Solar cell module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9741887-B2
Application number	US-201514599120-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 16, 2015
Priority date	Jan 20, 2014
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

A solar cell module is discussed, which includes a plurality of strings each including a plurality of solar cells, which are connected in series to one another through an interconnector, a front transparent substrate disposed on front surfaces of the plurality of strings, a first encapsulant disposed between the front transparent substrate and the front surfaces of the plurality of strings, a first reflector disposed in a first space between the plurality of solar cells included in each string, which are separated from one another in a first direction corresponding to a longitudinal direction of each string, and a second reflector disposed in a second space between the plurality of strings, which are separated from one another in a second direction crossing the first direction. The first and second reflectors reflect incident light.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A solar cell module comprising:
a plurality of strings each including a plurality of solar cells, which are connected in series to one another through an interconnector, each of the plurality of strings extending in a first direction;
a front transparent substrate disposed on front surfaces of the plurality of strings;
a first encapsulant disposed between the front transparent substrate and the front surfaces of the plurality of strings;
a first reflector disposed in a first space between the plurality of solar cells included in each string, which are separated from one another in the first direction corresponding to a longitudinal direction of the each string, the first reflector reflecting incident light; and
a second reflector disposed in a second space between the plurality of strings, which are separated from one another in a second direction crossing the first direction, the second reflector reflecting incident light,
wherein the first reflector is formed on a front surface of the interconnector and forms one body along with the interconnector, and
wherein, when viewing the solar cell module from its front surface, each of the interconnector, the first reflector, and the second reflector does not overlap semiconductor substrates included in the plurality of solar cells, and is spatially separated from the semiconductor substrates included in the plurality of solar cells.

2. The solar cell module of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of solar cells includes:
a semiconductor substrate configured to form a p-n junction; and
a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes which are formed on a back surface of the semiconductor substrate and are separated from each other.

3. The solar cell module of claim 2 , wherein the first reflector is disposed between the semiconductor substrates included in the plurality of solar cells of each string and extends in the second direction,
wherein the second reflector is disposed between the semiconductor substrate of a solar cell included in one string and the semiconductor substrate of a solar cell included in another string adjacent to the one string and extends in the first direction.

4. The solar cell module of claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of solar cells further includes:
a first conductive line connected to the plurality of first electrodes using a conductive adhesive; and
a second conductive line connected to the plurality of second electrodes using the conductive adhesive.

5. The solar cell module of claim 4 , wherein the interconnector is connected to the first conductive line connected to one solar cell and the second conductive line connected to another solar cell adjacent to the one solar cell.

6. The solar cell module of claim 1 , wherein a sum of a thickness of the first reflector and a thickness of the interconnector is greater than a thickness of a semiconductor substrate included in each solar cell.

7. The solar cell module of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of uneven portions are formed on a front surface of each of the first reflector and the second reflector.

8. The solar cell module of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of uneven portions of the first reflector include a plurality of first protrusions each extending in the second direction.

9. The solar cell module of claim 8 , wherein an inclination angle of the first protrusions in the first reflector, positioned between the solar cells adjacent to each other in the first direction, increases as it goes farther away from the adjacent solar cells.

10. The solar cell module of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of uneven portions of the second reflector include a plurality of second protrusions each extending in the first direction.

11. The solar cell module of claim 10 , wherein an inclination angle of the second protrusions in the second reflector, positioned between the solar cells adjacent to each other in the second direction, increases as it goes farther away from the adjacent solar cells.

12. The solar cell module of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the second reflector is greater than a thickness of a semiconductor substrate included in each solar cell.

13. The solar cell module of claim 1 , wherein the first and second reflectors each contain a conductive material.

14. The solar cell module of claim 1 , wherein the first and second reflectors each contain an insulating material.

15. The solar cell module of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second reflectors includes a body part formed of an insulating material and a coating part formed of a metal material coated on a front surface of the body part.

16. The solar cell module of claim 1 , wherein refractive indexes of the first and second reflectors are different from a refractive index of the first encapsulant.

17. The solar cell module of claim 1 , further comprising an outermost reflector having a plurality of uneven portions positioned outside the plurality of solar cells when viewing the solar cell module from its front surface,
wherein an inclined surface formed by the plurality of uneven portions of the outermost reflector faces only the plurality of solar cells positioned inside the outermost reflector.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Woo Taeki
• Kim Minpyo
• Jang Daehee
• Kim Bojoong

Classifications

• H01L31/0508

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/056 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/048

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/0547

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/0516

  Electricity · mapped topic