• 한국태양에너지학회 논문집
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• 제35권1호
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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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• 제15권4호
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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.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제28권5호
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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.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제30권2호
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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.

• 한국태양에너지학회 논문집
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• 제38권1호
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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.

• 한국산학기술학회논문지
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.681-686
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• 2017

태양광 모듈에서 태양전지를 연결해주는 인터커넥터로 리본 솔더로 SnPbAg가 사용되고, 옥외 태양광 발전에 장기간 노출시 리본의 부식으로 인한 열화가 흔히 관찰된다. 이러한 부식현상으로 인하여 리본과 태양전지의 접합이 약해져 접촉저항이 증가하고, 또한 리본 자체의 직렬 저항이 증가하게 되어 태양전지의 전압 전류 곡선에서 충진률 손실로 출력이 저하된다. 본 논문에서는 리본의 부식을 완화시킬 수 있는 방법으로 희생양극법을 이용하여 순수 알루미늄 및 아연, 알루미늄, 아연 그리고 마그네슘의 합금을 이용한 5가지 희생양극 소재의 부식에 의한 열화 저감을 연구하였다. 전기화학적 방법으로 희생양극 소재의 개방회로 전위와 폐쇄회로 전위를 측정하였고, 포텐시오다이나믹 분극 곡선을 측정하고, 영저항전류계를 이용하여 리본과 소재간의 갈바닉 전류를 측정하였다. 또한, 아세트산과, NaCl에 리본과 희생양극 소재의 부착 전후의 침지시험과 4셀 미니모듈로 제작한 후 1500시간 고온고습 시험 전후 출력을 평가하였다. 그 결과 Al-3Mg와 Al-3Zn-1Mg의 희생양극 소재가 부식속도가 느리고, 출력저하를 저감시킬 뿐만 아니라 장기 안정성에도 효과적인 것으로 평가된다.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• 제15권3호
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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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• 제32권6호
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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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• 제4권2호
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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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• 제8권4호
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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.