VITRUM ENERGIA - Artenergy Publishing

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Bystronic glass:
reduced costs of PV
module production
the TPS ® unit against moisture from outside.
These properties are also needed in the PV industry.
Moisture can attack the photovoltaic active
layer which impacts module efficiency and
which could result in delaminating and corrosion
of the module. Therefore TPS ® is well suited to
seal any thin film module, either with or without
foil. If the module has a foil, the TPS ®
material is applied before the lamination process
starts. For this purpose Bystronic glass has
transferred the application process for the TPS ®
sealant material to the horizontal design.
This new horizontal TPS ® applicator (photovoltaic
TPA) is embedded in the PV production
process prior to the lamination station. The substrate
glass is transported via conveyer to the
photovoltaic TPA, where it is automatically
positioned. The machine then applies a very thin
and accurate TPS ® sealant bead. The accuracy is
better than 5/100 millimetres, which is essential
for the following lamination process.
Second option: sealing modules using TPS ®
multilayer application
The other way to seal PV thin film modules
with TPS ® is on specially designed units. In this
case, the lamination foil is not used, but for security
reasons the PV module needs toughened glass.
TPS ®
multilayer
application
Glass-Technology International 2/2010
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Application of
a very thin
sealant bead
The encapsulation process for this kind of module
is very similar to the insulating glass production
process. The main difference compared to the
TPS ® insulating glass production process is the
application of two sealant beads. The reason for
this is very simple. Between the first and the
second layer, the contacts are put through the
sealant. The contacts are therefore protected by
the sealant and the unit remains tight.
Main advantages of the TPS ® multilayer
encapsulation
The traditional encapsulation of glass-glass
PV modules is carried out by lamination foil
such as EVA or PVB-foil. And one of the last
manufacturing steps in the encapsulation is the
glass and foil lamination in a vacuum or in a
roller laminator. The TPS ® multilayer system
now gives manufacturers the possibility to produce
a module between 30 and 50 seconds, without
a batch process. The cost reduction factor provides
a strong case for the TPS ® multilayer system,
not only in respect of the cycle time, but
also with the abolition of the lamination foil. For
BIPV manufacturers, the TPS ® multilayer system
provides many variations for the manufacture of
PV panels, especially when the dimensions of the
modules become larger from year to year.
There are a lot of advantages for the TPS ®
encapsulation process without foil lamination:
• the cycle time is down to less than 30 seconds
for one module;