Vacuum-free, cost-effective, developing-country-material-available solar cell encapsulation

We describe a novel cast encapsulation method based on room-temperature vulcanizing (RTV) silicone. This method does not require vacuum, nor lamination, and all the material needed, except for the encapsulant itself is available in developing countries. It is successfully used in Nicaragua. In addition, we report in detail on a recently developed solution to limit trapping of bubbles in the encapsulant during curing. We deposit, prior to encapsulation, a thin film of RTV silicone on the cells. The resulting solar panels made using this technique show a lot less trapped bubbles.