Sep 9 2014
Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo; President and CEO: Kazuyuki Tanaka; hereinafter referred to as “Hitachi Chemical”) announces that it will begin sales of wavelength conversion particles for solar encapsulant sheets that help increase the conversion efficiency of solar cell power generation.
Solar cell power generation is increasing in popularity around the world as a form of renewable energy. Yet it still faces major issues, where the level of power generation is affected by the amount and time of sunshine. Manufacturers of solar cells and materials are concentrating their efforts on addressing the issue of how to improve conversion efficiency by increasing power generation from a limited amount of sunlight.
Hitachi Chemical has developed wavelength conversion particles for solar encapsulants that help increase power generation conversion efficiency. Samples had been provided thus far, however a mass-production system has been established to begin sales. These wavelength conversion particles consist of phosphors contained within acrylic resin particles, and work by converting short wavelength light (ultraviolet light) that could not previously be used for power generation, into long wavelength light (visible light). Solar cell modules that use solar encapsulant sheets (wavelength conversion film) made of these particles are expected to increase conversion efficiency by up to around 2.2%(*1). These particles are also dispersed throughout acrylic resin with outstanding durability, which means that the durability of solar cell modules is unaffected. There is no need to alter the manufacturing process when these particles are mixed into solar encapsulant sheets by manufacturers, which contributes to an increase in conversion efficiency without affecting productivity. In addition to solar cells, this technology can be adopted to add new functionality to counterfeiting protection, identification of authenticity, optical materials and other applications through the use of wavelength conversion.
*1 When compared with solar cell modules using conventional solar encapsulants in outdoor tests that comply with JIS C 8919
(JIS C 8919: Outdoor measuring method of output power for crystalline solar cells and modules)
Source: http://www.hitachi-chem.co.jp/