Current Entries for Large-Scale Solar Installation Award

J. Schmalz GmbH’s new development, the Schmalz Wafer Gripper SWG, is particularly suitable for the extremely fast, precise and damage-free handling of highly sensitive wafer and solar cells.
The SWG has decisive advantages compared with manual grippers, mechanical grippers, conventional vacuum grippers or floating suction pads employing Bernoulli’s principle regarding process safety, damage minimisation and cycle times.

In 2008, Solaria received IEC certification for the world’s first module manufacturing technology to incorporate semiconductor singulation processes and optical packaging technologies into crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar modules. Known as Cell Multiplication Technology (CMT), the technology significantly reduces the capital and operational costs of module manufacturing while also introducing unprecedented flexibility for optimizing c-Si module designs for specific market applications.

BakerClean™ PV-160 Solar Cell Surface Modifier is a wet chemical surface modifier applicable to in-line manufacturing processes of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells.
Following emitter formation, BakerClean PV-160 surface modifier’s modification of cell surface properties delivers higher value solar cells by improving cell conversion efficiency.

To meet the exacting demands of the Photovoltaic solar industry, Scapa has developed a number of technical, pressure sensitive adhesive tapes for module assembly. The focus of the Scapa technology offered, centres on high quality cellular foams, coated on both sides with pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive and is used for module frame mounting.
This technology provides effective and permanent bonding of the photovoltaic module and the framing material whilst forming a durable seal which prevents water and moisture ingress.

The Sixtron SunBox is a silane-free coating system for front-side antireflective and passivation coating processes in c-Si solar cell manufacturing. Using a unique silicon carbide-based chemistry, the SunBox is a “plug & play” solution for crystalline silicon cell manufacturing lines that matches the efficiency of today’s most advanced antireflective and passivation coating systems while completely eliminating the significant safety, reliability and cost issues associated with pyrophoric silane gas.

Tigo Energy has developed a power electronics system for PV solar projects which distributes key elements of instrumentation, control and maximum power point tracking to the module.  The system provides optimal power harvest from each module while not introducing additional conversion loss or significant cost increases relative to today’s centralized BOS electronics.  By placing a small amount of electronics on each panel, Tigo Energy eliminates the system impact of underperforming modules (made weaker by high temperature; dust & debris; aging; clouds; or shade) and thus harvests up to 20% additional energy.  This significantly reduces levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and project payback period.

There are several steps in the production process of solar cells which are crucial for cell efficiency. Therefore the necessity arises to effectively control quality inline. VINSPEC SP is designed to provide reliable contactless inline quality measurement for thickness of antireflection coating at PV-wafers directly after the coating process.

The first step of the automated solar module production process is the soldering of the solar cells in to a string. During the feeding of the cells our machine vision system VINSPECsolar inspects the cells for optical quality criteria. This inspection takes place before the integration of the cells in to a module. The machine vision system VINSPECsolar records the exact position of the cell and calculates the difference between the target and current position. The corrected coordinates are submitted to the handling system. Thereby optimal handling of the cell is guaranteed. Additionally VINSPECsolar inspects the shape of the cell and the quality of the printing on the front side.  Solar cells of a poor quality and breakages can be picked out without delaying production. VINSPECsolar   reliable detects all relevant faults criteria and classifies them. VINSPECsolar provides a critical contribution to high product quality and distinct classification.

The small compact foot print, immense product flexibility and a highly advanced induction close loop soldering process, make the Komax Xcell 3400 Stringer a key machine in helping the Crystalline Solar Industry reach grid parity.

ChemGuard refill technology (CG1000) has been developed by Air Products to substantially reduce c-Si cell manufacturing costs.  The system eliminates the need to replace empty chemical (POCl3) containers residing inside the diffusion furnaces, which use this chemical to dope the Si wafer with N-type material.

Alpha® PV Ready Ribbon™ is a flux coated, solder ribbon used to link together solar cells in Photovoltaic Module Assembly. It’s unique feature is the patented chemistry and technology used to flux coat the ribbon, thereby eliminating the need to apply flux separately during the tabbing and stringing process.

Together with the Fraunhofer IPA in Stuttgart, ACI-ecotec GmbH & Co. KG developed the first wet wafer separator. That system, now on its 3rd revision and currently in use with key wafer manufacturers globally, has proven to be an economical, fast and reliable solution for separating pre-cleaned, raw wet solar wafers from the wire saw, for inline or batch processing. The system is designed and has proven to offer, fast, safe and reliable wet wafer separation offering a very fast return of investment for automation at this crucial wafer handling step. There are 24 separator units integrated into batch and inline solutions since 2005 to customers in Europe, US and ASIA.

With this innovation the Oerlikon Solar KAI 1200 PECVD system can deposit amorphous and microcrystalline absorber layers faster and at better quality resulting in a significant reduction of the production cost of silicon thin-film solar modules.

LSS1200 laser scribing system for the high precision patterning of thin-film PV modules.

TCO 1200 Production Reactor deposits a novel and adjustable Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) film for the fabrication of Thin Film Photovoltaic Modules. The TCO 1200 utilizes technology originally from the Semiconductor Industry and is based on Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) at very low temperature. The TCO 1200 allows adjustment of film morphology and conductivity to match ideal parameters for the PV Absorber stack while utilizing an innovative ZnOx film composition with superior light trapping v standard SnOx films.

Veeco manufactures equipment that is used by solar cell manufacturers to produce high-efficient, low-cost thin film CIGS (copper indium gallium (di)selenide) solar panels in mass production.  Veeco’s PV-Series™ Thermal Deposition Sources are capable of depositing Cu, In, Ga and Se across substrates up to 1.2m wide that enables high volume manufacturing of thin film solar modules.
Veeco is the only manufacturer of production deposition thermal sources to coat glass or flexible sheets to produce low cost CIGS solar panels on flexible or rigid substrates as shown in the figure below.

It is about the lamination of glass-glass modules (thin film modules) onto several openings (done in the 3-step process). The line is called Ypsator©.

The system supplier for photovoltaic module lines, Reis Robotics, has implemented a newly developed laser soldering procedure for practical use with several customers.

In the stinger machines TT900/1200 we offer the most flexible soldering technology for solar cells: Laser soldering. It is flexible and controlled in terms of: temperature/power/position of energy/implementation and speed of energy.

ChemGuard refill technology (CG1000) has been developed by Air Products to substantially reduce c-Si cell manufacturing costs.  The system eliminates the need to replace empty chemical (POCl3) containers residing inside the diffusion furnaces, which use this chemical to dope the Si wafer with N-type material. 

BTU’s MERIDIAN™ In-line Diffusion System has been specifically designed for phosphorus diffusion of silicon solar cells. Silicon wafers are coated with a phosphoric acid solution and diffused in a quartz-lined continuous furnace between 850 and 900°C.

This process is a method and mechanical attachment of standard  solder coated ribbon to silver bars during PV module assembly.

In the ROBO FRAME system, the robot grips the prepared laminate on the glass side and guides it precisely into the prepared frame parts. In a sequence of four steps, the long frame parts are joined first, then the short frame parts into which the corner connectors have already been inserted automatically. Addi-tional clamps and a level support plate ensure that the forces applied to the laminate during assembly of the frame parts are kept to a minimum, thereby preventing deformation.

Solaicx is a leading manufacturer of monocrystalline silicon ingots and wafers optimized for solar applications with a high throughput manufacturing facility operating in Portland, Oregon.  The company’s unique and proprietary continuous Czochralski (CZ) manufacturing process produces low-cost, high-efficiency silicon ingots five times faster and 30% longer than competitors employing equipment adopted from the semiconductor industry.

SolarMagic^TM power optimizers are a new technology that dramatically improves the performance of photovoltaic (PV) arrays in real-world conditions, where panel mismatch and partial shading as a result of debris or structural objects can cripple a system's power generation. In some conditions, field trials have shown that SolarMagic technology can improve array performance by nearly 40 percent. SolarMagic Optimizers are manufactured by California-based National Semiconductor.

Advent Solar introduces Ventura™ Technology, the solar industry’s only comprehensive cell-to-module solar architecture.

For decades, the solar industry has remained a niche solution to satisfying global electrical requirements -around 0.1% - primarily due to cost. Cost, in comparison to conventional electricity provided to the grid, has been the limiting factor for the growth of this industry. The Applied Materials SunFab™ Line offers customers a proven production solution to manufacture photovoltaic modules, profitably, at the lowest cost per watt thereby providing electricity at prices comparable to traditional sources of energy. By manufacturing on substrate sizes up to 5.7m2 , the SunFab Line offers an innovative way to lower production costs and installation costs.

The DEK PVP1200 is an innovative modular screen printing platform designed to deliver high yields in the metallization process relating to the manufacture of Crystalline Silicon solar cells, while operating at the high throughput rates required by the solar cell processing sector.

The PVI-6™, designed for optical in-line dual sided inspection of photovoltaic (PV) wafers and cells. The PVI-6 provides customers with the capability to inspect solar wafers and cells at the highest speed and accuracy for all stages of the production process.

Powerline SL PV is a laser system, especially designed for highest quality laser scribing processes in the thin-film module manufacturing industry.