Building Integrated Photovoltaics BIPV
To integrate photovoltaic technology into buildings in the form of partially opaque windows and other glass structures.
M-Solv have the laser manufacturing technology in-house to test applications in both wafer-based (mono-crystalline or poly-crystalline) photovoltaic and in thin-film photovoltaic manufacturing. Together with considerable experience of the application of laser micromachining techniques we aim to pioneer new techniques and drive the latest and most exciting applications for solar energy generation.
Thin Film Photovoltaics
In the field of thin-film photovoltaic technologies M-Solv have expert knowledge of laser scribing for solar cell interconnection in amorphous silicon (a-Si) P1, P2, P3; CIS/CIGS (P1) and CdTe (P1) using IR lasers and green lasers integrated with several system architectures.
Thin film Solar panels have great potential for Building Integrated Photovoltaic BIPV. Recent work at M-Solv in the area of BIPV has demonstrated that a laser can be used to perforate the active semiconductor layer to provide semi-transparent panels. The effect is highly impressive and the work continues to find the optimal method of distributing the number of perforations and levesl of grey-scale which can be sustained in a given cell without overly compromising the energy generating capability.
In addition to the use of laser perforation, other lower cost and faster methods are under investigation to give an equivalent effect of semi-transparent thin film photovoltaic which can be used to delete regions of active material.
To encourage the greater uptake of photovoltaic in building integrated (BIPV) M-Solv are active in creating technologies which enable the use of PV in sites that are in public view and not only on roof tops. At present BIPV is often out of site and not used in an architectural nature however, M-Solv are driving the tactful embellishment of thin film photovoltaic for architecture.
High Efficiency Solar power applications
For high efficiency wafer based applications our MSV-101 platform fitted with an (x,y) galvo-scanner, in combination with appropriate (DPSS) IR laser (1064nm), green laser (532nm) or UV laser (355nm) can be configured for: Edge Isolation, Emitter or Metal Wrap Through (EWT, MWT) hole drilling, laser fired contacts and Laser Grooved Buried Contact (LGBC) manufacture. Selective emitter ablation and laser doping applications are also used in High efficiency pv cell manufacture
