Substrate and collector grid structures for integrated series connected photovoltaic arrays and process of manufacture of such arrays
First Claim
1. A method of manufacture of an article combining a photovoltaic cell structure and a current collector structure suitable for collecting current from light incident surfaces of photovoltaic cells, said method comprising the steps of,providing a photovoltaic cell structure having semiconductor material positioned between a top light incident cell surface and bottom cell surface,providing current collector structure, said current collector structure comprising a flexible, polymer based sheetlike substrate having a first surface and a second surface and comprising a pattern of electrically conductive material supported by said substrate and positioned over said first surface, said current collector structure being manufactured separately and distinctly from said cell structure,combining a portion of said current collector structure and said cell structure such that said first substrate surface of said collector structure portion and said top light incident surface of said cell structure face each other and said pattern of conductive material associated with said collector structure portion extends over and is in electrical contact with a preponderance of said top light incident cell surface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention comprises deposition of thin film photovoltaic junctions on metal substrates which can be heat treated following deposition in a continuous fashion without deterioration of the metal support structure. In a separate operation an interconnection substrate structure is produced in a continuous roll-to-roll fashion. In this way the interconnection substrate structure can be uniquely formulated from polymer-based materials since it does not have to endure high temperature exposure. Cells comprising the metal foil supported photovoltaic junctions are then laminated to the interconnection substrate structure. Conductive interconnections are deposited to complete the array. The conductive interconnections can be accomplished with a separately prepared interconnection component. The interconnected array is produced using continuous roll-to-roll processing which avoids the need to use the expensive and intricate material removal operations currently taught in the art to achieve electrical interconnections among arrays of photovoltaic cells.
137 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of manufacture of an article combining a photovoltaic cell structure and a current collector structure suitable for collecting current from light incident surfaces of photovoltaic cells, said method comprising the steps of,
providing a photovoltaic cell structure having semiconductor material positioned between a top light incident cell surface and bottom cell surface, providing current collector structure, said current collector structure comprising a flexible, polymer based sheetlike substrate having a first surface and a second surface and comprising a pattern of electrically conductive material supported by said substrate and positioned over said first surface, said current collector structure being manufactured separately and distinctly from said cell structure, combining a portion of said current collector structure and said cell structure such that said first substrate surface of said collector structure portion and said top light incident surface of said cell structure face each other and said pattern of conductive material associated with said collector structure portion extends over and is in electrical contact with a preponderance of said top light incident cell surface.
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6. A method of manufacture of an article combining a photovoltaic cell structure and a current collector structure suitable for collecting current from light incident surfaces of photovoltaic cells, said method comprising the steps of,
providing a photovoltaic cell structure having a light incident surface, providing a separately prepared current collector structure, said current collector structure comprising a sheetlike substrate having a first surface and a pattern of electrically conductive material extending over said first surface, said current collector structure being initially separate and distinct from said photovoltaic cell structure, combining said photovoltaic cell structure and a portion of said current collector structure such that said light incident surface of said cell structure and said first substrate surface of said collector structure portion not covered by said conductive material face each other and are adhesively bonded to each other, and said pattern of electrically conductive material associated with said collector structure portion is in electrical contact with said light incident surface.
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19. A method of manufacture of an article combining a photovoltaic cell structure and a current collector structure suitable for collecting current from light incident surfaces of photovoltaic cells, said method comprising the steps of,
providing a separately prepared current collector structure, said current collector structure comprising a flexible polymer based sheetlike substrate having a first surface and comprising a pattern of electrically conductive material extending over said first surface, said current collector structure being initially separate and distinct from said photovoltaic cell structure, applying photovoltaic cell structure over at least a portion of said current collector structure, said cell structure comprising a light incident surface, a back surface and semiconductor material positioned between said light incident and back surfaces, said application being such that a preponderance of said light incident surface faces and is in electrical communication with said pattern of conductive material associated with said portion of current collector structure.
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21. A method of manufacture of an article combining a photovoltaic cell structure and a current collector structure suitable for collecting current from light incident surfaces of photovoltaic cells, said method comprising the steps of,
providing a separately prepared current collector structure, said current collector structure comprising a transparent or translucent substrate having a length dimension and having a first surface, said current collector structure further comprising multiple distinctly separated patterns of electrically conductive material supported on said first surface, each of said patterns being elongate in said length dimension and having a width dimension perpendicular to said length dimension, said multiple patterns being repetitive in said width dimension, said patterns being distinctly separated from each other by a region of substrate absent conductive material extending in said length dimension, positioning photovoltaic cell structures over at least a portions of each of said patterns of conductive material, each of said cell structures comprising a light incident surface, a back surface and semiconductor material positioned between said light incident and back surfaces, said positioning being such that a preponderance of said light incident surface of each of said cell structures faces and is in electrical contact with a said pattern of conductive material.
Specification