Apparatus for manufacturing an inorganic thin-film solar cell, and method for controlling same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9401449-B2
Application number	US-201213984954-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 9, 2012
Priority date	Feb 10, 2011
Publication date	Jul 26, 2016
Grant date	Jul 26, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing an inorganic thin-film solar cell, the apparatus including: a substrate stage which is mounted in a chamber and in which a solar cell substrate is disposed; and an inorganic powder supply unit including a nozzle configured to discharge an inorganic powder aerosol containing an inorganic powder onto the substrate stage in a supersonic flow so as to form a solar cell layer on the solar cell substrate, and an inorganic powder supply portion configured to supply the inorganic powder aerosol to the nozzle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for manufacturing an inorganic thin-film solar cell, the apparatus comprising:
a substrate stage which is mounted in a chamber and in which a windable solar cell substrate is disposed, the substrate stage including a stage heating plate configured to provide heat to the solar cell substrate;
a roll-to-roll unit disposed at both ends of the chamber, the roll-to-roll unit including a pay-out roller mounted at one end thereof so as to allow the solar cell substrate to be paid out therefrom, and a wind-in roller mounted at the other end thereof so as to allow the solar cell substrate to be wound therearound so that the solar cell substrate can be moved while passing through the chamber; and
an inorganic powder supply unit disposed in the chamber, the inorganic powder supply unit including a nozzle configured to discharge an inorganic powder aerosol containing an inorganic powder onto the substrate stage in a supersonic flow so as to form a solar cell layer on the solar cell substrate, and an inorganic powder supply portion configured to supply the inorganic powder aerosol to the nozzle,
wherein the inorganic powder is deposited on the solar cell substrate,
wherein the inorganic powder supply unit comprises a flow regulator disposed between the inorganic powder supply portion and the nozzle and configured to regulate a flow rate of the inorganic powder aerosol, and
the inorganic powder supply portion comprises:
a transport gas supply portion configured to provide a transport gas for transporting the inorganic powder; and
an inorganic powder supply portion configured to receive the transport gas from the transport gas supply portion and feed the inorganic powder aerosol to the nozzle through the supply of the inorganic powder by virtue of the flow of the transport gas,
wherein the apparatus further comprises:
a sensing unit including a nozzle temperature sensor disposed at the nozzle and configured to detect the temperature of the inorganic powder aerosol through the nozzle, a nozzle pressure sensor disposed at the nozzle and configured to detect the pressure of the inorganic powder aerosol through the nozzle, a chamber temperature sensor configured to detect the internal temperature of the chamber, and an image sensor portion disposed between the nozzle and the wind-in roller and configured to detect image information on the solar cell substrate;
a control unit connected to the sensing unit and configured to receive the detected signal from the sensing unit;
an arithmetic operation unit configured to calculate the nozzle velocity of the inorganic powder aerosol discharged through the nozzle based on the detected signals of the nozzle pressure sensor and the nozzle temperature sensor in response to an operation control signal from the control unit; and
a storage unit connected to the storage unit and configured to store a preset data containing a reference nozzle velocity compared with the nozzle velocity to determine whether or not the discharge state of the nozzle is in a normal state, and a reference thickness compared with the thickness information extracted from the image information to determine whether or not the thickness of the inorganic powder sprayed onto the one side of the solar cell substrate is normal.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the inorganic powder supply portion further comprises a gas heater provided at the transport gas supply portion and the inorganic powder supply portion and configured to supply heat to the transport gas to pre-heat the inorganic powder introduced into the inorganic powder supply portion.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the multi-nozzle is a multi-nozzle configured to individually discharge a plurality of inorganic powder aerosol in a supersonic flow.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the multi-nozzle is provided in plural numbers, and any one of the plurality of multi-nozzles discharges an inorganic powder different from one discharged from another multi-nozzle.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the inorganic powder comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of Cu, In, Ga, Se, Cd, Te, S, Mo, and ZnO.

6. The apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising a recycle unit connected to the chamber and configured to re-collect the remaining inorganic powder other than the inorganic powder forming the solar cell layer.

7. A method for controlling an apparatus for manufacturing an inorganic thin-film solar cell, the method comprising:
an apparatus provision step of providing an apparatus for manufacturing an inorganic thin-film solar cell, the apparatus comprising:
a substrate stage which is mounted in a chamber and in which a windable solar cell substrate is disposed, the substrate stage including a stage heating plate configured to provide heat to the solar cell substrate;
a roll-to-roll unit disposed at both ends of the chamber, the roll-to-roll unit including a pay-out roller mounted at one end thereof so as to allow the solar cell substrate to be paid out therefrom, and a wind-in roller mounted at the other end thereof so as to allow the solar cell substrate to be wound therearound so that the solar cell substrate can be moved while passing through the chamber;
an inorganic powder supply unit disposed in the chamber, the inorganic powder supply unit including a nozzle configured to discharge an inorganic powder aerosol containing an inorganic powder onto the substrate stage in a supersonic flow so as to form a solar cell layer on the solar cell substrate, and an inorganic powder supply portion configured to supply the inorganic powder aerosol to the nozzle, wherein the inorganic powder is deposited on the solar cell substrate;
a sensing unit including a nozzle temperature sensor disposed at the nozzle and configured to detect the temperature of the inorganic powder aerosol through the nozzle, a nozzle pressure sensor disposed at the nozzle and configured to detect the pressure of the inorganic powder aerosol through the nozzle, a chamber temperature sensor configured to detect the internal temperature of the chamber, and an image sensor portion disposed between the nozzle and the wind-in roller and configured to detect image information on the solar cell substrate;
a control unit connected to the sensing unit and configured to receive the detected signal from the sensing unit;
an arithmetic operation unit configured to calculate the nozzle velocity of the inorganic powder aerosol discharged through the nozzle based on the detected signals of the nozzle pressure sensor and the nozzle temperature sensor in response to an operation control signal from the control unit; and
a storage unit connected to the storage unit and configured to store a preset data containing a reference nozzle velocity compared with the nozzle velocity to determine whether or not the discharge state of the nozzle is in a normal state, and a reference thickness compared with the thickness information extracted from the image information to determine whether or not the thickness of the inorganic powder sprayed onto the one side of the solar cell substrate is normal;
a spray and deposition step of allowing the control unit to apply a supply control signal to the inorganic powder supply unit, and apply a feed control signal to the roll-to-roll unit to discharge the inorganic powder aerosol to the solar cell substrate to cause the inorganic powder to be deposited on the solar cell substrate;
a detection step of allowing the control unit to apply a detection control signal to the sensing unit; and
a regulation step of allowing the control unit to regulate the discharge velocity of the nozzle and the feed rate of the solar cell substrate using the

Assignees

• Park Jung Jae
• Kim Do Yeon
• Lee Jong Gun
• Lee Min Wook
• Yoon Suk Goo
• Univ Korea Res & Bus Found

Inventors

• Park Jung Jae
• Kim Do Yeon
• Lee Jong Gun
• Lee Min Wook
• Yoon Suk Goo

Classifications

• H10P14/3452

  Microstructure · CPC title

• H10P14/3436

  being chalcogenide semiconductor materials not being oxides, e.g. ternary compounds · CPC title

• H10P14/265

  using solutions · CPC title

• C23C24/04

  Impact or kinetic deposition of particles · CPC title

• Y02E10/541

  CuInSe2 material PV cells · CPC title