METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FABRICATING MONOLITHICALLY-INTEGRATED PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULES AND PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULE

摘要

A method and apparatus to fabricate monolithically-integrated photovoltaic modules (1, 50) comprising forming and patterning a film layer (90) into electrically interconnectable area sections (9, 11, 14, 16, 18, 21). The patterning scheme exploits the film layer's spatial properties distribution such as its material percentage composition and/or structure and/or thickness, so as to provide at least two of said area sections (9, 11, 14, 16, 18, 21) with substantially differing compositional and/or structural properties such that at least two components, each comprising at least one of said area sections (9, 11, 14, 16, 18, 21), are provided with substantially differing current-voltage characteristics. The components may comprise interconnected photovoltaic cells with requirement-matched photovoltaic properties and/or monolithically integrated bypass diodes and/or resistors. The invention also relates to a photovoltaic module (1, 50) comprising at least one of these components.