Encapsulation Techniques Using Electrically Conductive Adhesives for Building-Integrated Photovoltaics

As contrasted with building-applied photovoltaics (BAPV), building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) may require utilization of novel encapsulation materials due to specific design applications. Assimilation of electrically conductive adhesives (ECA) have been studied with ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) flexible packaging and both ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) encapsulation for understanding of performance and reliability. Initial experiments address the feasibility and concerns of these materials in the context of the BIPV market potential. Pairing ECA’s with TPU suggests an efficiency improvement of ~3% (relative) in comparison to EVA.