Progress Towards a Non-Lamination Encapsulation Technology to Improve Reliability and Reduce Costs

New solar module architectures and manufacturing technologies are being developed that significantly reduce manufacturing costs and improve reliability. Variants for both crystalline silicon and thin film devices are being optimized. The outcome of this ongoing program will be a new module designs, streamlined manufacturing processes and accelerated stress results showing improved reliability. Prototype encapsulation process will demonstrate cycle time under 1 minute compared to the current industry method of vacuum lamination which takes more than 10 minutes. The new technology will significantly lower manufacturing costs, process time and reduce capital expenditures by approximately 3-5 times