JPH06310744A - Thin film solar cell module and connection method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce labor and time required for wiring while enhancing the outer appearance of completed wiring by providing each outer peripheral side of a square module with a terminal. CONSTITUTION:Each unit cell 10 of the solar cell module 10 is fabricated by laminating a transparent electrode 4, a p-i-n type Si thin film 5, and a rear surface electrode 6 on a polymer film substrate 3. The unit cells 10 are then connected in series to bring about an integrated structure. Plus and minus terminals 11, 12 are then formed of a low melting point solder. In this regard, the plus terminal 11 is connected with an extended part of the transparent electrode 4 of the unit cell 10 whereas the minus terminal 12 is connected with an extended part of the rear surface electrode 6 of the unit cell 10. A transparent protective film 1, a binding resin 2, and a rear surface protective film 7 are then laminated, as shown by an arrow 8, on the part of the cell other than the terminals 11, 12. This method allows two-dimensional connection of modules on a plane without damaging the outer view.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thin film solar cell module in which a polymer film having flexibility and heat resistance is used as a substrate and an amorphous silicon (hereinafter abbreviated as a-Si) thin film is used as a photoelectric conversion layer. Regarding the connection method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An a-Si thin film solar cell using a flexible and heat-resistant polymer film as a substrate has been enthusiastically researched and developed since it can be installed on a curved surface, is lightweight, and is easy to handle. Is coming. It is also noteworthy in the sense that it makes use of the features of a-Si solar cells capable of forming a film on various substrates. FIG. 2 shows the structure of this flexible solar cell, which includes a transparent protective film 1, a binder resin 2, a polymer film substrate 3, a transparent electrode 4, a pin type a-Si thin film 5, a back electrode 6, It is manufactured by sequentially laminating the binder resin 2 and the back surface protective film 7 and laminating them. Moreover, when the module of this solar cell is viewed from the light irradiation surface, it is as shown in FIG. 3, and a plurality of unit cells 10 each including the transparent electrode 4, the a-Si thin film 5, and the back electrode 6 are formed at the edge of the back electrode 6. Is brought into contact with the edge of the transparent electrode 4 of the adjacent unit cell to form an integrated structure connected in series,
Both ends are the positive terminal 11 or negative terminal of this solar cell
It is 12.

[0003]

In the case of the above-mentioned module structure, when a plurality of modules are wired in series and in parallel, the electrodes are taken out from the plus terminal and the minus terminal of each module using lead wires or the like, and Since the lead wires of must be joined by hand,
It took a lot of time and effort. Further, when a plurality of modules are wired by this method, the wiring portion may be seen from the front, and the appearance may be deteriorated. Further, when installing a solar cell of these film substrates, since it is lightweight, it is necessary to fix it by adhering it onto some kind of substrate, but there is currently no established method. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thin-film solar cell module that does not require labor and time for wiring and has a beautiful overall appearance when wired.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a rectangular unit sun provided with first and second electrode layers, at least one of which is transparent, on both sides of a photoelectric conversion layer made of a semiconductor thin film. A rectangular thin-film solar array in which multiple cells are arranged in a line on the same flexible substrate and the first electrode layer of each unit solar cell is connected in series by connecting it to the second electrode layer of an adjacent unit solar cell. In the battery module, a terminal is provided on each side of the outer periphery of the rectangular module, terminals on two adjacent sides are on the first electrode layer of the unit solar cell at one end, and terminals on the remaining two sides are at the other end of the unit solar cell. Of the second electrode layer. Alternatively, one side terminal orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the unit solar cells is connected to the first electrode layer of the unit solar cell at one end, and the remaining three side terminals are connected to the second electrode layer of the unit solar cell at the other end. And It is effective that the terminals of these thin film solar cell modules are made of a low melting point alloy.
It is effective that a plurality of these thin-film solar cell modules are arranged in a matrix on the same plane, and the terminals of the adjacent modules are selectively connected to each other. The connection method of such a thin film solar cell module is
It is effective to connect the terminals of different modules by bending the ends of one module and overlapping the terminals in the bent portion with the terminals of the other module. Further, it is effective that the terminals are modules made of a low melting point alloy and the terminals are connected to each other by fusion bonding.

[0005]

[Operation] A terminal is provided on each of the four sides of the outer periphery of a rectangular module formed by connecting a plurality of unit thin film solar cells in series,
By connecting the modules on the same plane and connecting the terminals on opposite sides, the modules can be connected in series or in parallel in a two-dimensional manner in a region close to a rectangle. it can. Furthermore, by utilizing the flexibility of the board and bending the ends, the terminals of adjacent modules can be overlapped and connected,
If a low melting point alloy is used as the material of the terminal, the connection work can be easily performed by heat fusion.

[0006]

1 (a) to 1 (c) show an assembling method of a module according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the same parts as those in FIGS. 2 and 3 are designated by the same reference numerals. Each unit cell 10 of this solar cell module is manufactured by laminating a transparent electrode 4, a pin type a-Si thin film 5 and a back electrode 6 on a polymer film substrate 3. Then, an integrated structure having serial connection of the unit cells 10 is formed [FIG. 1 (a)]. After that, the positive terminal 11 and the negative terminal 12 are formed with a low melting point solder or the like [FIG. 1 (b)]. In this case, the plus terminal 11 is connected to the extension of the transparent electrode 4 of the unit cell 10 at one end, and the minus terminal 12
Is brought into contact with the extension of the back surface electrode 6 of the unit cell 10 at the other end. Then, the cell portion other than the terminals 11 and 12 is laminated with the transparent protective film 1, the binder resin 2, and the back surface protective film 7 as shown by an arrow 8 [FIG. 1 (c)]. Three examples of this module viewed from above are shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6. Assuming that the upper side of the module 21 shown in FIG. 4 is positive, the positive side is taken out as terminals 11 in the upper and right portions, and the negative side is taken out in the lower and left portions.
It is taken out as 12. The positive terminal 11 of the module 22 of FIG. 5 is taken out to the upper part and the left part, and the negative terminal 12 is taken out to the lower part and the right part. The positive terminal 11 of the module 23 of FIG. 6 is taken out only at the upper part,
The negative terminal 12 is taken out on the right side, the left side and the lower side. The polarities of the electrodes in these modules can of course be reversed. When connecting these modules, for example, to connect two modules 21 of FIG. 4 in series, fold the negative terminal 12 of one module 21 to the back side as shown in FIGS. 7 (a) and (b). , The overlapped part is contacted with the plus terminal 11 of the other module 21, and the contact surface is connected using solder or the like. When low melting point solder is applied to the terminals 11 and 12, the solder is melted by applying heat and pressure on the principle of stacking the terminals 11 and 12 by the same procedure and then ironing them from the upper part, thereby connecting electrically and mechanically. But,
The two modules may be connected by arranging the terminals of adjacent modules on the same plane and bringing a metal plate into common contact with both terminals to fuse them. Also, to make 2 series and 2 parallel modules using this module, use module 2
Two pieces of 1 and 22 are arranged as shown in FIG. 8 and are connected to each other.
In this case, the output can be taken out from the plus terminal 31 and the minus terminal 32, and the other plus terminals 11 and minus terminals 12 may be cut off. In the case of making four series and one parallel, two modules 21 and 22 are similarly used, but the orientation of the modules and the connection between the terminals are changed as shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, even if the two modules 21 and 22 are alternately arranged in the same manner, the output formation can be changed depending on the direction of the terminals and the connection method. Is one. Fig. 10
Shows an example in which 12 modules are connected in 4 series and 3 parallel. The middle module in the top row on the positive terminal 31 side and the three modules on the negative terminal 32 side are shown in Fig. 6.
5 is the module 23 having the structure shown in FIG. 5, only one of the other modules is the module 22 shown in FIG. 5, and the other is the module 21 having the structure shown in FIG. Then, in the uppermost row and the lowermost row, by connecting the three modules to each other, the output is evenly output from the twelve modules by the positive terminals 31,
It can be taken out via the minus terminal 32. In addition, Fig. 11 shows 12 modules installed in an area close to a square, all connected in series from the upper right to the lower left, and the module in the middle of the top row and the module in the bottom row are shown in Fig. 5. The module 22 having the above structure is used, and the module 21 of FIG. 4 is used otherwise. By appropriately arranging the three types of modules in this way, it becomes possible to take various connection methods with a plurality of modules arranged in the same shape. Also, when fixing multiple modules as shown in Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 onto a base such as a roof or wall of a house, a binder resin such as EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) or dumiran is preliminarily attached to the base. When it was laid out and heat and pressure were applied from above to connect the electrodes, the binder resin was also melted at the same time, and the modules could be fixed on the substrate almost automatically.

[0007]

According to the present invention, by providing terminals on the four sides of a module of a thin-film solar cell using a flexible substrate, the connection between a plurality of modules arranged two-dimensionally on a plane can be improved. Now you can do it arbitrarily and easily without the need for damaging wiring. Therefore, it is possible to effectively use the space for installing the thin-film solar cell, and it is possible to provide the solar cell with great flexibility.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a manufacturing process of a thin-film solar cell module according to an embodiment of the present invention in the order of (a), (b) and (c).

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a thin film solar cell.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a conventional thin film solar cell module.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a thin film solar cell module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a thin film solar cell module according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a thin film solar cell module according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a plan view and (b) is a cross-sectional view showing a method of connecting the thin film solar cell module of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the thin-film solar cell module of FIGS. 4 and 5 in the case of 2-series and 2-parallel connection.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the thin film solar cell module of FIGS. 4 and 5 in the case of 4-series and 1-parallel connection.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the thin-film solar cell module of FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 in the case of 4-series and 3-parallel connection.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the thin-film solar cell module of FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 when connected in 12 series and 1 parallel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Transparent Protective Film 2 Binder Resin 3 Polymer Film 4 Transparent Electrode 5 a-Si Thin Film 6 Backside Electrode 7 Backside Protective Film 10 Unit Cell 11, 31 Plus Terminal 12, 32 Negative Terminal 21, 22, 23 Module

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of rectangular unit solar cells having first and second electrode layers, at least one of which is transparent, on both sides of a photoelectric conversion layer made of a semiconductor thin film, arranged in a line on the same flexible substrate. In a rectangular thin-film solar cell module, which is connected in series by connecting the first electrode layer of each unit solar cell to the second electrode layer of an adjacent unit solar cell, on each side of the outer periphery of the rectangular module. A terminal is provided, and the terminals on two adjacent sides are on the first electrode layer of the unit solar cell at one end,
A thin-film solar cell module, characterized in that the terminals on the remaining two sides are connected to the second electrode layer of the unit solar cell on the other end. 2. A plurality of square unit solar cells each having a first and a second electrode layer, at least one of which is transparent, on both sides of a photoelectric conversion layer made of a semiconductor thin film are arranged in a line on the same flexible substrate. In a rectangular thin-film solar cell module in which the first electrode layer of each unit solar cell is connected in series by connecting the first electrode layer of each unit solar cell to the second electrode layer of an adjacent unit solar cell, and is orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the unit solar cells. A thin-film solar cell module, wherein a terminal on one side is connected to a first electrode layer of a unit solar cell at one end, and terminals on the remaining three sides are connected to a second electrode layer of a unit solar cell at the other end. 3. The thin film solar cell module according to claim 1, wherein the terminal is made of a low melting point alloy. 4. The thin-film solar cell module according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein a plurality of modules are arranged in a matrix on the same plane, and terminals of adjacent modules are selectively connected to each other. 5. The terminals of different modules are connected to each other by bending the ends of one module and overlapping the terminals in the bent portions with the terminals of the terminals of another module. A method for connecting the thin film solar cell module described. 6. The method for connecting a thin film solar cell module according to claim 5, wherein the module is the one according to claim 3, and the terminals are connected to each other by fusion bonding.