Solar battery module

• US 6,046,403 A
• Filed: 08/07/1998
• Issued: 04/04/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
• Original Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
• Inventors: Noguchi, Tomoko, Yoshikawa, Masato, Kato, Nobuko
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nam
• Assistant Examiner(s): Miggins, Michael C.
• Application Number:
  US09/130,878
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• Field of Search: 136/252, 136/256, 136/257, 502/308, 502/309, 502/350
• US Class Current: 136/257
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/048 Encapsulation of modules
• CPC Class Codes: H02S 40/10 Cleaning arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/50 Photovoltaic [PV] energy

Abstract

Disclosed is a solar battery module including: a solar battery cell; and a surface material laminated to cover a surface of said cell; wherein a photocatalyst layer is formed on said surface material. With this module, it is possible to prevent contamination to the surface material of a solar battery module and prevent loss of sunlight irradiation energy to the solar battery, and hence to maintain an electric generation power for a long time.

Claims

1. A solar battery module comprising:

a solar battery cell;

a surface material laminated to cover a surface of said solar battery cell; and

a photocatalyst film having a photocatalyst layer made of titanium oxide is formed on one surface of a substrate directly or by way of an underlaying layer, and an adhesive layer is formed on an opposite surface of said substrate, wherein said adhesive layer is a heat or light crosslinked adhesive formed by adding an organic peroxide or a photoinitiator to an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer to form the photocatalyst layer on said surface material.

2. A solar battery module according to claim 1 wherein said photocatalyst layer comprises a metal oxide layer.

4. A solar battery module according to claim 1, wherein said photocatalyst layer has a thickness in the range of 0.001 to 10 μ

m.

5. A solar battery module according to claim 1, wherein said substrate is a transparent plastic film having a thickness in the range of 10 to 300 μ

m.

6. A solar battery module according to claim 5, wherein said transparent plastic film is a material selected from the group consisting of polyester, acrylic resin, cellulose or polycarbonate.

7. A solar battery module according to claim 1, wherein said adhesive layer has a thickness in the range of 1 to 500 μ

m.

3. A solar battery module according to claim 11, wherein said surface material is fluororesin.