore the present application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

As used in this application and in the claims, the terms "a," "an," "the," and/or "the" are not specific to the singular, but may include the plural, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In general, the terms "comprises" and "comprising" merely indicate that the steps and elements are explicitly identified, and they do not constitute an exclusive list, as other steps or elements may be included in a method or apparatus.

In addition, the terms "first", "second", etc. are used to define the components, and are merely for convenience of distinguishing the corresponding components, and unless otherwise stated, the terms have no special meaning, and thus should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present application. Furthermore, although terms used in the present application are selected from publicly known and commonly used terms, some terms mentioned in the specification of the present application may be selected by the applicant at his or her discretion, the detailed meanings of which are described in relevant parts of the description herein. Furthermore, it is required that the present application be understood, not simply by the actual terms used but by the meaning of each term lying within.

The tube heat treatment furnace of the present application will be described with reference to specific examples.

Fig. 1A and 1B are perspective views of a tube heat treatment furnace of an embodiment, and referring to fig. 1A and 1B, the tube heat treatment furnace has a furnace body 110. The furnace body 110 is tubular, and has a space for accommodating solar cells to be processed therein in a first direction D1 which is an extending direction thereof. The furnace body 110 has an air inlet 111, an air outlet 112, and a furnace door 113. The gas inlet 111 may serve as an inlet for supplying process gas into the furnace body 110, and the gas outlet 112 may serve as an outlet for discharging exhaust gas from the furnace body 110. The solar cell to be processed can be fed into the furnace body 110 through the furnace door 113, and the processed solar cell can be moved out of the furnace body 110 through the furnace door 113.

In one embodiment, the heat treatment furnace further includes an air inlet pipe 120 and an air outlet pipe 130. One end of the air inlet pipe 120 penetrates through the air inlet 111 and goes deep into the furnace body 110, and the air inlet pipe 120 can go deep into a position close to the furnace door 113 or deep into the middle of the furnace body 110. The other end 121 of the air inlet pipe 120 is located outside the furnace body 110. The other end 121 of the gas inlet pipe 120 may be connected to a supply device of process gas to supply the process gas into the furnace body 110. The process gas may be a process gas for performing diffusion treatment on the solar cell to be treated, or may be a process gas for performing oxidation treatment on the solar cell to be treated.

One end of the air outlet pipe 130 is connected with the air outlet 112, and the other end 131 is positioned outside the furnace body 110. The other end 131 of the air outlet pipe 130 can be connected with an air extracting device, and the air extracting device can extract waste gas in the furnace body 110.

Fig. 2A is a perspective view of an embodiment of a tube heat treatment furnace after removing the furnace body, fig. 2B is a partially enlarged view of a circle a in fig. 2A, fig. 2C is a perspective view of an embodiment of a tube heat treatment furnace after removing the furnace body and a boat support, and fig. 2D is a partially enlarged view of a circle B in fig. 2C. Referring to fig. 2A to 2D, the tube heat treatment furnace further includes a plurality of boats 140, boat holders 150, and transfer paddles 160.

Specifically, reference is made to a perspective view of the wafer boat in an embodiment shown in fig. 3A, and a front view of the wafer boat in fig. 3A shown in fig. 3B. The boat 140 includes four posts 141, a bottom plate 142, and a top plate 143. Four upright posts 141 are distributed at four corners of the rectangle, and two ends of each upright post 141 are respectively connected with a bottom plate 142 and a top plate 143. The upright post 141, the bottom plate 142 and the top plate 143 enclose a placement space S in which the solar cell to be processed can be placed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a boat support and a transfer paddle in one embodiment. Referring to fig. 4, the wafer boat 150 has a carrying portion 151 and a bridging portion 152. The carrying portion 151 extends along the first direction D1, and as shown in fig. 2A, the plurality of wafer boats 140 are arranged in the carrying portion 151 along the first direction D1.

Referring to fig. 3A and 3B, the boat 140 has first and second ears 144 and 145 opposite in the second direction D2. The first and second ears 144 and 145 are connected to the two posts 141, respectively, and each extend away from the main body of the boat 140, which may be understood as a placement space S. As shown with reference to fig. 4, the carrying portion 151 has a first cross member 151a and a second cross member 151b that are opposite in the second direction D2. As shown in fig. 3A, 3B and 4, the first and second ears 144 and 145 of the boat 140 overlap the first and second cross members 151a and 151B, respectively. In this manner, the boat support 150 may carry the boat 140.

As shown with reference to fig. 3A and 3B, the overlap 152 includes a first step structure 152a, a second step structure 152B, a third step structure, and a fourth step structure. The first step structure 152a and the second step structure 152b are located at one end of the boat support 150 and are distributed relatively along the second direction D2. It should be appreciated that for viewing reasons, the third step structure and the fourth step structure at the other end of the boat support 150 are not visible in fig. 2A, and are also relatively distributed in the second direction D2. The boat support 150 is overlapped with the transfer paddle 160 by four step structures. The transfer paddle 160 may be used to transfer the boat support 150, for example, to transfer the boat support 150 into a furnace, and to remove the boat support 150 from the furnace.

Fig. 5A, 5B and 5C are schematic top and front views, respectively, of a transport paddle according to one embodiment

And a side view schematic. Referring to fig. 5A, 5B, and 5C, both of the conveyor paddles 160 are shown in a first direction D1

Extends and is distributed relatively along the second direction D2. The transport paddles 160 have a heating device 170.

In the embodiment of fig. 5A to 5C, the heating device 170 includes a plurality of heating wires, which are spaced apart along the first direction D1, and are wound around the outer surface of the conveying paddle 160.

Referring to fig. 2C and 2D, when the heat treatment furnace heats the solar cell to be treated in the wafer boat 140, the opaque conveying paddles 160 may shade a portion of the solar cell to be treated, and the heat radiation cannot directly irradiate the shaded portion, so that the temperature of the shaded portion is lower than that of other regions of the solar cell to be treated, and the temperature of the solar cell to be treated is uneven. The material of the transport paddles 160 may be silicon carbide (SiC).

The heating device 170 arranged on the conveying paddle 160 can compensate heat which is not absorbed by the solar cell to be processed due to shielding of the conveying paddle 160, so that the temperature of the shielded part is the same as or close to the temperature of the non-shielded part, the heating uniformity of the solar cell to be processed is improved, and the temperature difference between the parts is reduced. In the embodiment of fig. 5A to 5B, four heating wires are spaced apart along the first direction D1 because the heat treatment furnace has four temperature zones, the four heating wires corresponding to the four temperatures, respectively. In other embodiments, the heating wires may be continuous, and the number of heating wires may be other than four. It should be appreciated that the heating device 170 is not limited to a heating wire, but may also be a heating rod, for example.

In one embodiment, the tube heat treatment furnace further comprises a plurality of thermocouples, each thermocouple being disposed adjacent to one of the heating wires. Thermocouples may be used to sense the temperature of the corresponding heater wire to detect whether the temperature of each heater wire is within a desired temperature range.

Referring to fig. 5B and 5C, in some embodiments, the transporting paddle 160 has a through hole 161 penetrating in the first direction D1, and the heating device 170 may be further disposed within the through hole 161. For example, a plurality of heating wires are distributed on the inner wall of the through hole 161 along the first direction D1, and the risk of damage to the heating wires can be reduced by disposing the heating wires in the through hole 161.

In the tubular heat treatment furnace in the embodiment, the heating device is arranged on the conveying paddles to compensate lower temperature of the solar cell to be treated due to shielding of the conveying paddles, so that the temperature of the shielded part is the same as or is close to that of the non-shielded part, the heating uniformity of the solar cell to be treated is improved, and the temperature difference between the parts is reduced.

While the basic concepts have been described above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing application disclosure is by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting. Although not explicitly described herein, various modifications, improvements, and adaptations of the present application may occur to one skilled in the art. Such modifications, improvements, and modifications are intended to be suggested within this application, and are therefore within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of this application.

Meanwhile, the present application uses specific words to describe embodiments of the present application. Reference to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," and/or "some embodiments" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is associated with at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, it should be emphasized and should be appreciated that two or more references to "an embodiment" or "one embodiment" or "an alternative embodiment" in various positions in this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, certain features, structures, or characteristics of one or more embodiments of the present application may be combined as suitable.

In some embodiments, numbers describing the components, number of attributes are used, it being understood that such numbers being used in the description of embodiments are modified in some examples by the modifier "about," approximately, "or" substantially. Unless otherwise indicated, "about," "approximately," or "substantially" indicate that the number allows for a 20% variation. Accordingly, in some embodiments, numerical parameters set forth in the specification and claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the individual embodiments. In some embodiments, the numerical parameters should take into account the specified significant digits and employ a method for preserving the general number of digits. Although the numerical ranges and parameters set forth herein are approximations that may be employed in some embodiments to confirm the breadth of the range, in particular embodiments, the setting of such numerical values is as precise as possible.

Claims (10)

1. A tube heat treatment furnace, comprising:

the furnace body is provided with an air inlet, an air outlet and a furnace door;

the wafer boats are used for bearing solar cell slices to be processed;

the wafer boat support is provided with a bearing part and a lap joint part, and the bearing part bears the plurality of wafer boats; and

and the conveying paddles are lapped with the lap joint parts, wherein the conveying paddles are provided with heating devices, and the heating devices are arranged on the outer surfaces of the conveying paddles or in the conveying paddles.

2. The heat treatment furnace according to claim 1, wherein the heating means comprises a plurality of heating wires, wherein the plurality of heating wires are wound around an outer surface of the conveying paddles.

3. The heat treatment furnace according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of heating wires are spaced apart along the extending direction of the conveying paddles.

4. The heat treatment furnace according to claim 2, wherein the number of the plurality of heating wires is four.

5. The heat treatment furnace according to claim 2, further comprising a plurality of thermocouples each disposed adjacent to one of the heating wires.

6. The heat treatment furnace according to claim 1, wherein the conveyance paddle has a through hole penetrating in an extending direction thereof, and the heating device is provided in the through hole.

7. The heat treatment furnace according to claim 1, further comprising an air intake pipe having one end penetrating through the air intake port and penetrating into the interior of the furnace body, and the other end of the air intake pipe being located outside the furnace body.

8. The heat treatment furnace according to claim 1, further comprising an air outlet pipe, one end of the air outlet pipe being connected to the air outlet, the other end of the air outlet pipe being located outside the furnace body.

9. The heat treatment furnace of claim 1, wherein each boat has opposing ears extending away from a main body portion of the boat.

10. The heat treatment furnace of claim 9, wherein the carrier has opposed beams, the ears of each boat overlapping the corresponding beams.