Development of Tandem Amorphous/Microcrystalline Silicon Thin-Film Large-Area See-Through Color Solar Panels with Reflective Layer and 4-Step Laser Scribing for Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Applications

Chin-Yi Tsai,Chin-Yao Tsai

doi:10.1155/2014/809261

Abstract

In this work, tandem amorphous/microcrystalline silicon thin-film large-area see-through color solar modules were successfully designed and developed for building-integrated photovoltaic applications. Novel and key technologies of reflective layers and 4-step laser scribing were researched, developed, and introduced into the production line to produce solar panels with various colors, such as purple, dark blue, light blue, silver, golden, orange, red wine, and coffee. The highest module power is 105 W and the highest visible light transmittance is near 20%.

Highlights

Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) is an important application area for photovoltaic industry and commerce [1, 2]
The production of the wafer-based silicon PV modules comprises different and separate processes for polysilicon materials, wafers, cells, and modules; it could be rather involved to commercially coordinate theses different production procedures and customize their functions or configurations for designated specifications required by various BIPV applications
In this work, many innovative technologies are researched, developed, and introduced into the production line of the large-area tandem amorphous/microcrystalline silicon thin-film solar module for BIPV applications. These novel and key technologies, including reflective layers and 4-step laser scribing, are compatible with the existing manufacture processes and very cost effective. They were successfully introduced into the production line to manufacture BIPV panels with various colors, such as purple, dark blue, light blue, silver, golden, orange, red wine, and coffee

Summary

Introduction

Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) is an important application area for photovoltaic industry and commerce [1, 2]. In this work, many innovative technologies are researched, developed, and introduced into the production line of the large-area tandem amorphous/microcrystalline silicon thin-film solar module for BIPV applications These novel and key technologies, including reflective layers and 4-step laser scribing, are compatible with the existing manufacture processes and very cost effective. They were successfully introduced into the production line to manufacture BIPV panels with various colors, such as purple, dark blue, light blue, silver, golden, orange, red wine, and coffee. The details of these technologies and the resulted products will be discussed in what follows

Technologies

Results and Discussion

Conclusion