Patent ID: 8535968

Claim:
A photovoltaic cell alignment apparatus for fabricating a photovoltaic module sub-assembly, the photovoltaic cell alignment apparatus comprising: a photovoltaic cell storage cassette for storing multiple photovoltaic cells; a rotary photovoltaic cell feeder comprising at least one photovoltaic cell grabber arrayed around a first axis of the rotary photovoltaic cell feeder; and an alignment plate having a top surface defined by a plurality of angled cell receiving areas having alignment edges, the alignment plate and/or the rotary cell feeder movable along a second axis with respect to each other to position any one of the angled cell receiving areas with respect to the at least one photovoltaic cell grabber of the rotary cell feeder, wherein the at least one photovoltaic cell grabber is rotatable about the first axis between a first position at which the at least one photovoltaic cell grabber is aligned with the photovoltaic cell storage cassette and a second position at which the at least one photovoltaic cell grabber faces the alignment plate, and wherein, when in the first position, the at least one photovoltaic cell grabber is configured to pull a single photovoltaic cell from the photovoltaic cell storage cassette and to support the single photovoltaic cell in substantially the same position relative to the at least one photovoltaic cell grabber while the at least one photovoltaic cell grabber moves from the first position to the second position, and, when in the second position, the at least one photovoltaic cell grabber is configured to release the single photovoltaic cell into one of the plurality of angled cell receiving areas of the alignment plate.