Small-volume fabrication of a 144-cell assembly for high-concentrating photovoltaic receivers

Abstract

The Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) market is gaining attention worldwide but a lack of information on the module’s manufacturing is registered. The present work describes the challenges faced to fabricate a densely packed cell assembly for 500× CPV applications. The reasons behind the choice of components, material and processes are highlighted and all the solutions applied to overtake the problems appeared after the prototype’s production are reported. The article explains all the stages required to achieve a successful fabrication, proved by the results of quality tests and experimental investigations conducted on the prototype. A cost breakdown is reported and commented.