Auto-bonding robot for space solar cells

Abstract

An auto-bonding robot (ABR) that consists of the mechanism of adhesive dispensing and auto-bonding, a pneumatic system and a control system, is presented in this paper. It is designed for the bonding operation of cover-glasses and space solar cells using adhesives. An adhesive dispensing method is proposed to control the thickness and position of the adhesive layer on solar cells and to provide a satisfactory bonding accuracy. The bubble-free bonding process is realized by the leaning mechanism of a pneumatic sucker. Experimental comparison of the manual and automatic bonding methods showed that there are no fragment and air bubbles between the cover-glass and the space solar cell, and no outflow adhesive on the surface by the automatic bonding process in a non-vacuum condition. The novel automatic bonding robot greatly improved the lightweight space solar cells bonding quality and production rate.