Numerical investigation on residual stress in photovoltaic laminates after lamination

A series of simulations were carried out to investigate the residual stress induced in the photovoltaic laminate during the cooling process after lamination with a global model and several submodels. The simulations focus separately on the effects of the cooling rate, the cell layout and anisotropy on the residual stress and deformation of the photovoltaic laminate in a comparative manner with the finite element method. The results have shown that significant stress concentration and twist occurs in the interconnection region in the cell. In addition, different cooling rates, cell layouts and anisotropy only influence the largest stress rather than the stress distribution and deformation. Therefore, the results of a uniform stationary isotropic model with fewer cells can provide enough insight into the stress distribution in real photovoltaic laminates and the modified largest first principal stress can be used for design and verification.