Solar Panel

Overview

The solar panel is a 420 Wp 72-cell monocrystalline photovoltaic module that converts sunlight directly into DC electricity. It is the standard building block of rooftop and ground-mount arrays, wired in series strings into an inverter. The laminate is built to survive 25-plus years of weather, hail, and thermal cycling while losing only a fraction of a percent of output per year.

The light-converting core is the Cell String: 72 PERC monocrystalline silicon cells connected in series by tinned-copper tabbing and bus ribbons. Each cell carries an anti-reflective coating that traps incoming light, and the string is laid out as six substrings of twelve cells.

Construction

The cell string is sealed inside a laminate. A Front Glass of 3.2 mm tempered low-iron glass forms the sunward face, textured and AR-coated to maximise transmission. Above and below the cells, the Encapsulant Set of EVA film melts and cross-links under heat and vacuum during lamination, potting the cells against moisture. The rear is closed by a multi-layer Backsheet that provides electrical insulation and weathering resistance.

This glass-EVA-cell-EVA-backsheet sandwich is trimmed into an anodised Aluminium Frame, whose four extruded rails join at internal corner keys and stiffen the module for wind and snow loads; toothed grounding clips bond the frame for safety.

How it works

When photons strike the silicon, they free electron-hole pairs that the cell junction separates, driving current through the series string. The string terminates in the Junction Box, an IP67 enclosure potted with silicone that houses three Bypass Diode devices, one per substring. If part of the module is shaded, its bypass diode conducts around the weak substring to prevent hot-spot heating and keep the rest of the array producing. Pre-terminated MC4 output leads carry the module's DC out for series stringing.