Abstract: The present invention relates to a vacuum lamination apparatus suitable for vacuum-laminating a stacked body. The vacuum lamination apparatus includes a mounting table including a metal plate having a front surface on which the stacked body is to be positioned. The apparatus also includes a vacuuming pipe comprising a looped hollow pipe having an inside circumference and a plurality of vents spacedly perforated at the inside circumference thereof. The vacuuming pipe is arranged in and fixed to the front surface of the metal plate. The front surface of the metal plate has a front surface with a center line average height of 0.2 to 1.5 &mgr;m. The vacuuming pipe is fixed to the front surface of the metal plate by intermittently welded portions provided at a contact region between the front surface of the metal plate and the vacuuming pipe. A sealant is disposed to the entire contact region, whereby the vacuuming pipe and the metal plate are integrated.

Abstract: A vacuum laminating apparatus includes a laminating space formed by a base member, a tube having deaeration holes, and a flexible lid member.

Abstract: A roof unit is constructed in such an arrangement that a plurality of combination solar battery and roof panels, each having flanges at two opposite sides, are placed adjacent to each other with clearance on a joining/fixing member, the adjacent combination solar battery and roof panels are fixed to the joining/fixing member in the clearance by a removable fixture, and a removable cap is placed in an upper part of the clearance. This arrangement simplifies the work at a work site, decreases the construction cost, and decreases work errors. In addition, measurement or replacement of each module can be made even after mounting, thus providing a practical vertical-roofing roof excellent in maintainability and also in wind endurance.

Abstract: A roof in which an upper-end engaging portion of a downstream roof panel is seam-jointed with a lower-end engaging portion of an upstream roof panel, wherein at least the lower-end engaging portion has flexural rigidity enough to disengage the seam joint.

Abstract: A sunlight energy conversion apparatus comprises a photoelectric transducer comprising a non-single crystal semiconductor and means for supplying heat to the photoelectric transducer through a flowing heating medium.

Abstract: A roof member includes a solar battery module in which a solar battery element is fixed on a backing, with two opposite sides of the backing of the solar battery module bent to form an eaves-side connecting portion and a ridge-side connecting portion, and wherein the ridge-side connecting portion is open on the front surface side of roof member, and electrical wiring is provided in the ridge-side connecting portion. A plurality of such roof members are horizontally connected with each other by a joint drip plate, and a joint cover and wires of the respective roof members are connected with each other in the ridge-side connection portion. The eaves-side connecting portion and the ridge-side connecting portion of the respective roof members are seam-jointed with each other, and wires of the respective roof members are connected with each other in the ridge-side connecting portion.

Abstract: A solar cell module according to the present invention includes at least a base material, a first insulating material formed on the base material, a photovoltaic element set including a plurality of photovoltaic elements formed on the first insulating material, and a second insulating material formed on the photovoltaic element set. The base material has an L or W shape. In one embodiment, the base material has an L section shape, and a bent portion is formed in a portion where no photovoltaic element is arrange. In another embodiment, the photovoltaic element set includes a wiring material for electrically connecting the photovoltaic elements, and a bent portion is formed in a portion where the wiring material is arranged. Power generation and heat collection efficiency are increased, and optical deterioration of a non-single-crystal semiconductor are decreased in the present solar cell modules.

Abstract: A conveying system comprising a pump whose power source is an unstable electric power supply, such as a solar cell; a first supply pipe for conveying liquid from an intake to the pump; a second supply pipe for conveying the liquid from the pump to a discharge opening; a liquid storage tank provided at a position which is below the discharge opening and above the pump; a third supply pipe branching from the second supply pipe, for conveying the liquid to the liquid storage tank; a fourth supply pipe connected between the liquid storage tank and the first supply pipe; a first valve, provided between the branching point of the first and fourth supply pipes and the intake, for opening and closing the first supply pipe; a second valve, provided between the branching point of the second and third supply pipes and the discharge opening, for opening and closing the second supply pipe; a third valve for opening and closing the third supply pipe; and a fourth valve for opening and closing the fourth supply pipe.

Abstract: To provide a cheap inverter which uses a single digital microprocessor and can execute a current control and a maximum power control without changing a design of a hardware even for any switching device or solar cell, there is provided a control apparatus of an inverter for converting a DC electric power into an AC electric power by using a switching device, wherein the control apparatus is constructed by an inversion discrimination circuit for receiving an output current or an output voltage and a reference signal and for discriminating whether a switching state of the switching device should be inverted or not and a gate pulse signal forming unit for changing the switching state of the switching device in response to an inversion request signal which is outputted from the inversion discrimination circuit. The gate pulse signal forming unit has a CPU for forming a gate pulse signal by an interrupting process by using the inversion request signal as an interruption control signal.

Abstract: In a solar cell module in which a solar cell element is mounted on a four-sided metal plate, two opposite sides of the metal plate are bent, and a reinforcement member is provided on at least one of the two remaining sides. Thus, a solar cell module which is easily manufactured, lightweight, and inexpensive can be provided. Furthermore, the solar cell module of the present invention has excellent structural strength.

Abstract: A solar cell module is provided at the position of a heat collecting plate inside a heat collector, at the position of its window member or at the position of its bottom plate. With such constitution, a hybrid system can be achieved in which the hot air can be led into a house while maintaining the performance of solar cells making use of amorphous silicon semiconductors.In the case where solar cells are provided at the position of the heat collecting plate, a resin used as a filler has so high a thermal resistance that the heat conduction to the air may be insufficient to make it impossible to obtain hot air having a sufficiently high temperature. To solve this problem, the solar cell module is made to have a smaller thermal resistance on the non-light-receiving side than the thermal resistance on the light-receiving side.

Abstract: A highly reliable molar cell module comprising a back face reinforcing metallic member, a photovoltaic element, a filler for encapsulating said photovoltaic element, and a surface protective film having a weatherability, wherein the end faces of said back face reinforcing metallic member and a partial area of the rear face of said back face reinforcing metallic member are covered by a resin. A process for the production of said solar module by way of thermocompression bonding process.

Abstract: A vacuum laminating apparatus includes a laminating space formed by a base member, a tube having deaeration holes, and a flexible lid member. A vacuum laminating method places the material to be laminated within the laminating space and heats the material while creating a vacuum in the space.

Abstract: A solar cell module comprising a cell block sealed by a sealing resin, said cell block comprising a plurality of solar cells electrically connected with each other by an electrically conductive connection material, characterized in that a sliding material having a property of not bonding to said electrically conductive connection material but bonding to said sealing resin is interposed between said electrically conductive connection material and said sealing resin.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a continuous vacuum lamination treatment method including the steps of stacking a back side covering member, a first filler member, a member to be sealed, a second filler member, and a surface side covering member in the named order to form a stacked body. The method further includes decompressing an interior region of the stacked body which is sandwiched by the surface side covering member and the back side covering member, and subjecting the stacked body to heat treatment at a desired temperature, in the named order. The stacking step is conducted on a plurality of vacuum lamination instruments having a structure capable of vacuuming the interior region therein and capable of being stacked vertically with adjacent stacked vacuum lamination instruments in contact.

Abstract: In order to prevent a device serving as a load from being destroyed or causing an operation error while assuring an optimum operation voltage of a solar cell, and to stably, efficiently obtain power, a DC source system, in which a solar cell (1) and a DC source (3) are connected to an output terminal connected to a load (2) in parallel with each other, includes a first switch (5) arranged between the load (2) and the solar cell (1), a second switch 7 arranged between the load (2) and the DC source, and a capacitor (6) arranged between the load and the first switch in parallel with the solar cell.

Abstract: In order to provide an inverter apparatus and a solar power generation apparatus in which when a main AC power system (5) has suffered, e.g., a power failure, the operation mode of an inverter (2) in the tie operation with the main AC power system (5) can be easily and safely switched from the tie operation mode to the self-support operation mode, and electric power can be supplied to a load (4) directly using normal indoor wiring, the open/closed state of a switch (3) for opening/closing a connection between the output terminal of the inverter (2) and the main AC power system (5) is detected, and the self-support operation of the inverter (2) is started when the open state of the switch (3) is detected.

Abstract: In order to accurately and stably measure the output characteristics of a battery power supply device, especially, a large-scale solar cell module by an equipment that requires only a size and cost equivalent to those of an apparatus used for measuring a small-scale module, the light-receiving surface of the solar cell module is divided into areas each including a bypass diode, the output characteristics upon light illumination in units of divided areas are measured, the measured characteristics are synthesized, and the influence of bypass diode characteristics is subtracted from the synthesized characteristics, thereby calculating the output characteristics of the solar cell module.

Abstract: In a power control apparatus of a solar power generation system for converting power generated by a solar panel and supplying the converted power to a load, the output voltage and output current of the solar panel are sensed, and, under ordinary conditions, MPPT control is performed so that the solar cells will operate at a maximum output point. If the output power of the solar panel exceeds a predetermined power, a power conversion unit is controlled so as to raise the output voltage of the solar panel, thereby limiting the output power of the solar panel. As a result, excessive power is prevented from being output by the power control apparatus.

Abstract: A voltage control apparatus which is robust against disturbances such as variations in solar radiation amount around a solar cell, and has quick response, has a voltage detection unit (4) for detecting the voltage value of a battery power supply (1), a power conversion unit (2) for performing predetermined conversion of electric power supplied from the battery power supply, and supplying the converted electric power to a load or a commercial AC system (3), an output setting unit (5) for setting the output value of the power conversion unit on the basis of the voltage detection value, and a control unit (6) for controlling the power conversion unit on the basis of the output setting value. The output setting unit is constituted by a target voltage setting unit (51) for setting the target voltage value of the battery power supply, and an output calculation unit (52) for calculating the output setting value on the basis of the deviation between the voltage detection value and the target voltage value.