Could Modular Solar Panels Be the Future of Sustainable Energy | Innovation, Adaptability, Energy

Modular photovoltaic can on-demand expand (single piece 300–600W), system efficiency reaches 18%-22%;

Supports fast assembly (1 person 1 day installs 5 kW), combining energy storage elevates self-use rate to above 70%, adapts to multi-scenario deployment.

Innovation

Cell new technology

In the laboratory, the newest researched and developed perovskite tandem silicon cell group, under standard test temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, elevated the photoelectric conversion efficiency's theoretical peak value to 33.2%. This kind of innovative light-absorbing layer with a thickness of merely 0.8 millimeters, compared to traditional P-type monocrystalline silicon wafer, is thin by a full 45%. Commercialized mass production's N-type heterojunction module, its bifacial degradation coefficient is strictly controlled at every year at 0.25% extremely low ratio.

On a single piece panel with an area of 1.5 square meters, internal integrated 144 pieces of micro cell units adopting half-piece cutting process. Compared to the previous generation product, the new module in the early morning 6 o'clock weak light environment with illuminance merely being 200 watts per square meter, starting power generation's time advanced a full 40 minutes.

· This kind of half-piece cutting method lets the absolute value of energy loss produced by internal resistance drop about 12 watts.

· When the ambient temperature soars to 65 degrees Celsius, its temperature coefficient is merely negative 0.24% per degree Celsius, output power decline amplitude reduced 15 watts.

Coating more sturdy

Engineers on the module's outermost layer smeared ETFE fluoropolymer thin film with a thickness of 0.05 millimeters. This kind of high polymer material's light transmittance rate is as high as 95.5%, compared to traditional 3.2 millimeters tempered glass, increased 2.5% light entering amount. The coating surface's friction coefficient is extremely low, making dust particles with a diameter smaller than 5 millimeters when the inclination angle is greater than 15 degrees will follow rain water 100% slide off.

In continuous exposure to a 1000-hour accelerated aging test chamber with ultraviolet intensity being 60 watts per square meter, the material's yellowness index change rate is lower than 0.8%. Even if continuously placed for 72 hours in extreme low temperature of minus 40 degrees Celsius, sealing glue bonding strength at panel edge still maintains at level of 85 newtons per square centimeter.

· This kind of thin film material's overall weight is merely 1.2 kilograms per square meter, letting the total weight of a single 300-watt module lighten 4.3 kilograms.

· The panel when bearing hail impact test, is able to resist vertical impact of an ice ball with a diameter of 25 millimeters and a speed of 23 meters per second.

Bifacial both can generate

Innovative bifacial module on backplane used special grid material with transparency reaching 88%. When the panel is installed at 0.8 meters above a light-colored cement ground with reflectivity being 30%, scattered light absorbed by the back side can provide 15% extra power gain. If installed on white snow ground with reflectivity reaching 80%, the entire piece panel's comprehensive power generation power can soar from the original 400 watts to 520 watts. The back side cell's short-circuit current parameter is set at between 75% to 85% of the front side short-circuit current value. In order to support bifacial power generation, the internal busbar width shrank from traditional 1.2 millimeters to 0.6 millimeters.

· This kind of front and back two sides collaboratively working mechanism, let the average effective power generation duration prolong from 5.5 hours to 6.2 hours.

· Internal busbar's thin-lined design, lowered proportion of front side light-blocking area from 3.5% to 1.8% level.

Track to find sun

Micro sensor built-in inside module frame every interval of 15 minutes will sample once the environment light illuminance's specific value. Microprocessor through analyzing 384 light intensity data points accumulated within the past 48 hours, dynamically adjusts optimal operation parameters. When coordinating with a smart bracket carrying a micro motor to use, the system can between every day morning 7 o'clock and afternoon 5 o'clock, with a speed of 15 degrees per hour slowly rotate. This kind of single-axis micro tracking system's power consumption is merely 0.02 kilowatt-hours every day. When the anemometer detects a local gust speed exceeding 18 meters per second, the system will within 30 seconds automatically adjust the panel angle to 0 degrees' horizontal risk-avoiding posture.

· In a region with latitude being north latitude 40 degrees, active tracking mode compared to module installed at a fixed angle, in spring's average every month generates 12.5% electricity.

· This kind of active defense mechanism lowered the mechanical structure's metal fatigue fracture probability by above 98%.

Inverter becomes small

Fifth generation micro inverter internal adopted wide bandgap's silicon carbide semiconductor material, elevated switching frequency to astonishing 200 kilohertz. Frequency's multiplicative growth makes internal inductor and capacitor's volume shrink by at least 60%. Single 400 watts level's micro inverter shell dimension now merely has 18 centimeters by 15 centimeters by 3 centimeters. Thermal loss during the entire electric power conversion process sharply reduced from original 55 watts to less than 15 watts. The comprehensive efficiency of converting direct current into alternating current stabilized at 97.6% peak value. Under standby mode, the micro current consumed by the micro inverter is merely 0.05 amperes.

· Equipment's built-in electrolytics-free capacitor design, massively prolonged hardware's theoretical design lifespan from past's 12 years to 25 years aligning with modules.

· Shrinkage of volume let overall installation space requirement reduce 45%, physical strength consumption of single person carrying equipment lowered 30%.

Recycle and reuse

Aiming at the end processing of module life cycle, one kind of new-type environmentally friendly pyrolysis technology can operate at 350 degrees Celsius's constant temperature. This kind of process can within 45 minutes 100% gasify and peel off EVA adhesive film used for encapsulation. The recycling assembly line utilizes a weight sensor and an infrared spectrum analyzer, is able to separate out elemental silicon crushed materials with purity as high as 99.9%. Every processing 1 ton of waste and old photovoltaic modules, a factory can extract out from it about 12 kilograms of high purity silver conductive paste. Extracted 150 kilograms of aluminum made frame, through secondary smelting, can be made into recycled aluminum profile with strength not lower than 150 megapascals.

· Glass panel fragments will be crushed into homogeneous particles with a diameter between 1 millimeter and 3 millimeters, re-entering the production cycle of glass fiber.

· The entire automated dismantling process's energy consumption is controlled at the standard of every piece module, merely needing 2.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity, and the overall material recycling and reuse rate reached 93.5%.

Adaptability

Paste on wall

One piece of flexible photovoltaic module with an area of 0.8 square meters and a thickness of 2.5 millimeters, its self-weight is merely 2.8 kilograms, compared to a traditional glass module of the same area, which is light by a full 14.2 kilograms. Installation workers only need to drill 4 holes with a depth of 50 millimeters and a diameter of 8 millimeters on the wall surface, then can firmly hang one set of equipment.

Air flow-guiding layer design at panel back side reserved 15 millimeters' gap, when wall body surface temperature in summer reaches 55 degrees Celsius, air convection can let panel back side's physical temperature drop about 12 degrees Celsius, thereby saving about 5% of power generation power loss. Angle of vertical installation when winter solar elevation angle is lower than 30 degrees, light incidence rate compared to laid flat modules massively elevated 28%.

The vertical hanging structure can bear the gust impact of 35 meters per second, matching damping washers absorbed 85% of the wall body vibration amplitude triggered by wind force, mechanical noise decibel is strictly controlled at below 20 decibels.

Whatever roof all works

No matter whether it is a wood shingle roof with an inclination angle of 45 degrees, or a flat asphalt waterproof roll material surface, the universal joint bracket at the new-type module bottom can all freely adjust the pitch angle within the range of negative 10 degrees to positive 60 degrees. Aiming at a simple shed roof with extremely poor load-bearing capacity, namely an environment where every square meter load-bearing limit is merely 15 kilograms, the modular system adopts high polymer conductive adhesive to conduct non-destructive laying.

This adhesive's tensile strength after curing reaches 45 newtons per square centimeter, and the construction process does not need to penetrate any waterproof layer to punch holes. On an irregular polygonal roof with an occupied area of merely 12 square meters, construction personnel can conduct mixed series connection layout for 300 watts, 200 watts, and 150 watts three kinds of different specifications' modules.

Mixed series connection technology relies on built-in independent voltage optimization chip, letting output voltage of every piece panel uniformly stabilize at 36 volts, load-bearing pressure distribution variance of old and aged roofs shrank 40%.

Move house take away

Renting a group on average every 3.5 years will change living place once, traditional photovoltaic system's dismantling and installing manual labor fee as high as 800 dollars makes people flinch. Modular equipment's edge is equipped with industrial grade snap-on type waterproof plug. Users only need to barehanded press the snap-on front end for 0.5 seconds, then can completely cut off circuit connection.

The entire dismantling process does not need any electric wrench or hydraulic pliers. One adult person can within 45 minutes pack all 4 groups of panels with a capacity of 400 watts into a carton box with a volume of 0.15 cubic meters. Anti-scratch coating on equipment surface can bear repeated friction of pencil with hardness being 6H under applying 500 grams pressure, guaranteeing that violent bumps of long-distance transportation will not produce micro-cracks.

After undergoing 5 times or more complete dismantling and installing cycle tests, gold-plated terminal contact resistance inside the plug still maintains at an extremely low level smaller than 0.005 ohms, current's transmission loss increment is 0%.

Resist freezing and endure heat

In extreme cold environments such as polar research stations, modular photovoltaic modules after continuously exposing for 1200 hours in air temperature of minus 50 degrees Celsius, yield strength decline amplitude of internal silicon wafer soldering ribbon is controlled within 2.5%. Teflon hydrophobic coating on panel surface possesses a water drop contact angle of 120 degrees, when accumulated snow thickness reaches 15 millimeters, only relying on panel itself's weak 5 watts waste heat, snow water will within 10 minutes all slide off.

And in desert regions, when the high noon surface temperature soars to 75 degrees Celsius, the volume expansion rate of high-temperature resistant silicone sealing strip at the module edge is merely 0.4%, and the internal water vapor transmission rate maintains below 0.02 grams per square meter per day.

No matter whether the environment's relative humidity is extremely dry at 5%, or extremely humid at 98%, the module's leakage current value always maintains within a safe interval of 0.15 microamperes.

No grid also can use

Small wooden cabin in remote mountain area completely not connected to the city's alternating current grid, modular photovoltaic can pair with portable lithium iron phosphate cell group with capacity being 1.5 kilowatt-hours to constitute an independent microgrid. Charge and discharge controller built-in maximum power point tracking algorithm, under cloudy weather conducts 100 times of voltage sampling per second, maintains charging efficiency of converting solar light into cell pack electricity at 98.2% high position.

When outdoors, continuous rainfall appears for 3 days, the sunshine amount suddenly drops to 0.5 hours every day, the system will automatically enter sleep mode, and standby power consumption lowers to 0.01 watts every day. Once sunlight intensity recovers to trigger threshold of 150 watts per square meter, system can within 0.2 seconds restart high-frequency charging process.

Direct current voltage outputted under off-grid mode is precisely voltage-stabilized at between 12.2 volts to 12.6 volts, voltage fluctuation rate is smaller than 1%, completely satisfies field communication equipment's strict power supply precision requirement.

Corner can also install

Building's edge, arc-shaped balcony outer side as well as cylindrical water storage tank surface, traditional rigid glass board completely cannot fit. New-type semi-flexible module's bending radius can shrink to 0.5 meters, is able to perfectly wrap around the exterior of a cylinder with a diameter of 1.2 meters.

When facing a triangular dead corner with an area of merely 0.4 square meters, the manufacturer provided a customized irregular-shaped module with side lengths being 60 centimeters by 60 centimeters by 85 centimeters. System through every piece of extension cable with a length of 1.5 meters crosses a facade obstacle. The cable internal used tin-plated copper core with a cross-sectional area of 4 square millimeters, when transmitting 15 amperes' high current, the voltage drop per meter is merely 0.03 volts.

Energy

Extra generate how much electricity

Under test environment of standard light intensity of 1000 watts per square meter, one piece of monocrystalline silicon modular panel with rated power of 420 watts, single day effective light illumination of 5.5 hours can output about 2.15 kilowatt-hours of electricity. In the temperate region with latitude 35 degrees, fixing panel on bracket inclined towards south by 25 degrees, the entire year's actual cumulative power generation amount median value falls between 680 kilowatt-hours and 710 kilowatt-hours, the standard deviation of overall sample statistics is merely 14.5 kilowatt-hours.

Micro inverter's built-in maximum power point tracking chip with a frequency of 300 times per second scans voltage fluctuation intervals, ensuring when the shadow blocking area reaches 15%, the entire piece panel's power output decline amplitude is forcedly converged within 8.5%. Environment temperature every elevating 1 degree Celsius from standard's 25 degrees Celsius, output power's negative regression coefficient stabilizes at 0.35%, under summer 60 degrees Celsius's panel extreme high temperature, peak power can still maintain at level of 370 watts.

· On rainy days with light radiation amount lower than 200 watts per square meter, the panel can still maintain an open-circuit voltage of 18 volts, to conduct trickle power generation with a weak current of 0.8 amperes.

· Panel surface's light transmittance rate along with increase of usage years presents extremely low dispersion degree, light penetration rate median value after 10 years still keeps at 91.2%.

· When light incidence angle deviates from the vertical normal line by 45 degrees, a surface anti-reflection coating can lower the probability of photon reflection loss from regular's 6.5% to 2.1%.

Pair a big cell

Connecting a modular panel to a household energy storage unit with a capacity of 5.12 kilowatt-hours, is able to change the time distribution curve of electrical energy. Cell adopting nickel-cobalt-manganese ternary lithium material, its weight energy density reached 260 watt-hours per kilogram, and the volume energy density is as high as 650 watt-hours per liter. Under an environment of room temperature 22 degrees Celsius, conducting charge and discharge test with 0.5C's C-rate, after completing 4500 complete deep cycles, the actual usable capacity of the cell pack still keeps at 82.4% of the initial rated capacity.

Energy storage system's cell management system through 14 routes of independent sensors, every millisecond collects temperature and voltage data of single cell, strictly controls charge and discharge's voltage deviation within an extremely small error range of 0.01 volts. The lower limit of depth of discharge is locked by software at 15%, eliminating irreversible physical damage to the internal chemical structure by deep over-discharge.

· The system's peak discharge current within a duration of 10 seconds can bear an instantaneous load of 100 amperes, to start an induction motor with power being 2000 watts.

· In a low temperature environment of minus 10 degrees Celsius, the built-in 24-volt silicone heating pad will operate for 5 minutes before the charging program starts, pulling up cell cell temperature to 5 degrees Celsius's working interval.

· Under idle state, the cell pack's monthly self-discharge rate median value is merely 1.2%, after placing for 6 months, it can still preserve exceeding 92% of the electricity amount reserve.

Less run electricity

Pure copper cable cross-sectional area equipped as standard for modular system is 4 square millimeters. When the ambient temperature is 30 degrees Celsius, the direct current resistance measured value per 100 meters length is merely 0.45 ohms. When two pieces of panels are in series connection transmitting a rated 8.5 amperes' current, calculating according to Joule's law, thermal energy loss power on a 5-meter-long cable is less than 0.35 watts, and the precision degree of transmission efficiency reached 99.8%. Power field-effect transistor internal of inverter under conducting state's internal resistance is as low as 4.2 milliohms, high-frequency harmonics produced during switch switching process are absorbed by multi-stage filter, total harmonic distortion rate during full load operation stabilizes at below 1.8%.

· Plug-in terminal adopts silver-plating process with thickness being 50 micrometers, contact resistance variance after undergoing 200 times of plug and pull test is smaller than 0.002 ohms.

· The entire micro inverter shell's heat dissipation fin total surface area reached 0.12 square meters. After full load operation for 4 hours, the shell's highest temperature will not exceed the threshold of the environment temperature plus 25 degrees Celsius.

· Electrical insulation grade reached IP67 standard, soaking for 30 minutes in underwater 1 meter depth, value displayed by leakage current detector keeps at 0.00 microamperes.

Manufacturing consumes how much

Producing one piece of 300 watts' micro photovoltaic module, from reduction of high purity quartz sand to pulling of monocrystalline silicon rod, again to wafer cutting and cell printing, the entire industrial process's cumulative energy consumption is about 340 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Assuming this module is installed in a region with an annual average sunshine hours of 1400 hours, its first year's actual total power generation amount is about 380 kilowatt-hours.

System at 10.5th month of grid-connected operation, then can produce equal amount of electrical energy sufficient to offset its all manufacturing costs, energy investment payback time is less than 0.88 years. Within the design life cycle of up to 25 years, the total electrical energy produced by this piece of module is 34.5 times of its manufacturing consumed energy.

Sell to big power grid

Phase-locked loop circuit internal of equipment with frequency of 50 hertz or 60 hertz, conducts millisecond level phase synchronization with grid voltage, phase angle deviation between output current and grid voltage is limited within 0.5 degrees. When grid voltage appears positive or negative 10%'s violent fluctuation, or frequency drift exceeds 0.5 hertz's instant, inverter will within 20 milliseconds' time window trigger islanding protection mechanism, physically cut off grid-connected relay to stop output.

Under the support of a bidirectional electric meter, users in the daytime with a price of 0.15 dollars per kilowatt-hour inject extra 12 kilowatt-hours of electricity into the power grid, in the nighttime again with a valley electricity price of 0.08 dollars per kilowatt-hour, repurchase 6 kilowatt-hours of electricity from the power grid, energy trading arbitrage gross profit margin produced in the whole day exceeded 46%.

· The power factor of outputting alternating current can conduct dynamic reactive power compensation adjustment within a range of 0.8 leading to 0.8 lagging.

· After power grid power outage recovers, equipment will execute one power grid stability observation cycle with duration of 300 seconds, confirming mean difference of various parameters converged to safe range, then will re-connect to grid.

· Through the built-in wireless network module, every interval of 5 minutes uploads once a 48-byte encrypted data packet including voltage, current, frequency, and temperature inside to the cloud server, the whole day's cumulative consumed data traffic is merely 1.2 megabytes.