Patent ID: 8048520

Claim:
A solar cell pre-lamination assembly comprising a multilayer encapsulant film or sheet and a solar cell component formed of one or a plurality of electronically interconnected solar cells, wherein, (a) the solar cell component has a light-receiving side that faces a light source and a back side that is opposite from the light source; (b) the multilayer encapsulant film or sheet comprises a first surface sub-layer, a second surface sub-layer, and an inner sub-layer sandwiched between the first and second surface sub-layers; (c) the first surface sub-layer and the second surface sub-layer consist essentially of a terionomer; (d) the inner sub layer comprises an ionomer that has a melting point of at least about 80° C.; and (e) the terionomer is an acid terpolymer that is about 5% to about 90% neutralized with one or more metal ions, based on the total carboxylic acid content of the acid terpolymer, and comprises (i) repeat units derived from an α-olefin, (ii) about 5 to about 15 wt % of repeat units derived from an α,β-ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid having 3 to 8 carbons, and (iii) about 15 to about 40 wt % of repeat units derived from an α,β-ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid ester having 4 to 12 carbons, based on the total weight of the acid terpolymer.