• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2015

The photovoltaic ribbon attached the flux reduces the solar module manufacturing process and the pollution. This paper presents an analytical method for solving the continuous flux drying system of photovoltaic ribbon. Also, some experiments of the drying of photovoltaic ribbon are carried out in order to design the drying system. Numerical results indicate the air temperature, the air velocity, the air pressure and the timewise temperature variation of ribbon during drying process. In case of the drier process length is short, 400mm, the photovoltaic ribbon is wet. Thus, another study of drying system is necessary to improve the drying ability. As a result, multi-stage drier system is proposed and shown to be good drying ability.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.217-220
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• 2014

We studied the plating properties of Sn-Pb solder according to the shape of the Cu wire's cross-section for photovoltaic ribbon. The thickness of the Sn-Pb layer largely decreased to 29% on a curved Cu surface, compared to a flat Cu surface. This phenomenon is caused by the geometrical decrease in the contact angle of the liquid Sn-Pb solder and an increase in the surface energy of the solid/vapor on the curved Cu surface. We suggest a new ribbon's design where the Cu wire's cross-section is a semi-ellipse. These semi-ellipse ribbons can decrease the use of Sn-Pb solder to 64% and increase the photovoltaic efficiency, by reducing the contact area between the ribbon and cell, to 84%. We also see an improvement of reflectivity in the curved surface.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.332-337
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• 2015

We have studied the effects of Ag on the characteristics of $Sn_{60}Pb_{40}Ag_x$ (wt%) solder for photovoltaic ribbon. Ag atoms in the solder formed an alloy phase of $Ag_3Sn$ after reacting with some part of Sn atoms, while they did not react with Pb atoms, but decreased the mean size of Pb solid phase. The enhancement of peel strength between solar cell and ribbon is an important part in the developments of long-lifespan solar module. The peel strength of the solder ribbon of $Sn_{60}Pb_{40}$ (wt%) was $169N/mm^2$, and it was largely enhanced by adding a small amount of Ag atoms. The maximum peel strength was $295N/mm^2$ in the solder ribbon of $Sn_{60}Pb_{40}Ag_2$ (wt%). This result is caused by the high binding energy of 162.9 kJ/mol between Ag atoms in the solder and Ag atoms in Ag sheet.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 2017

We have studied the effects of Ag on the characteristics of $Sn_{43}Bi_{57}Ag_x$(wt%) lead-free solders for photovoltaic ribbon. Ag atoms in the solder formed an alloy phase of Ag3Sn after reacting with some part of Sn atoms, while they did not react with Bi atoms, but decreased the mean size of Bi solid phase and the thickness of solder. When Ag atoms of 3.0 wt% was added to eutectic $Sn_{43}Bi_{57}$(wt%) solder, it showed the optimally useful results that the peel strength of photovoltaic ribbon greatly increased and the sheet resistance of the solder decreased. In the meanwhile, the eutectic $Sn_{43}Bi_{57}$(wt%) solder showed a low melting temperature of $138.9^{\circ}C$, and showed a very similar result regardless of the added amount of Ag atoms.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.45-55
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• 2018

Environmentally benign lead-free solder coated ribbon (e. g. SnCu, SnZn, SnBi${\cdots}$) has been intensively studied to interconnect cells without lead mixed ribbon (e. g. SnPb) in the crystalline silicon(c-Si) photovoltaic modules. However, high melting point (> $200^{\circ}C$) of non-lead based solder provokes increased thermo-mechanical stress during its soldering process, which causes early degradation of PV module with it. Hence, we proposed low-temperature conductive paste (CP) based tabbing method for lead-free ribbon. Modules, interconnected by the lead-free solder (SnCu) employing CP approach, exhibits similar output without increased resistivity losses at initial condition, in comparison with traditional high temperature soldering method. Moreover, 400 cycles (2,000 hour) of thermal cycle test reveals that the module integrated by CP approach withstands thermo-mechanical stress. Furthermore, this approach guarantees strong mechanical adhesion (peel strength of ~ 2 N) between cell and lead-free ribbons. Therefore, the CP based tabbing process for lead free ribbons enables to interconnect cells in c-Si PV module, without deteriorating its performance.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.681-686
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• 2017

Degradation is commonly observed in field-aged PV modules due to corrosion of the photovoltaic ribbon. The reduced performance is caused by a loss of fill factor due to the high series resistance in the PV ribbon. This study aimed to mitigate the degradation by corrosion using five sacrificial anodes - Al, Zn and their alloys - to identify the most effective material to mitigate the corrosion of the PV ribbon. The corrosion behavior of the five sacrificial anode materials were examined by open circuit potential measurements, potentiodynamic polarization tests, and galvanic current density and potential measurements using a zero resistance ammeter. Immersion tests for 120 hours were also conducted using materials and damp heat test tests were performed for 1500 hours using 4 cell mini modules. The Al-3Mg and Al-3Zn-1Mg sacrificial anodes had a low corrosion rate and reduced drop in power, making then suitable for long-term use.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.155-158
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• 2014

The phase transformation of Sn-Pb-Bi solder for photovoltaic ribbon during soldering was studied using real-time synchrotron x-ray scattering. At room temperature, Sn and Pb crystal phases in the solder existed separately. By heating to $92^{\circ}C$, a new PbBi alloy crystal phase was formed, which grew further up to $160^{\circ}C$. The Sn crystal phase first started to melt at $160^{\circ}C$, and was mostly melted at $165^{\circ}C$. In contrast, the Pb and PbBi crystal phases started to melt at $165^{\circ}C$, and were mostly melted at $170^{\circ}C$. The useful result was obtained, that the solder's melting temperature decreased from $183^{\circ}C$ to $170^{\circ}C$ by addition of a small amount of Bi atoms to the eutectic Sn62-Pb38 (wt%) solder. Our study first revealed the detailed in-situ phase transformation of Sn-Pb-Bi solder during heating to the eutectic temperature. Considering the results of peel strength and hardness, adding 1 wt% of Bi atoms to the Sn62-Pb38 (wt%) solder produced an appropriate composition.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.75-81
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• 2014

Usage of heavy metal element (Pb, Hg and Cd etc.) in electronic devices have been restricted due to the environmental banning of the European Union, such as WEEE and RoHS. Therefore, it is needed to develop the Pb-free solder plated ribbon in photovoltaic (PV) module. This study described that degradation characteristics of PV module under damp heat (DH, $85^{\circ}C$ and 85% R.H.) condition test for 1,000 h. Solar cell ribbons were utilized to hot dipping plate with Pb-free solder alloys. Two types of Pb-free solder plated ribbons, Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305) and Sn-48Bi-2Ag, and an electroless Sn-40Pb solder hot dipping plated ribbon as a reference sample were prepared to evaluate degradation characteristics. To detect the degradation of PV module with the eutectic and Pb-free solder plated ribbons, I-V curve, electro-luminescence (EL) and cross-sectional SEM analysis were carried out. DH test results show that the reason of maximum power (Pm) drop was mainly due to the decrease fill factor (FF). It was attributed to the crack or oxidation of interface between the cell and the ribbon. Among PV modules with the eutectic and Pb-free solder plated ribbon, the PV module with SAC305 ribbon relatively showed higher stability after DH test than the case of PV module with Sn-40Pb and Sn-48Bi-2Ag solder plated ribbons.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.59-63
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• 2016

A key point of a soldering process for photovoltaic (PV) modules is to increase an adhesive strength leading a low resistivity between ribbon and cell. In this study, we intended to optimize a heating condition for the soldering process and characterize the soldered joint via physical and chemical analysis methods. For the purpose, the heating conditions were adjusted by IR lamp power, heating time and hot plate temperature for preheating a cell. Since then the peel test for the ribbon and cell was conducted, consequently the peel strength data shows that there is some optimum soldering condition. In here, we observed that the peel strength was modified by increasing the heating condition. Such a soldering property is affected by a various factors of which the soldered joint, flux and bus bar of the cell are changed on the heating condition. Therefore, we tried to reveal causes determining the soldering property through analyzing the soldered interface.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.124-128
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• 2020

Output power of photovoltaic (PV) modules installed outdoors decreases every year due to environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, and ultraviolet irradiations. In order to promote the installation of PV modules, the reliability must be guaranteed. One of the important factors affecting reliability is intermetallic compounds (IMC) layer formed in ribbon solder joint. For this reason, various studies on soldering properties between the ribbon and cell have been performed to solve the reliability deterioration caused by excessive growth of the IMC layer. However, the IMC layer of the PV module interconnected by multi-wires has been studied less than using the ribbon. It is necessary to study soldering characteristics of the multi-wire module for improvement of its reliability. In this study, we analyzed the growth of IMC layer of the PV module with multi-wire and the degradation of output power through damp-heat test. The fabricated modules were exposed to damp-heat conditions (85 ºC and 85 % relative humidity) for 1000 hours and the output powers of the modules before and after the damp-heat test were measured. Then, the process of dissolving ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) as an encapsulant of the modules was performed to observe the IMC layer. The growth of IMC layer was evaluated using OM and FE-SEM for cross-sectional analysis and EDS for elemental mapping. Based on these results, we investigated the correlation between the IMC layer and output power of modules.