Bürkle has introduced single-opening lamination technology for laminating solar modules, which can also be applied to the divided lamination process.

Company Manager, Hans-Joachim Bender says: “We have reduced process times to 3½ minutes.” An annual capacity of up to 110 megawatts (MW) can be reached with the new, three-step single-opening laminators (e.a.sy-Lam SL). On the highest level, a 10-opening laminator can produce an annual capacity of up to 265 MW. This is an increase in capacity of more than 100% compared to the current standard process.

Product Manager, Dagmar Metzger, explains that the development has been realised by focusing on a number of important process parameters: “Among others, we have increased the temperature for laminating glass-foil modules.”

Depending on the foil type, an increase of the operating temperature by 10°C to, for example 160°C, can double the cross-linking speed. Combined with a higher pressure and a reduction of the evacuating time, it is possible to reduce the process to 3½ minutes.