Numerical Simulation of the Parallel Gap Resistance Welding Process of a Solar Cell and Mo/Pt/Ag Interconnector

Abstract

Energy for space vehicles in low Earth orbit (LEO) is mainly generated by solar arrays, and the service time of the vehicles is controlled by the lifetime of these arrays, which depends mainly on the lifetime of the interconnects. To increase the service life of LEO satellites, molybdenum/platinum/silver (Mo/Pt/Ag) laminated metal matrix composite (LMMC) interconnectors are widely used in place of Mo/Ag LMMC and Ag interconnectors in solar arrays. A 2D thermal–electrical–mechanical coupled axisymmetric model was established to simulate the behavior of the parallel gap resistance welding (PGRW) process for solar cells and Mo/Pt/Ag composite interconnectors using the commercial software ANSYS. The direct multicoupled PLANE223 element and the contact pair elements TARGE169 and CONTA172 were employed. A transitional meshing method was applied to solve the meshing problem due to the ultrathin (1 μm) intermediate Pt layer. A comparison of the analysis results with the experimental results revealed that the best parameters were 60 W, 60 ms, and 0.0138 MPa. The voltage and current predicted by the finite element method agreed well with the experimental results. This study contributes to a further understanding of the mechanism of PGRW and provides guidance for finite element simulation of the process of welding with an ultrathin interlayer.

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