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A woven fabric for interconnecting back‐contact solar cells
Author(s) -
Borgers Tom,
Govaerts Jonathan,
Voroshazi Eszter,
Jambaldinni Shruti,
O'Sullivan Barry,
Singh Sukhvinder,
Debucquoy Maarten,
Szlufcik Jozef,
Poortmans Jef
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/pip.2851
Subject(s) - interconnection , resistive touchscreen , contact resistance , electrical conductor , materials science , weaving , process (computing) , computer science , electronic engineering , electrical engineering , engineering , nanotechnology , telecommunications , composite material , layer (electronics) , operating system
This paper reports on a novel and highly innovative technology to interconnect back‐contact cells. First, a background section explains the currently developed interconnection technologies. Then, our novel concept is introduced: interconnection of the cells is achieved with a woven fabric, combining both conductive wires, needed for the interconnection, and insulating wires, crucial to avoid shunting between both polarities at the backside of the cell. Weaving also allows out‐of‐plane stress relief features. In the third section, we explain that our technology combines the advantages of multi‐wire interconnection such as low‐stress and reduced resistive losses with known and low‐cost materials of traditional module assembly. Additional to previous publications, we demonstrate that the technology can be tuned broadly in terms of costs and resistive losses using an optimized interconnection pattern. These resistive loss simulations are also validated with the measured additional resistance in IBC test samples. We also present a preliminary thermal cycling test with promising results. Finally, first functional demonstrators IBC cells are fabricated, disclosing the process flow and initial technology developments. These results clearly demonstrate the proof‐of‐concept of the woven interconnection fabric, and based on electrical characterization we provide suggestions for improvements. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.