The rapid development of technologies such as large-size, half piece, and multi main grid, which devices have better development momentum

　　Against the backdrop of cost reduction and efficiency improvement, there have been multiple changes in the photovoltaic module process. Photovoltaic cost reduction and efficiency improvement aim to promote the reduction of the cost of photovoltaic power generation per kilowatt hour, thereby expanding the application scenarios of photovoltaic power generation, expanding the overall installed capacity, promoting the expansion of photovoltaic module production capacity, and benefiting the increasing demand for photovoltaic module equipment. The parity of photovoltaics is gradually approaching, and the module industry has a strong driving force to reduce costs and improve efficiency. The main path is to: 1) improve production efficiency, reduce single watt costs, represented by large-sized modules; 2) Reduce packaging loss rate and perform multi cutting on battery cells, with half cells currently being the mainstream; 3) Improve photoelectric conversion efficiency, including technologies such as multi main gate and non main gate; 4) Improve battery interconnection density by adopting tile stacking and patch technology.

　　Laser cutting machines, multi main grid string welding machines, and tile stacking welding equipment may benefit from depth. The enlargement of component size and technological iteration will inevitably bring about the upgrading of component equipment. Among the component equipment corresponding to each process link, the main ones benefiting from the above changes are string welding machines, laser cutting machines, and tile stacking welding equipment. Among them, in terms of the number of benefit paths, the string welding equipment benefits the most. Specifically, laser cutting machines may benefit from the technological trend of multi cutting, splicing, and tile stacking of battery cells, string welding machines are expected to benefit from the development of large-sized, multi cutting, multi main grid, non main grid, and tile assembly components, and tile stacking welding equipment will benefit from the increase in penetration rate of tile assembly.

　　The combination of new component technologies is expected to drive the simultaneous implementation of different types of equipment requirements. New component technologies can be combined in various ways and stacked on top of each other. According to analysis, except for a few technologies that are mutually exclusive, most technologies, such as large-size, half sheet, multi main grid, stacked tile, splicing, double glass, double-sided, etc., can basically achieve mutual compatibility. Considering that different process technologies will put forward different requirements for equipment, the superposition of new component technologies can promote the simultaneous implementation of different types of equipment requirements.

　　The size of silicon wafers continues to increase, and large-sized components can significantly reduce costs. The large-sized components include "182 components" and "210 components", where 182 and 210 refer to the size of silicon wafers. The increase in silicon wafer size can reduce component costs, and the cost reduction mechanism is as follows:

　　     1） Flux value, increase in silicon wafer size, increase in existing equipment capacity, and reduction in labor, depreciation, and other costs amortized for single watt components;

　　2） Dumpling skin effect, utilizing the residual value of materials, such as excavating the strength surplus of the frame, the strength surplus of the bracket, etc;

　　3）The cost related to the number of blocks is essentially the utilization of the residual value of materials, which is only related to the number of component blocks and not to the component area. The main savings are reflected in the junction box, sealing glue, combiner box, DC cable and other links. Taking M2 upgrading to M6 size as an example, the cost reduction of the above three mechanisms is about 2.9/5.58/2.18/W, and the total cost savings exceed 0.1 yuan/W.

　　Larger components have stronger product competitiveness. As analyzed in the article, with the expansion of silicon wafer size, new components can achieve higher component end cost savings by adding a small amount of silicon wafer cost. Higher product cost-effectiveness will significantly enhance the competitiveness of large-sized components.

　　The penetration rate of large-sized components has increased rapidly, which is beneficial for the development of string welding machines. Data analysis shows that in 2021, the penetration rate of large-sized components is on par with traditional 158/166 size components. By 2022, the penetration rate of large-sized components has increased to 90%, becoming the absolute mainstream product in the component market. The increase in silicon wafer size requires corresponding adjustments to the battery cell pattern. Conventional string welding machines are not compatible, and a new type of string welding machine is needed to prepare large-sized components. Therefore, the increase in penetration rate of large-sized components will benefit the development of string welding machines.

　　Half chip component technology can reduce packaging power loss and improve component power. Half cell module technology uses laser cutting method to divide standard specification battery cells into two identical cells along the direction perpendicular to the main grid line of the battery cells. According to calculations, compared to conventional components, half chip components can increase power by 5-10W, mainly due to:

　　1）The packaging loss of half chip components is only about 0.2%, while the packaging loss of conventional components is generally greater than 1%;

　　2）The half piece component adopts a parallel string structure, and under the same occlusion, the shadow occlusion loss of the half piece component is smaller. At the same time, the internal current and internal losses of the half piece component are reduced, resulting in a decrease in the operating temperature of the component and junction box, a significant reduction in the probability of hot spots, and a significant improvement in the safety and reliability of the component.

　　The application of half chip components will further open up the growth space of laser cutting machines and benefit the development of string welding equipment. In the equipment line of conventional components, a laser cutting machine needs to be added to cut the battery cells for the half piece component. The laser cutting step can be embedded in the string welding machine and replaced with a cutting string welding integrated machine. At the same time, due to the doubling of processing actions (dividing one piece into two or more pieces), the single machine production capacity will decrease. Under the same installation scale, the demand for welding equipment suitable for half or smaller pieces of battery cells will increase. Therefore, the increase in penetration rate of battery cell components with half or smaller pieces will drive the demand for laser cutting machines, string welding equipment (multi main grid string welding machines, tile stacking welding equipment, etc.) to grow.

　　Multi gate technology has optical and electrical gains, while significantly reducing the cost of silver paste. Multiple main gates refer to battery cells with at least 7 main gate lines. In terms of efficiency improvement, multiple main gates can increase the light receiving area of the battery, reduce current heat loss to increase battery power, and increase optical utilization efficiency from less than 5% to over 40%. The final component power can be increased by more than 10W. In terms of cost reduction, multiple main gates can reduce the amount of silver paste used by reducing the width of the main gate and increasing the number of main gates. The positive silver consumption of conventional main gate cells is about 110mg, while that of multi main gate cells (taking 12 gates as an example) is about 70mg. The cost savings of silver paste can reach 36%.

　　Non main gate technology can improve component efficiency, reduce component costs, and enhance component reliability. The non main grid technology uses circular coated copper wire to connect the battery grid, collect current, and achieve battery interconnection. In terms of efficiency improvement, the cross-section of copper wire is circular, so after being made into a component, its shading area can be reduced by 30%, resistance loss can be reduced, and the total power of the component can be increased by 3%. In terms of cost reduction, copper wire is used as the main gate material, which can reduce the amount of silver material by about 80% and significantly reduce production costs. In terms of reliability, compared to other main gate components, when a battery without a main gate encounters a broken gate or hidden crack, the impact on the overall current collection of the battery is significantly reduced, and the impact on the maximum output power of the component is smaller. Therefore, its performance is more reliable.

　　Splicing high-density packaging on top of half pieces may bring packaging benefits. The characteristics of splicing components are "high-density" packaging and triangular solder strips. On the basis of half chip packaging, the inter chip spacing of the splicing component is only one fourth of that of the half chip component. At the same time, the flat solder tape is changed to a triangular solder tape, which can effectively utilize the light blocked by the previous flat solder tape and improve the power generation efficiency of the component.

　　Multi main grid components, non main grid components, and splicing components will increase the technical barriers of string welding equipment, promoting the development of multi main grid string welding machines and high-precision string welding machines. Compared to conventional components, the number of main grid lines in multi main grid components increases, the width narrows, and the shape of the solder strip changes from flat to cylindrical. In contrast, for non main grid components, the main grid lines are removed and replaced with circular plated copper wires to connect the battery's fine grid. For splicing components, the inter chip distance is reduced by three-quarters in the battery interconnection process, and the flat solder strip is changed to a triangular solder strip. The above three technologies have significantly improved the requirements for the welding ability, accuracy, and stability of the equipment. Traditional string welding machines are difficult to be compatible with new technologies, and high-precision string welding machines need to be replaced to complete the welding.

　　Stacking tile technology improves the packaging density of battery cells, which can bring multiple benefits. The tile stacking technology eliminates the welding tape and replaces the metal welding tape with conductive adhesive, using conductive adhesive to bond the laser cut battery small pieces. The seamless connection and parallel power generation of stacked tile components can bring advantages such as low internal resistance, high reliability, low power attenuation, high battery density, and more effective light receiving area.

　　The tile stacking component can open up growth space for multiple devices. Tile stacking technology fundamentally changes the way battery cells are interconnected and is an alternative process to traditional component string welding connections. Through analysis of tile stacking technology and comparison with traditional components, tile stacking components require the addition of corresponding equipment at three process stages:

　　1）Before welding, the battery cells need to be divided into 5 or 6 pieces, so a laser cutting machine needs to be added;

　　2）Different from busbar welding, the stacked tiles are connected using conductive adhesive, so a screen printing machine needs to be added;

　　3）The interconnection process of battery cells involves high-temperature curing of conductive adhesive for lamination, thus requiring the addition of lamination welding equipment.

　　Leading manufacturers are intensively releasing high-power new components. Driven by the transformation of new technologies, with the continuous improvement of supply chain and process technology maturity, new component products are being released intensively. Major photovoltaic leading enterprises have launched large-scale components with new technologies such as large-size, three piece, multi main grid, and splicing, which have exceeded expectations or in large quantities, igniting the incremental demand for equipment such as laser cutting machines and multi main grid string welding machines.

　　The new components drive the increase in equipment volume. The component equipment is now subdivided into laser cutting machines, string welding machines, laminating machines, assembly line bodies, end welding machines, and power testers, taking into account the production capacity needs of equipment stock replacement and incremental updates, in order to calculate the corresponding market size. Among them, the assembly line mainly includes: automatic glass machine, EVA laying machine, typesetting machine, horizontal and vertical conveyors, EL tester, gluing and framing integrated machine, production bus control system, etc. In the equipment investment of a single GW component production line, the value of string welding machines and laminating machines is relatively high, accounting for about 33% and 13% of the investment, respectively.

　　Although different technologies benefit different devices, large-size silicon wafers, half chip technology, and multi gate technology often overlap with each other, so the penetration rate of each device in the equipment capacity demand from 2021 to 2023 is 100%.

　　In the coming years, benefiting from the high value of single GW and rapidly increasing penetration rate, the string welding machine market will have the largest scale in the segmented market of single equipment, or the biggest winner in this round of technology iteration cycle.

　　Under this wave of technological development, Zhongbu Qingtian New Energy keeps up with the trend of technological progress, always maintaining research and development reserves for new technologies and tracking industrialization progress. We have devoted ourselves to developing and producing the Yuanwu series BC string welding machine, which is specially customized for BC battery cell string welding, compatible with 166~210mm sizes and 5~20BB battery cells. The production capacity can reach 6000 pieces per hour, and one unit can meet the production needs of a 150MW production line. In the coming years, driven by the continuous breakthroughs and expansion in the photovoltaic industry, it is believed that the BC series welding machines from Zhongbu Qingtian Yuanwu will play a greater role in improving the automation and intelligence level of production lines, improving processes, and effectively reducing labor and manufacturing costs.