PTS Austria - Production Technology Systems

PTS
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PV-Solutions by PTS Austria
Intention
PTS-string@once Technology
... more than just soldering
The trends in the production of
crystalline cells are in considerable
contrast to those that have
emerged in the past few years in
the area of soldering crystalline cells.
On one hand, one would like to produce
cells that are thinner, not least due to
the shortage of raw materials. On the
other hand, manufacturers of soldering
machines are trying to maximise output
through a reduction of process times.
The increasing fragility of the cells
combined with the constant demand
for breakage reduction inspired us
to take a completely new direction
in string production and develop the
string@once technology.
PTS-String@ONCE
The string@once soldering technology is based on the principle of cell-specific
energy input. All cells in a string are soldered at the same time in one operation.
In the process, each cell only absorbs as much energy as it needs for its
soldering process.
Through this simultaneous soldering process, more time arises for the process
design than for conventional soldering methods. The process time only for the
soldering process should therefore be up to 40 seconds. In connection with the
integrated pre- and post-heating zone, the system guarantees an extremely stressfree
soldering process with the best soldering quality (see chart A “Comparison of
Soldering Systems and Process Times”).
string@once is the technology that processes cells > 120 μm with the lowest
breakage rate.
Soft crimp
Module manufacturers are not of one
opinion regarding beading: For some,
beading is indispensible in order to be
able to bridge the height differences
between the front and back sides of
the cells and hence reduce the stress
on the edge of the cell. Others don’t
use beading at all, because classical
bead formation involves local
losses of the interconnector elasticity
and therefore promotes cell breakage.
The soft crimp technique is a gentle
method of preparing the soldering ribbon.
Through special kinematics when
shaping the ribbon, the elasticity of the
interconnector is even increased. As a
result, the stress on the edge of the cell
and cell breakage are reduced.
string@once: More time for careful cell soldering
A Comparison of Soldering Systems and Process
0 50 100 150 200
Process time per soldered connection [s]
Soldering system with
string@once Technology
Soldering system with
conventional technology
PTS Austria GmbH