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Use of Lasers To Soften Edges of Glass Collectively Eliminates Troublesome Polymers
Using femtosecond lasers to kind glass-to-glass welds for photo voltaic modules would make the panels simpler to recycle, in line with a proof-of-concept research performed by researchers on the U.S. Division of Power’s Nationwide Renewable Power Laboratory (NREL).
The welds would get rid of the necessity for plastic polymer sheets that are actually laminated into photo voltaic modules however make recycling harder. On the finish of their helpful lifespan, the modules made with the laser welds will be shattered. The glass and steel wires working by way of the photo voltaic cells will be simply recycled and the silicon will be reused.
“Most recyclers will affirm that the polymers are the primary concern when it comes to inhibiting the method of recycling,” mentioned David Younger, senior scientist and group supervisor for the Excessive-Effectivity Crystalline Photovoltaics group within the Chemistry and Nanoscience division at NREL. Younger is lead creator of a brand new paper outlining using laser welds for photo voltaic modules. The paper, “In direction of Polymer-Free, Femto-Second Laser-Welded Glass/Glass Photo voltaic Modules,” seems within the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.
Written with NREL colleagues Tim Silverman, Nicholas Irvin, and Nick Bosco, the paper additionally counts as its coauthors two staff of Trumpf Inc., the California firm that made the femtosecond laser concerned. A femtosecond laser makes use of a brief pulse of infrared gentle that melts the glass collectively to kind a robust, airtight seal.
The glass weld can be utilized on any kind of photo voltaic know-how—silicon, perovskites, cadmium telluride—as a result of the warmth of the weld is confined to a couple millimeters from the laser focus.
Photo voltaic modules are product of semiconductors designed to seize a selected portion of the photo voltaic spectrum, harnessing daylight to create electrical energy. Sometimes, the semiconductors are sandwiched between two sheets of glass laminated along with polymer sheets.
NREL’s analysis confirmed that femtosecond laser, glass/glass welds are primarily as robust because the glass itself.
“So long as the glass doesn’t break, the weld isn’t going to interrupt,” he mentioned. “Nevertheless, not having the polymers between the sheets of glass requires welded modules to be a lot stiffer. Our paper confirmed that with correct mounting and a modification to the embossed options of the rolled glass, a welded module will be made stiff sufficient to move static load testing.”
NREL’s analysis is the primary to make use of a femtosecond laser to kind glass/glass welds to be used in a module. A special kind of edge sealing utilizing nanosecond lasers and a glass frit filler was tried up to now, however the welds proved too brittle to be used in out of doors module designs. The femtosecond laser welds provide superior energy with airtight sealing at a compelling price.
Younger mentioned the analysis is “undoubtedly excessive danger, excessive reward,” however factors to a course for additional analysis to increase the lifetime of photo voltaic modules to past 50 years and to permit simpler recycling.
This analysis was accomplished by way of the Sturdy Module Supplies Consortium, which is led by NREL and funded by way of the U.S. Division of Power’s Photo voltaic Power Applied sciences Workplace within the Workplace of Power Effectivity and Renewable Power
NREL is the U.S. Division of Power’s main nationwide laboratory for renewable vitality and vitality effectivity analysis and growth. NREL is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Power LLC.
Information merchandise from NREL.
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