FACILITYMANAGEMENT
67 second per module) and the output is 40% higher by reduced footprint.
Further advantages of this process is that each step can be individually adjusted resulting in a very homogenous gel content typically 80% ±2.5%. Good cured EVA increases the lifetime significant of the laminate and has a linear impact to LCOE reduction. Detailed DOE studies at 3S Modultec shows that the adhesion strength between EVA/glass and EVA/Tedlar reaches >40 N/cm.
Increasing durability Chart 2.
Depth and density of micro cracks induced by sawing process slurry or diamond wire based saw
reduce the LCOE, HJT concepts are competitive.. The lower temperature coefficient leads to higher energy and a reduction of LCOE around 9%.
Encapsulation Membrane
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The membrane is exposed to several influential factors in the peroxide-based cross-linking process, mainly the mechanical/thermal load and the aggressive chemical environment. The membrane is the fundamental costs driver in the TCO study of the module process. Increasing the service life of the membrane is therefore the priority starting point of the lamination process. Quadrupling the stability of the new red 3S Modultec membrane combined with design and process-related adjustments leads to take the advantages and to a reduction of the entire LCOE. The uptime of the laminators increases simultaneously due to the reduced downtime caused by the membrane.
Both effects lead to an improvement of the TCO of at least 1%. If calculated in another way, this means that the laminator is paid in a few years of operation by the savings from membrane costs.
The XL process
The laminating capacity can be further increased by an XL process. In the XL process, the traditional lamination process is split into two steps resulting in a 3 chamber configuration:
Chamber 1: sealing process
Chamber 2: post curing process polymerisation Chamber 3: cooling press
By splitting the heating process into two chambers, two different temperature profiles can be set. In the first heating chamber a much higher heating rate can be used in order to heat the glass quicker whereas in the second chamber the curing process can be fine-tuned. This so called duplex mode ensures that the first stage receives a new load every 4.5 minutes (fast cure EVA), in contrast to conventional laminators, the cycle time per module drops (every 4.5 minutes four modules =
3S Modultec laminators display a very high homogeneity of the heating plate of ±1%. The modules are inserted into the laminators by pins. Both effects mean that the gel content is very homogenous in the entire module (tolerance± 2.5%). The cooling press cools the module down in a controlled manner. As a result, the polymer chains align, the crystal formation after the cross- linking and the polymer process remains under control and the transmission of the encapsulation film is guarantied [4].
The second positive effect is that the edge closure can be perfectly formed. The homogenous gel content and the edge closure - which prevents water getting into the hydrophilic EVA - prevent cell corrosion and increase the durability of the solar module. This effect is also supported by the jet pulsed flux system soldering of the Somont stringers. In this process flux is applied only to spots actually being soldered. There is no more excess flux and so it cannot cause any corrosion of the cell connector. If typical durability is increased from 20 to 30 years, the LCOE is reduced, i.e. the costs per generated kWh by 30%. Grid parity could be achieved even now in many countries by this alone.
BIPV
The final customer realises the performance of his system as the energy quantity of his PV system per year compared to the money invested. The BOS costs and the energy payback time can be reduced if the modules are frameless and the modules take on an additional function as part of the building shell, e.g. as a roofing element. With such BIPV (building integrated photovoltaic) systems the incurred fitting costs can largely be treated as opportunity costs with the result that only the additional costs to be paid are for the electrical installation.
The Megaslate of the 3S Modultec is an example of a BIPV system that can be fitted very efficiently (10k Wp in 7 hours with 2 fitters). The frameless design reduces the LCOE costs per kWh by 6% and increases the performance ratio due to less pollution at the borderline. It should be noted that
www.solar-pv-management.com Issue II 2011
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