Method and apparatus of fabricating a solar cell device

1. A method for manufacturing a solar cell device from silicon solar cells, the method comprising:

preparing a first metal ribbon segment;

inspecting a quality and a location of the first metal ribbon segment after the preparing the first metal ribbon segment, wherein the inspecting is operated by an inspection camera mounted on a main stage;

dispensing, at the main stage, an electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) onto the first metal ribbon segment;

inspecting, by the inspection camera mounted on the main stage, the quality and the location of the ECA after the dispensing of the ECA onto the first metal ribbon segment;

placing a first solar cell onto the first metal ribbon segment, the first metal ribbon segment being bonded with a front surface of the first solar cell through the ECA in a shingled manner with sides of the first metal ribbon segment and the first solar cell being overlapped, and the front surface being configured to face a light incoming direction to receive energy from a light source; and

bonding one or more solar cells with the first solar cell through a ECA in a shingled manner with sides of adjacent solar cells being overlapped to form a first string of solar cells.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein dispensing the ECA comprises using a mechanical actuator with an attached push plunger to push the ECA contained in a replaceable ECA syringe through the attached push plunger to dispense the ECA onto the first metal ribbon segment.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a second string of solar cells and bonding a second metal ribbon segment with the front surface of the first solar cell of the second string.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising bonding the second metal ribbon segment and the first metal ribbon segment to form a first metal ribbon.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising bonding a third metal ribbon onto a rear surface at another end of the first string and second string of solar cells, and the rear surface being opposite to the front surface.

6. The method of claim 3 , comprising bonding a third metal ribbon onto a rear surface of the first string and second string of solar cells, wherein the third metal ribbon is configured to connect with a bypass circuit, and the rear surface is opposite to the front surface.

7. The method of claim 3 , further comprising connecting a return metal ribbon to the first metal ribbon at the rear surface of the solar cell device, wherein the rear surface is opposite to the front surface.

8. A method for manufacturing a shingled solar cell device comprising:

preparing a first metal ribbon segment at a main stage;

inspecting, by an inspection camera mounted on the main stage, the first metal ribbon segment after the preparing the first metal ribbon segment;

dispensing, at the main stage, an electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) onto the first metal ribbon segment;

inspecting, by the inspection camera mounted on the main stage, a quality and a location of the ECA on the first metal ribbon segment; and

placing a first solar cell onto the first metal ribbon segment to bond with a first surface of the first solar cell through the ECA in a shingled manner with sides of the first metal ribbon segment and the first solar cell being overlapped.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the preparing the first metal ribbon segment at the main stage comprises gripping and stretching the first metal ribbon at the main stage.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the preparing the first metal ribbon segment at the main stage comprises adjusting a position of the main stage with one or more travel stages.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the inspecting the first metal ribbon segment comprises moving the inspection camera mounted on the main stage to capture a plurality of images of the metal ribbon segment from different locations between ends of the metal ribbon segment.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the inspecting the first metal ribbon segment comprises capturing approximately five images of different locations between ends of the metal ribbon segment.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the dispensing, at the main stage, the ECA comprises dispensing the ECA at a plurality of ECA locations between two ends of the first metal ribbon segment by moving the main stage between a plurality of positions.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the inspecting the quality and the location of the ECA is performed simultaneously with the dispensing of the ECA.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the inspecting the quality and the location of the ECA comprises moving the inspection camera mounted on the main stage to capture a plurality of images of the dispensed ECA as the main stage moves.