The invention relates to a functional device (100) comprising a multilayer stack comprising, in succession: a first protective film (101), placed on a front side of said device (100), an encapsulating assembly (107), a second protective film (105), placed on the back side of the device, at least one electrically or optically active element (110) embedded in the encapsulating assembly, and an electrical connecting element (160) directly connected to said electrically or optically active element and suitable for transporting electricity from or to said electrically or optically active element, one end (162) of said electrical connecting element exiting directly from said functional device.

A protection of space solar cells in an arrangement in the form of a string that extends in an X direction. In each case two space solar cells directly neighboring in the X direction are electrically connected to one another in series via a metallic connector of a first type. The string has a first end and a second end opposite from the first end, and a protection arrangement is provided directly at one of the two ends along a y direction. The protection arrangement includes a first string protection diode arrangement, a metal strip, and a second string protection diode arrangement provided in the Y direction. The protection arrangement is electrically connected to one of the two ends of the string via two spaced-apart metal strips, and each string protection diode arrangement includes multiple unhoused string protection diodes.

A solar cell assembly is presented. The solar cell assembly includes one or more solar cell units coupled in series. The solar cell unit includes a first solar cell series and a second solar cell series connected in parallel. The first and second solar cell series include a plurality of solar cells connecting in series respectively. The solar cell assembly also includes a bypass diode coupled to each solar cell unit and shared between the first and second solar cell series in each solar cell unit.

A solar cell module with interconnect wires wire-bonded to back-contact solar cells. A solar cell module using an interconnect board to electrical interconnect back-contact solar cells. The interconnect board may also contain a bypass diode and circuitry to connect the bypass diode to solar cells of the module.

Disclosed is a tandem solar module and a method for forming such a module. The module includes a plurality of cell strips formed by cutting a full cell parallel to a direction of extension of a bus bar of the full cell, a plurality of strings arranged in one or more parallel sets, each string comprising two or more said cells strips interconnected end-to-end with respect to the direction of extension, and a terminal at each opposite end the one or more parallel sets.

Photovoltaic cells, methods for fabricating surface mount multijunction photovoltaic cells, methods for assembling solar panels, and solar panels comprising photovoltaic cells are disclosed. The surface mount multijunction photovoltaic cells include through-wafer-vias for interconnecting the front surface epitaxial layer to a contact pad on the back surface. The through-wafer-vias are formed using a wet etch process that removes semiconductor materials non-selectively without major differences in etch rates between heteroepitaxial III-V semiconductor layers.

The present disclosure provides interconnect elements and methods of using interconnect elements. In one embodiment, the interconnect element includes: a first end including at least three members, each member having a pair of parallel gap apertures for mounting an adjoining first component; a second opposing end including at least two members, each member having a pair of parallel gap apertures for mounting an adjoining second component; and one or more interconnect connecting portions to attach the first end of the interconnect element to the second end of the interconnect element.

A high efficiency configuration for a solar cell module comprises solar cells arranged in an overlapping shingled manner and conductively bonded to each other in their overlapping regions to form super cells, which may be arranged to efficiently use the area of the solar module.

A solar cell module includes solar cells having main surfaces to which inter-cell wiring members are connected, and an insulating member disposed on the main surfaces and the wiring members, and a first lead-out wire provided to the insulating member. The insulating member includes a first insulating layer formed of polyester resin, a second insulating layer formed of polyolefin or EVA and provided between the first insulating layer and the lead-out wires, and a third insulating layer formed of polyolefin or EVA and provided between the first insulating layer and the main surfaces. The third insulating layer has a thickness in a direction perpendicular to the main surfaces larger than a thickness of the second insulating layer.

Back side connection layer for a photo-voltaic module comprising a plurality of PV-cells (i,j), the plurality PV-cells (i,j) being of a type having one or more back side contacts and divided in a preset number of strings (3) of series connected PV-cells (i. j). By-pass diodes are connectable in parallel to each of the preset number of strings (3), and three or more strings (3) are provided. The plurality of PV-cells (i,j) are positioned such that electrical connections to the first PV-cell and last PV-cell of each of the preset number of strings (3) are provided in a part of the back side connection layer overlapping a part of a two-by-two arrangement of PV-cells (i,j).