Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Yoshihisa Ohido

Takashi Kubo

Takaaki Higashida

Kaori Toyoda

Tomohiro Okumura

Ichiro Nakayama

Satoshi Maeshima

Yasushi Taniguchi

Hitoshi Yamanishi

Nobuyuki Kamikihara

Nobuaki Hirata

A thermoelectric conversion module and a thermoelectric conversion apparatus in which a thermoelectric conversion element can be flexibly attached to heat sources having various shapes in high density are provided. The thermoelectric conversion module includes a first thermoelectric conversion element configured of a cylindrical thermoelectric conversion material having a hollow portion and a second thermoelectric conversion element configured of a thermoelectric conversion material having a different conductive type from that of the first thermoelectric conversion element and fixed in the hollow portion.

Thermoelectric conversion module and thermoelectric conversion apparatus

The invention provides a thermoelectric conversion element having a lot of pn junction pairs per unit area and having a thermoelectric material chip which is hardly broken, and a producing method thereof. In the thermoelectric conversion element of the invention, plural substrates in each of which a film-shaped thermoelectric material is formed in a surface thereof are disposed. As a result, because the number of pn junction pairs per unit area is increased, a high output can be obtained. Because the thermoelectric material is formed into the film shape, reliability degradation caused by a breakage of the thermoelectric material can be prevented, even in the thermoelectric material having many pn junction pairs per unit area, namely, a sectional area is small.

Thermoelectric conversion element and producing method thereof

The present invention provides a thermoelectric conversion element, a thermoelectric conversion element module, and a method of manufacturing the same that can easily realize high-density arrangement of thermoelectric conversion elements and securement of connection reliability. The thermoelectric conversion element has, for example, rod-shaped thermoelectric conversion material, tube that has an insulation property and an adiabatic property and houses thermoelectric conversion material, and electrodes that are in close adhesion to the end surfaces of thermoelectric conversion material and tube. A surface roughness Ra of the end surfaces is larger than 0.8 micrometers. In the present invention, the thermoelectric conversion elements can be arranged at a high density such that tubes are in close adhesion to each other. Also, since the close adhesion surface of electrodes on the end surfaces is large, the connection reliability of electrodes is further improved.

Thermoelectric conversion element, thermoelectric conversion element module, and method of manufacturing the same

Disclosed is a polycrystalline-type silicon solar cell which can be produced at low cost by forming a polycrystalline silicon film having a PN junction in a simple manner. Specifically, an amorphous silicon film produced by sputtering using a dopant-containing silicon target is polycrystallized with plasma, and a PN junction is formed in the amorphous silicon film, thereby producing a polycrystalline silicon film having a PN junction. The polycrystalline silicon film having a PN junction is used as a silicon substrate for a polycrystalline-type silicon solar cell. Also disclosed is a technique for producing a dopant-containing silicon target from a silicon ingot.

Polycrystalline-type solar cell panel and process for production thereof

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Osaka, Japan

Yoshihisa Ohido