Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

Product Briefing Outline: Bystronic glass now offers the champ speed-series of glass substrate edge grinders, using experience gained from the automotive industry to provide clean, ground edges, free from cracks and shell defects, boosting yield and productivity in PV module production. The champ speed-series machines are completely vibration-free and can therefore provide the greatest precision in edge grinding.

Product Briefing Outline: Fluid control specialist, Horiba, has introduced a new range of mass flow controllers (MFC) competitively priced to fit the economic and production needs of the photovoltaic manufacturing sector. Manufactured in Japan, under strict quality conditions by HoribaStec, the SEC-N100 Series digital mass flow controller reliably controls the flow of process gases and cleaning gases. Multigas and multirange functions allow the user to configure the desired gas and flow range to increase flexibility and reduce overall costs, for example by decreasing flow controller inventory. Dedicated software makes this easy to do without removing the mass flow controller from the gas panel.

Product Briefing Outline: Schreiner ProTech has designed a rugged, self-adhesive Pressure Compensation Seal (PCS), especially designed to provide solar module junction boxes with long-lasting protection against severe environmental conditions, preventing damage to sensitive electrical components. The product has already been selected by KOSTAL Industrie Elektrik to be integrated into their PV modules' junction boxes.

Product Briefing: With the acquisition of Tecnofimes, Roth & Rau has collaborated with the subsidiary to develop a new firing furnace, dubbed CAMiNI. The system is characterized by high efficiency at low operating costs. The initially offered model with 2 lanes (6” wafers) provides the basis for an extension, which facilitates the firing of solar cell contacts onto up to three lanes at the same time. The throughput of the CAMiNI is indicated with ≥ 6,000 wafers/h. Roth & Rau has already received its first purchase orders for the system.

Product Briefing Outline: Vistrian has released version 5.0 of their ‘FactoryLOOK’ software platform. FactoryLOOK is a Manufacturing Intelligence System used by a number of companies including manufacturers of Solar, Semiconductor, Led, Data Storage, Networking, and Electronic assembly. The software allows for the immediate alerting and identifying of process anomalies and the ability to quickly identify factors affecting the development or manufacturing process and its variables.

Product Briefing Outline: Shuttleworth has introduced a new line of products for thin-film and crystalline solar panel handling. The company's new ‘Rotary Turntable’ can be located anywhere in the manufacturing process where the product must be rotated to maintain the proper orientation.

Product Briefing Outline: J.A. Woollam has integrated its Flying M-2000 Spectroscopic Ellipsometer into a mapping tool for thin-film uniformity measurements over the entire PV panel.  The high accuracy and wide spectral coverage of the M-2000 ensure that every layer in a thin film stack can be measured, while new automation has been designed to ensure fast, precise measurements over the entire panel.

Product Briefing Outline: Sensors Unlimited, part of Goodrich Corp., says that its high-resolution, shortwave infrared (SWIR) area and linescan cameras are being used to improve the manufacturing yield of photovoltaic cells. SWIR technology is well-suited to monitor the quality of solar thin films, concentrated PV, and crystalline cells, to maximize efficiency of the solar cell manufacturing process through final assembly of the completed modules.

Product Briefing Outline: Mitsubishi Plastics has launched the high gas barrier photovoltaic (PV) backsheet ‘Back-Barrier’ to the global market. The new backsheet material is Mitsubishi Plastics' latest development in high gas barrier films with the world’s highest level of water vapor barrier, according to the company and customer evaluation tests.

Product Briefing Outline:  International of North America, a subsidiary of Iwasaki Electric Co. Ltd., has announced the introduction of a new bench-top solar simulation system designed for educational and small laboratory applications. The spectral compliance of the continuous output solar lamps guarantees accurate and repeatable results. Eye Lighting NA Applied Optics Group is focused on Solar Simulation and climatic testing applications.