JP2000174320A - Solar cell and its production system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently produce a solar cell by a method, wherein a basic unit constituting the solar cell is divided in according to product forms to form a division unit, and in a state that the required number of sheets of the division unit is arranged, they are mutually coupled. SOLUTION: A basic unit 1 is fed in a state of being stepwise laminated in a pallet, and is taken out one by one to feed to an assembly line. Next, an insulating tape 2 for insulating at the time of fitting a diode is adhered at two locations of each basic unit 1, and a diode 3 is supplied onto the insulation tape 2 to be welded and fixed. The solar cell which has been welded to the diode 3 and has been formed to a common unit 104 is divided by a press machine in according to product forms. Continuously, a positive unit 102B and a negative unit 106B are fed in accordance with the final product forms, and the required number of sheets of the solar cell unit are arranged in due order to be welded and integrated with each other, so that it is taken out as a finished product.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a solar cell and a production system thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A solar cell is generally a plus unit (+
A unit for extracting an electrode), several common units, and a minus unit (a unit for extracting an electrode) are connected in series in this order, and a plus unit, a common unit, and a minus unit are ,
Both are manufactured by performing different additional processings on one type of basic unit. In such a solar cell, according to the shape of a plus unit, a common unit, and a minus unit, an L type in which the basic units are connected in almost the same form, an S type in which the basic units are vertically divided, and It is categorized as W type which connects the basic unit divided horizontally. For this reason, conventionally, assembly has been performed in such a manner that a basic unit is first created, the basic unit is divided according to the production amount for each product type, and the numbers are aligned according to the number of connections and connected in order.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional method has the following problems. (1) First, make a basic unit for L type, temporarily store it, cut the basic unit according to the production amount by type, store it for each final product according to the number of connections, transport it to the assembly site, and assemble it. Therefore, the number of intermediate processes is extremely increased. (2) Since the basic unit is cut in advance, it is not possible to cope with a sudden change in the production amount by type. (3) For example, if an odd number of two-divided S-type units obtained by dividing the basic unit into two are to be connected, one cut-out two-divided S-type unit will be left, and management thereof will be required.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a solar cell production system capable of efficiently producing a solar cell, and a solar cell produced thereby. That is.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems The above-mentioned problems are solved,
In order to achieve the object, a solar cell production system according to the present invention divides a basic unit constituting a solar cell according to a product form, divides a unit into a divided unit, and arranges a required number of the divided units. And a joining means for connecting them to each other in the state.

Further, in the solar cell production system according to the present invention, the dividing means is arranged between a manufacturing device for manufacturing the basic unit and the joining means.

Further, in the solar cell production system according to the present invention, the solar cell production system further comprises alignment means arranged between the division means and the joining means for aligning the required number of division units. I have.

Further, in the solar cell production system according to the present invention, among the divided units, the divided units that are fractional according to the number of connections are temporarily retracted at the time of alignment.

Further, in the solar cell production system according to the present invention, the dividing means divides the basic unit into two in the horizontal direction.

Further, in the solar cell production system according to the present invention, the dividing means divides the basic unit into two in a vertical direction.

Further, a solar cell according to the present invention is produced by the solar cell production system according to any one of the first to sixth aspects.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a solar cell production system according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a procedure for assembling the solar cell. Station (ST) numbers shown in parentheses correspond to the respective ST numbers in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a product form of a solar cell, and FIG. 4 is a view showing a form of a common unit.

As shown in FIG. 3A, for example, a solar cell 100 includes a plus unit 102 (a unit for extracting a positive electrode) and several common units 10.
4 and a minus unit 106 (a unit for extracting a negative electrode) are connected in series in this order. Further, the plus unit 102 and the minus unit 106 are manufactured by performing a predetermined process such as attaching a wire for extracting electric power to the common unit 104 using the common unit 104 as a material.

As shown in FIG. 4, there are, for example, L type, W type, and S type as common unit types constituting a solar cell. The W type and the S type halve the L type horizontally and vertically. It is a cut size.

The length of the completed solar cell (number of connections)
For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, a product (solar cell 100) in which five L-type units 102, 104, and 106 are connected is referred to as L5 or the like. FIG.
FIG. 3B shows a series of five W-type units (plus unit 102A, common unit 104A, and minus unit 106A), and FIG. 3C shows an S-type unit. (Plus unit 1
02B, common unit 104B, minus unit 10
6B). However, in any of these product forms, the shape of the solar cell unit when introduced into the production system is almost the same,
This production system has very high versatility.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the flow of assembling a solar cell (here, as an example, an S5 type) will be described.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a basic unit of a solar cell, and the units put into the production system 200 are connected as a plus unit 102, a minus unit 106, and a common unit 104, respectively.
Product.

The steps in each station (ST) of the production system 200 will be described below in detail.

ST1: The basic units 1 (the positive unit, the negative unit, and the common unit, which have the same shape at this stage) which have been processed in the previous process are put into a pallet (not shown) in a stacked state, and are taken out and assembled one by one. Submit to the line.

ST2: An insulating tape 2 is attached to two places of each basic unit 1 for insulation when attaching a diode.

ST3: The diode 3 is supplied onto the insulating tape 2 attached to both sides of each unit 1 in ST2, and is fixed by welding.

ST4: The diode 3 is welded to form the common unit 104, and the solar cell unit is cut by an inline press according to the type of the product. The supply direction and the position of the common unit 104 to the press machine are changed according to the product type so that various types can be handled. In the present embodiment, the case where the common unit is vertically divided into two (S type) will be described as an example, but the same process is performed when the common unit is horizontally divided into two (W type).

ST5: This station is a station in which the plus unit 102B and the minus unit 106B are inserted according to the final product form and the solar cell units are arranged in order.

A solar cell requires a plus unit and a minus unit at both ends of a product for extracting electrodes, regardless of the type of L, W, and S, and the number of connections. Therefore, the plus unit and the minus unit are put in at this station, and the units are arranged in the order of the final product.

ST6: This station is a station in which the units sent in the order of the final product are sequentially welded, integrated and taken out as a final product (finished product).

Here, in the case of S5 type assembly, ST4
Since the common unit 104 is vertically divided into two to form the common unit 104B, there is no problem when the number of connected final products is even or six or eight, but when the number of connected final products is five or seven, it is divided. Unless one common unit 104B is disconnected or supplied, an odd number of connections cannot be made.

The case of S5 (five stations of S type) will be described as an example with reference to the detailed diagram of ST6 shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 310 denotes a hand 311 which is a common unit 1
04B is a robot that retreats from the serializer 314 or supplies the serializer to the serializer 314.

When making the S5 type, the product form is a plus unit 102B, a common unit 104B × 3,
The minus unit 106B is connected in this order. However, from the previous process, the positive unit 102B, the common unit 104B × 4, and the negative unit 106B flow in this order. Therefore, it is necessary to save one common unit 104B before the serializer 314.

Further, the next set is a plus unit 102
B, common unit 104B × 2, minus unit 10
Because it is controlled to flow in the order of 6B,
It is necessary to insert the common unit 104B that has been evacuated earlier and serialize in the order of the plus unit 102B, the common unit 104B × 3, and the minus unit 106B.

Here, the operation of temporarily retracting the unit and then returning it again will be described in detail.

Since the number of connections is an odd number, the common unit 104B immediately after the plus unit 102B flowing in the arrow X direction from the previous process is transferred to the hand 31 of the robot 310 in FIG.
1 causes the access position P to be retracted from the position immediately before the serialization device 314. Thereafter, the retreat robot 312 further retreats from the access position P to the retreat position 313.

The next product set is the plus unit 102
B, common unit 104B × 2, minus unit 10
6B, the plus unit 102B is supplied to the serialization device 314, and then the supply of the unit from the previous process is delayed by one cycle.
13 is returned to the access position P by the robot 312, and the common unit 104B
Supply from the access position P to the serializer 314 allows an odd number of connections.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) It is not necessary to prepare in advance units for each type and for each number of connections, and the intermediate work can be greatly reduced. That is, it is possible to quickly and flexibly respond to the fluctuation of the production amount by type. (2) One-sided units generated by the number of divisions are temporarily evacuated and put in immediately at the time of connection of the next product, so that one-sided unit management can be extremely simplified.

[0036]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a solar cell production system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a procedure for assembling a solar cell.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a product form of a solar cell.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a form of a common unit.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a configuration of a fifth station.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 basic unit 2 insulating tape 3 diode 100 solar cell 102, 102A, 102B plus unit 104, 104A, 104B common unit 106, 106A, 106B minus unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tatsuo Sawai 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term (reference) in Canon Inc. 5F051 BA14 CA21 EA20

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A dividing unit that divides a basic unit constituting a solar cell according to a product form to form a dividing unit, and a joining unit that connects a necessary number of the dividing units in a state where they are arranged. A solar cell production system, comprising: 2. The solar cell production system according to claim 1, wherein the dividing unit is disposed between a manufacturing device for manufacturing the basic unit and the joining unit. 3. The production of a solar cell according to claim 1, further comprising an aligning unit disposed between the dividing unit and the joining unit, for aligning the required number of the dividing units. system. 4. The solar cell production system according to claim 3, wherein, among the division units, division units that are fractional according to the number of connected units are temporarily retracted during alignment. 5. The solar cell production system according to claim 1, wherein the dividing unit divides the basic unit into two in a horizontal direction. 6. The solar cell production system according to claim 1, wherein the dividing unit divides the basic unit into two in a vertical direction. 7. A solar cell produced by the solar cell production system according to claim 1. Description: