Busbar-free electrode patterns of crystalline silicon solar cells for high density shingled photovoltaic module

As new technologies for high-performance PV modules are developed and applied, the cost of the PV modules is also increasing. To reduce the consumption of Ag paste used for the high-power shingled PV module, a new patterns of electrode design is needed. Accordingly, we focused on reducing the consumption of Ag paste used for the metallization of solar cells by designing busbar-free electrode patterns suitable for shingled photovoltaic modules. In this paper, we introduced the busbar-free design of the electrode patterns on the front and rear side of the crystalline silicon solar cells. Based on the conventional and the busbar free designs, the shingled string of each type of electrode pattern was manufactured and its characteristics were investigated. The efficiency of the busbar-free type of shingled string was almost the same as that of the string having the conventional pattern. The proposed electrode pattern did not affect the efficiency or output power of the shingled module, while the amount of Ag usage in the solar cells was reduced by more than 60%. As a result, we confirmed that the busbar free electrode pattern proposed in this study was suitable for a cost-effective shingled PV module.