Patent ID: 7915518

Claim:
A process of producing a solar battery module comprising plural solar battery cells, said process comprising: arranging plural solar battery cells at a prescribed interval and mutually connecting them to each other by a conductor; arranging a first sealing resin sheet, substantially covering the entire surface of a transparent panel of a light reception surface side, between the transparent panel of the light reception surface side and the solar battery cells; arranging a second sealing resin sheet, substantially covering the entire surface of a back face panel, between the back face panel and the solar battery cells; arranging sealing resin sheet pieces having a thickness at least 0.2 mm thicker than that of the sum total value of the thickness of the solar battery cells and the thickness of the conductor at a space between the solar battery cells so as to be sandwiched by the first sealing resin sheet and the second sealing resin sheet; applying a load by atmospheric pressure from both the front and back surfaces by discharging air between the transparent panel of the light reception surface side and the back face panel; melting the first sealing resin sheet, the second sealing resin sheet, and the sealing resin sheet pieces by heating to form a molten sealing resin; and cooling the molten sealing resin to obtain plural solar battery cells sealed within the solar battery module; wherein the first sealing resin sheet, the second sealing resin sheet, and the sealing resin sheet pieces comprise at least one resin selected from the group consisting of ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyvinyl butyral, and polyurethane; the transparent panel of the light reception surface side and the back face panel comprise a glass panel having a thickness of from 3 to 20 mm; a single vacuum system in which the outside of a sealing treatment vessel is kept at atmospheric pressure is employed; the sealing treatment vessel comprises a bag, the entirety of the bag being made of a gas non-permeable soft film; the single vacuum system comprises plural bags arranged in a heating device; and when the temperature rises, the resin is softened, the thickness of the sheet pieces to which a load has been applied is reduced, and the cells or the portion of the conductor connected to the cells is brought into contact with the upper and lower sealing resin sheets, and the cells or the conductor connected to the cells are brought into intimate contact with the softened sealing resin sheets such that the former is embedded in the latter.