Inge,

Good to hear from you!

First, if your folks don't already belong to, or receive PV and Renewable
Energy literature, have them sign up for this free newsletter from
Renewable Energy Resouses
https://www.sub-forms.com/dragon/init.do?site=PNW33_RWnew&pk=RWWEB5&cmpid=Internal-MAGsubscribe-article
​

There are other ones out there as well.

Second - regarding an adhesive.  I have seen materials advertised for just
this application, however I did not pay close enough attention to recall
vendor or part number.  I have seen it in the print versions from the above
link and will scan through a few of them this weekend to see if I can find
anything.  I'm sure that the 'biggies' like Henkel have an entire family of
products for this.

In a pinch you should look at using acrylic adhesive such as GE 595.  This
is the mastic one will find on such things as kapton/polyimide tape with
acrylic adhesive.  High temp - thermally stable, low outgassing, wide range
of use temperature.  We used it at CTS for use as a particle getter - good
for space applications.  Have the better part of a 5 gal can of it at home
that had technically expired.  This is NOT a silicone, nor a caulk, etc.
This is a clear, viscous, very sticky and gooey 'snot-like'  (technical
term  :-)  ) liquid which never 'dries'.

You can thin it with xylene to whatever viscosity you need, then doctor
blade it onto their substrate, flash off the xylene in a 50-100C oven (or
let it flash off in air, longer) and you end up with a nice resilient,
sticky surface to which you can place your components.  Better yet, you can
doctor blade it to the backside of the cell and bond it to the substrate.

3M also makes an acrylic transfer tapes.  I can't say they use the GE 595,
but any good, clean acrylic system should be close enough.  Check out this
link and expand from there -
http://www.hillas.com/Categories/3M-Adhesive-Transfer-Tape-9457/

From a small volume process point of view, dealing with the transfer tape
will be much easier than with the liquid.

Being unfilled, the adhesive itself is not thermally conductive, so it
actually impedes cooling of the cell.  You have to run the fine line of a
thick enough bond-line to allow compliance between the low CTE Si and much
higher CTE of Al (for example) and additional loss of thermal
conductivity.  It would make sense that this could be loaded with an oxide
to improve thermal conductivity.  I believe that some of the standard
products for this application are indeed loaded with something to enhance
thermal transfer.

I did a quick web search for GE 595, but did not find what I was looking
for.  Will look at the can tonight and see if I can come up with a data
sheet for you.  I know I have one somewhere, but it has been a while.

Best regards

Steve C


On Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 12:04 AM, Inge Hernefjord <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Hi gals and lads in the wonderland of Electronics,
> I've a question about solar panels, closer PV/T. Is anyone of you producing
> such solar Power units?
> Do you have experience from these steps: ABS absorbers,  aluminum heat
> enhance foil and photovoltaic layers, all put together with adhesive. I try
> to encourage  friends who run a small scale production of solar panels.
> It's not   an easy task with constant lack of money and no process engineer
> (one of my titles), no lab resources and no material specialist. It's
> a brave little group who steps in on the chinese market.
>
> My actual q is on how to glue such large pieces together and give the buyer
> a 25 years guarantee.  All of you Netters are familiar with outdoors   hard
> life with corrosion, leakage, temperature¨ fatiguing  Changes, vibration,
> sun  irradiation, pollutions, droppings from birds and so on.. The solar
> panel must be sort of "inert" to all these harmful conditions.
> With decades of spending weekends on the lab to find a specific solution,
> I have proposed the following simple setup for a prototype production:
>
> 1. Washing all parts in a DEGREASING tank
> 2. Cont'd cleaning in alkoholic based bath.
> 3. Drying in a a soft vacuum heat oven
> 4. Press the preassembled parts together with sufficient force to create a
> void free seal.
>
> So, if someone got knowhow from PV/T production, I would be glad to "meet"
> and discuss,
>
> Ciao/ Inge
>
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