JPH0897459A - Solar cell module and connecting method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To oppose the same- and different-polarity terminal conductors of solar cell modules adjacently disposed in a plane by placing two different- polarity terminal conductors at each of the opposite sides of a rectangular substrate mounting a solar cell element of a solar cell module and by opposing the same-polarity terminal conductors. CONSTITUTION: Positive terminal conductors 21 and 22 are mounted on both sides of an upper half of a solar cell chip 1 and negative terminal-conductors 31 and 32 mounted on both sides of a lower half symmetrically to D-D line. The top face of the chip 1 is covered with a light-permeable protective film 4 and back face with a protective film 5. The conductors 21 and 30 are exposed upwards and positioned symmetrically to the center point X. The conductors 22 and 31 are exposed downwards and positioned to the point X. When the modules are disposed adjacently in a plane, the terminal conductors of the same or different polarities can be opposed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a solar cell module in which a plurality of solar cell elements are connected in series or in parallel, and a connecting method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a solar cell, the output of a unit cell is limited due to, for example, the size of crystalline silicon used in a photoelectric conversion layer or the restriction of the film formation area of an amorphous silicon thin film. Therefore, when it is desired to obtain a larger output from a solar cell, a plurality of solar cell unit cells are connected in series or in parallel to form a solar cell module. As an application example of the solar cell module, application to a roof or wall surface of a house can be mentioned. In this case, it is desirable to spread the solar cell module itself as a part of the building material on the roof or wall surface in a tile shape in terms of cost reduction and aesthetics. In the conventional solar cell module, a lead wire is taken out from a part of the protective material and a terminal box is installed in the part, and the module is connected by connecting a wire from the terminal box. However, in that case, it is necessary to connect wires between the terminal boxes of many modules, and the wires are passed between the modules and the roof material or wall material, or between the modules. Had a problem that was difficult. To solve this problem, Japanese Patent Application No. 5
The solar cell module described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 164903 has fasteners made of metal on the four sides of a rectangular substrate that supports solar cell elements, and the fasteners are connected to either of the two poles of the solar cell element. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the metal slide fastener tape 12 connected to the positive electrode is attached to only one side of each solar cell module 11, and the metal slide fastener tape connected to the negative electrode is attached to the other three sides. 13, 14, 15 are attached. As shown in the drawing, nine modules are arranged in a grid pattern, and the positive electrode slide fastener tape 12 is vertically connected to the negative electrode slide fastener tape 13 of the adjacent module 11, and the negative electrode slide fastener tape 14 is horizontally arranged.
The negative pole slide fastener tape 1 of the adjacent module 11
By connecting with 5, the solar cell module can be connected in 3 series and 3 parallel. With the structure in which the electrode terminal and the wiring are integrated as described above, the problem of the connection between the modules by the wiring is solved.

[0003]

However, when the solar cell module 21 as shown in FIG. 2 is used, the combination of the series-parallel connection is limited to a specific method, so that a solar cell device having an arbitrary output is used. There was a drawback that it could not be assembled. It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide a solar cell module and a connection method thereof, in which the optional combination of connections is expanded.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the solar cell module of the present invention according to claim 1 comprises:
Of the four sides of the rectangular substrate supporting the solar cell element, the first center line passing through the midpoints of the first side and the third side and the second side in proximity to the opposing first side and third side. Two terminal conductors are arranged symmetrically with respect to the second center line passing through each midpoint of the fourth side, and two terminals which are opposed to each other across the first center line out of a total of four terminal conductors are arranged. The conductors have different polarities and the surfaces facing the opposite sides to the board surface are the connection surfaces,
It is assumed that the two terminal conductors facing each other across the second center line have the same polarity, and the surfaces facing the opposite sides to the board surface are the connection surfaces. One terminal conductor is arranged symmetrically with respect to the first center line close to the second side and the fourth side,
It is also effective that the two terminal conductors have the same polarity as the adjacent terminal conductors close to the first side or the third side, and the surfaces facing opposite sides with respect to the substrate surface are connection surfaces.
It is preferable that only the connecting surface of each terminal conductor be exposed and both surfaces be covered with a protective material, or that both surfaces be covered with a protective material and that the protective material covering the connecting surface of each element conductor be peelable.
It is preferable that the connecting surface of the terminal conductor is provided with a conductive coupling means, and the conductive coupling means is a surface fastener in which each part is made of metal, or when the connection surface including the conductive fastener faces one side of the substrate. It may be a metal snap that is convex and concave when facing the other side.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a solar cell module connecting method, wherein the solar cell modules are arranged adjacent to each other in the same plane with their entire sides facing each other, and the terminal conductors at the facing positions are selectively placed. Shall be overlaid and electrically connected. The third side of one solar cell module and the first side of the other solar cell module are arranged adjacent to each other so as to face each other, and at least a pair of terminal conductors of the same polarity at the facing positions are electrically connected. A good way is to connect the PV modules in parallel. Alternatively, the first side of one solar cell module and the first side of the other solar cell module, or the third side of one solar cell module and the third side of the other solar cell module are adjacent to each other so as to face each other. It is also a good method that the solar cell modules are connected in series by arranging them in parallel and electrically connecting a pair of oppositely-polarized terminal conductors at opposite positions. In addition, the second side of one solar cell module and the fourth side of the other solar cell module are arranged adjacent to each other so as to face each other, and the terminal conductors of opposite polarities facing each other are electrically connected to each other so that the solar cell module It is also a good idea to connect in series. It is effective to electrically connect the terminal conductors of the solar cell module to each other by overlapping the exposed connection surfaces. In that case, the protective material covering the connection surface may be peeled off to expose the connection surface. The connecting surfaces are electrically connected to each other by using conductive coupling means, the exposed connecting surfaces are mechanically pressure-bonded, or the protective materials on the surfaces of both solar cell modules are exposed by fusion bonding. A good method is to crimp the connection surfaces. It is also possible to electrically connect the connection surfaces to each other by adhering the connection surfaces. It is preferable that the end portions of the terminal conductors which are located at the positions facing each other when the solar cell modules are arranged adjacent to each other and are not connected are cut off or bent with the connection surface inside and the protective material outside.

[0006]

In operation, two terminal conductors are arranged facing each other in close proximity to the two opposite sides of the rectangular substrate supporting the solar cell element, and their positions are symmetrical with respect to the center line passing through the midpoints of the two sides. If you make the two terminal conductors in one example of the same polarity,
When such solar cell modules are arranged side by side in the same plane with their polar directions being the same, terminal conductors of the same polarity face each other, and when they are arranged side by side with their polar directions being opposite, they are different. Polar terminal conductors face each other. If the connection surface formed by exposing one surface of the terminal conductor is exposed on the opposite sides with respect to the substrate in the adjacent terminal conductors on the same side, or the terminal conductors on the opposite side at opposite positions,
The exposed connection surfaces of the terminal conductors at the opposite positions of the adjacent modules can be overlapped and easily electrically connected by a conductive coupling means such as a surface fastener or a snap, or by crimping or bonding. Therefore, it is possible to easily connect two modules in parallel by connecting terminal conductors having the same polarity, and to connect two modules in series by connecting unit conductors having different polarities. Furthermore, by arranging terminal conductors of different polarities facing each other in close proximity to the other two sides of the rectangular board, two modules can be connected in series using this terminal conductor and arranged two-dimensionally on the same plane. It is possible to connect any of multiple modules. Then, if these terminal conductors have the same polarity as the adjacent terminal conductors of the same module, the wirings connecting the electrodes of different polarities and the terminal conductors will not intersect in the module.

[0007]

1 (a) to 1 (d) show a solar cell module according to an embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a plan view, (b),
(c) and (d) are BB line and C in (a), respectively.
It is a C line and DD sectional view taken on the line. A positive electrode terminal conductor 2 is provided on both sides of the upper half of the solar cell element 1 in FIG.
Negative electrode terminal conductors 31 and 32 are D on both sides of the lower half.
-Installed symmetrically with respect to line D. The solar cell element 1 may be either a crystalline silicon plate, an amorphous silicon thin film, or a compound semiconductor thin film such as GaAs, CuInSe ₂ , CdTe, or the like, in which a plurality of unit cells are connected in series. However, in this embodiment,
An amorphous silicon thin film was formed by sandwiching an electrode layer on an insulating substrate in order to reduce the cost of the solar cell element, the shape of the solar cell, and the ease of series connection of the unit cells. As the insulating substrate, a flexible substrate such as a resin film is used in view of cost reduction, light weight, and easy integration with a building material. Each terminal conductor was also formed of a flexible metal foil. The upper surface, which is the light incident surface, of the solar cell element 1 is covered with a transparent protective film 4 made of a transparent resin, and the back surface is covered with a protective film 5, which does not necessarily need to be transparent. The positive electrode terminal conductor 21 and the negative electrode terminal conductor 32 are exposed upward and are located symmetrically with respect to the center point X. The positive electrode terminal conductor 22 and the negative electrode terminal conductor 31 are exposed downward and are located symmetrically with respect to the center point X.

The terminal conductor of such a solar cell module is selectively used. 3 to 6 show various examples of use for two modules which are adjacent to each other in the same relational position. In FIG. 3, in order to connect adjacent modules in parallel, the positive electrode terminal conductor 21 exposed on the upper surface and the terminal conductor 22 exposed on the lower surface are overlapped and electrically connected. For the electrical connection between the superposed terminal conductor surfaces, each terminal conductor surface is provided with conductive surface fasteners made of metal, or for example, the terminal conductor whose upper surface is exposed has a convex metal snap, the lower surface. The exposed terminal conductors can be easily connected by providing a concave metal snap. However, the stacked terminal conductors may be mechanically pressure-bonded by using a stapler type binding device, or protective films covering both surfaces may be heat-bonded and pressure-bonded. In addition, the method such as adhesion using an adhesive does not matter.

In FIG. 4, the terminal conductor portions are cut so that the adjacent terminal conductors 21 and 22 are not connected. In FIG. 5, a part of the protective films 4 and 5 is replaced with a peelable protective material 6, and when the terminal conductor is connected, the protective material 6 is peeled and removed, but when not connected, it is left as shown. In FIG. 6, since the terminal conductors 21 and 22 and the protective films 4 and 5 are flexible and bent inward, the contact between the terminal conductors 21 and 22 is prevented, and no connection is made.

7 to 9 show an example of connection of the solar cell module 10 shown in FIG. 1, and the arrow of each module 10 shows the method of moving from the negative electrode to the positive electrode in the module. Only the terminal conductors 21, 22, 31, 32 used for connection with the adjacent module and those used as terminals of the entire solar cell are shown. The terminal conductor (not shown) may be considered as cut as shown in FIG. 4, but it is obvious that the method shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 may be used.

In FIG. 7, a plurality of solar cell modules are arranged in the same direction to realize parallel connection. The whole positive terminal may be taken out of either the left terminal conductor 21 or the right terminal conductor 22, and the whole negative terminal may be taken out of either the left terminal conductor 31 or the right terminal conductor 32. In FIG. 8, the solar cell modules 10 are alternately arranged in the opposite direction to realize series connection. The whole positive terminal is taken out from the right terminal conductor 22, and the negative terminal is taken out from the left terminal conductor 31. FIG. 9 shows the same arrangement of the modules 10 as in FIG. 8, but an example in which the selection of the terminal conductors is changed and the overall positive and negative terminals are taken out left and right.

FIG. 10 shows a solar cell module according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. Similar to FIG. 1, (a) is a plan view, (b),
(c) and (d) are BB line and C in (a), respectively.
It is a C line and DD sectional view taken on the line. In this case,
In the embodiment, the positive electrode terminal conductor 23 and the negative electrode terminal conductor 33 are attached to the two sides to which the terminal conductors are not attached, that is, the two sides which vertically face each other in FIG. (A), and the positive electrode terminal conductor 23 faces downward. Thus, the negative electrode terminal conductor 33 is exposed upward. However, the exposed sides of both terminal conductors 23 and 33 may be reversed. In FIG. 3A, the positive electrode terminal conductors 21, 22 and 23 are the upper half, and the negative electrode terminal conductor 3
Since 1, 32, and 33 are gathered in the lower half part, the conductors do not cross each other when the solar cell 1 is pulled out from the electrode.

11 to 14 show connection examples of the solar cell module 11 shown in FIG. 10 in the same manner as in FIGS. 7 to 9. In FIG. 11, the solar cell module 1
1 set of 3 pieces of 1 are arranged in the vertical direction to form terminal conductors 23,
33 is connected in series, and the direction is alternately changed to 9 in total.
They are connected in series. The entire positive terminal is taken out from the positive electrode terminal conductor 22 on the right side of the figure, and the negative terminal is taken out from the negative electrode terminal conductor 31 on the left side. FIG. 12 shows an example in which the nine arrays of the solar cell module 11 are the same as those in FIG.

In FIG. 13, 3 of the solar cell module 11 is shown.
One set is arranged in the same direction in the vertical direction and connected in series, and each column is connected in parallel. The entire positive and negative terminals can be taken out from either the left or right. In FIG.
Two sets of the solar cell modules 11 are connected in parallel, three sets are arranged in the vertical direction and connected in series, and two sets of these six pieces are arranged in the opposite direction and connected in series. The whole positive terminal is taken out from the positive electrode terminal conductor 21 on the right side, and the negative terminal is taken out from the negative electrode terminal conductor 31 on the left side. However, by changing the selection of the terminal conductors used for the connection while keeping the module 11 arrangement as it is, it is possible to reverse the extraction of the entire positive and negative terminals. 11 to 14, the entire positive terminal and negative terminal are taken out from the left side and the right side of the drawing, but the terminal conductors 23 and 3 are not shown.
3 can also be used to take out from the upper side and the lower side of the figure.

[0015]

According to the present invention, two terminal conductors having different polarities are arranged on each of two opposing sides of a rectangular substrate of a solar cell element of a solar cell module, and terminal conductors having the same polarity are opposed to each other. Thus, when such modules are arranged side by side in the same plane, terminal conductors of the same polarity or different polarities can be made to face each other.
The solar cell modules can be connected in series and parallel by stacking them. Therefore, various connection methods can be freely selected, and since the terminal conductor and the wiring can be integrated, it is possible to construct a highly reliable solar cell. Such a solar cell module can be used like a tile and can be laid on a roof or wall surface having an arbitrary shape, which is extremely practical.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 shows a solar cell module according to an embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a plan view, (b), (c), and (d) are BB line and CC line of (a), respectively. , DD line sectional view

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a connection example of a conventional solar cell module.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a method for connecting terminal conductors of a solar cell module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a treatment method of terminal conductors not connected in the solar cell module according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of a treatment method for non-connected terminal conductors in the solar cell module according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing still another example of the processing method of the terminal conductors which are not connected in the solar cell module of the embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a plan view showing an example of a method of connecting the solar cell module of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing another example of a method for connecting the solar cell module of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing still another example of the method for connecting the solar cell modules of FIG.

FIG. 10 shows a solar cell module according to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein (a) is a plan view, (b), (c), and (d) are BB line and CC of (a), respectively. Line, DD line sectional view

11 is a plan view showing an example of a method of connecting the solar cell module of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing another example of the method for connecting the solar cell modules of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing still another example of a method for connecting the solar cell module of FIG.

14 is a plan view showing still another example of the connection method of the solar cell module of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 solar cell element 10, 11 solar cell module 21, 22, 23 positive electrode terminal conductor 31, 32, 33 negative electrode terminal conductor 4 translucent protective film 5 protective film 6 peelable protective material

Claims (19)

[Claims] 1. A first center line that passes through the respective midpoints of the first side and the third side in proximity to the opposing first and third sides of the four sides of the rectangular substrate that supports the solar cell element. And two terminal conductors are arranged symmetrically with respect to the second center line passing through the midpoints of the second side and the fourth side, and among the four terminal conductors in total,
The two terminal conductors that face each other across the first center line have different polarities, and the surfaces facing the opposite sides to the substrate surface are the connection surfaces, and the two center conductors face each other across the second center line. The solar cell module, wherein the two terminal conductors have the same polarity, and the surfaces facing the opposite sides to the substrate surface are connection surfaces. 2. One terminal conductor is arranged symmetrically with respect to the first center line close to the second side and the fourth side, and the two terminal conductors are arranged on the first side or the third side. The solar cell module according to claim 1, wherein the surfaces having the same polarity as the adjacent terminal conductors adjacent to each other and facing the opposite sides to the substrate surface are the connection surfaces. 3. The solar cell module according to claim 1, wherein only the connecting surface of each terminal conductor is exposed and both surfaces are covered with a protective material. 4. The solar cell module according to claim 1, wherein both surfaces are covered with a protective material, and the protective material covering the connection surface of each element conductor is peelable. 5. The solar cell module according to claim 1, wherein the connecting surface of the terminal conductor is provided with a conductive coupling means. 6. The solar cell module according to claim 5, wherein the conductive coupling means is a surface fastener made of metal. 7. A conductive snap means is a metal snap whose connecting surface with it is convex when facing one side with respect to the substrate and concave when facing the other side. Item 5. The solar cell module according to item 5. 8. The solar cell module according to claim 1, wherein the solar cell modules are arranged adjacent to each other on the same plane with their entire sides facing each other, and the terminal conductors at the facing positions are selectively overlapped with each other to generate electricity. A method for connecting a solar cell module, which is characterized in that the solar cell modules are connected electrically. 9. A third side of one solar cell module and a first side of the other solar cell module are arranged adjacent to each other so as to face each other, and at least a pair of terminal conductors of the same polarity located at the opposite positions are arranged. The method for connecting solar cell modules according to claim 8, wherein the solar cell modules are electrically connected to each other in parallel. 10. The first side of one solar cell module and the first side of the other solar cell module, or the third side of one solar cell module and the third side of the other solar cell module face each other. 9. The solar cell module connection method according to claim 8, wherein the solar cell modules are connected in series by electrically connecting a pair of terminal conductors of different polarities that are arranged adjacent to each other and that are opposite to each other. 11. The second side of one solar cell module and the fourth side of the other solar cell module are arranged adjacent to each other so as to face each other, and the oppositely-polarized terminal conductors are electrically connected to each other. The method for connecting solar cell modules according to claim 8, wherein the solar cell modules are connected in series. 12. The method for connecting a solar cell module according to claim 8, wherein the exposed electric contact surfaces of the solar cell module are superposed on each other so that the exposed connection surfaces are overlapped. 13. The method of connecting a solar cell module according to claim 12, wherein the protective material covering the connection surface of the solar cell module according to claim 4 is peeled off to expose the connection surface. 14. The method of connecting a solar cell module according to claim 12 or 13, wherein electrical connection between the connection surfaces of the solar cell module according to claim 5 is performed using a conductive coupling means provided on the connection surface. 15. The method of connecting a solar cell module according to claim 12 or 13, wherein electrical connection between the connection surfaces of the solar cell module is performed by mechanically crimping the exposed connection surfaces. 16. The electrical connection between the connecting surfaces of the solar cell module according to claim 3 or 4 is performed by fusing the protective materials on the surfaces of both solar cell modules together and crimping the exposed connecting surface. The method of connecting a solar cell module according to claim 12 or 13, which is performed. 17. The solar cell module according to claim 12, wherein the connecting surfaces are electrically connected to each other by adhering the connecting surfaces.
3. The method for connecting the solar cell module according to item 3. 18. The method of connecting a solar cell module according to claim 8, wherein the end portions of the terminal conductors that are not connected and are located at positions facing each other when the solar cell modules are arranged side by side. 19. When the solar cell modules according to claim 3 or 4 are arranged adjacent to each other, the end portions of the terminal conductors which are not connected and which are opposed to each other have the connecting surface inside and the protective material outside. The method for connecting the solar cell module according to claim 8, which is bent.