Detection of Transformations in Encapsulants after Module Lamination Process

Lamination of the PV-modules based on the thermal treatment of the encapsulants is primarily accepted to enhance the stability and durability of the module functioning. However, the encapsulants are modified due to transformations in polymers during the lamination process. In spite of the optimized conditions of the process, there is a lack in clear understanding about these modifications even if there were reliable proofs about a significant influence of the quality of the encapsulant on the characteristics of the PV-modules especially in the long-term exploitation. There is no reliable description of the parameters acceptable to characterize the polymer transformations in correlation with the lamination process conditions. In addition, an absence of informative parameters significantly diminishes possibilities to identify the encapsulation related problems in the long-term functioning of the PV-modules.