Product Briefing Outline: Critical Manufacturing’s cmNAVIGO 2.0 Solar Edition allows photovoltaic manufacturers to combine a highly flexible and pre-customized rich set of manufacturing execution and analytical solutions with tightly integrated quality tools. The MES software is designed to have a unique modeling versatility, enabling it to respond to the most demanding and complex scenarios in manufacturing plants.
In contrast to the cloud of uncertainty prevailing over much of the thin-film equipment supply chain today, recent quarterly results within the c-Si segment from the likes of Centrotherm, Roth and Rau, Manz Automation, Applied Materials, and Amtech suggest sunny times lie ahead for these leading c-Si tool suppliers.
Product Briefing Outline: Somont has made further improvements to its CERTUS stringing system, which is designed for production capacities from 50 – 100MW per year. The CERTUS features a modular concept to match the desired capacity requirements. CERTUS integrates all elements needed at the front-end of the module production line with new, state-of-the art technology for the stringer, in-line string testing, matrix lay-up, interconnection, matrix testing and lay-up on the glass plate.
Product Briefing Outline: Converteam has introduced the ProSolar outdoor inverter. ProSolar inverters are available for a power range from 500 kW to several megawatts. ProSolar central inverters are optimised for the use in MW photovoltaic parks. The number of PV strings in the system varies according to the individual requirements.
Product Briefing Outline: Tyco Electronics now offers a new way for locating junction boxes on a PV panel. Compared to the commonly used centralized junction boxes in the PV industry, the new two-rail decentralized junction box requires 50% less jumper cable to connect to the next solar panel, as the junction boxes are located in the corner of the panels.
Product Briefing Outline: Coveme has developed a high performance PET backsheet, ‘dyMat PYE 3000,’ which is claims is able to resist over 3000h of DHT (Damp Heat Test), offering the best performance currently available on the market. The dyMat PYE range of Coveme laminates protects photovoltaic cells from humidity, atmospheric agents and chemical attacks, guaranteeing total insulation at high voltages.
Product Briefing Outline: Indium Corporation has introduced a newly designed tabbing and bus ribbon kit range. The kits, which contain common sized tabbing and bus ribbon and fluxes, are available in three versions, including one with a uniquely designed Pb-free, bismuth-containing, low-temperature coating. Tabbing ribbon kits come with everything required to evaluate how Indium Corporation materials will work with solar cells and assembly processes.
The post-mortem has already begun on the news that Applied Materials would stop selling its turnkey ‘SunFab’ thin-film manufacturing lines to new customers and retrench to service and support existing customers in the short-term, while reducing but not eliminating R&D on a-Si process technology.Apart form Greentech Media’s ‘I told you so' article, the best post-mortem analysis so far comes from Ed Korczynski, a well-known semiconductor technology journalist with credentials that include MIT, emiconductor equipment suppliers and a stint working for none other than Applied Materials.
Product Briefing Outline: The InnoLas Impala series of large scale laser processing systems provides multiple laser beams technique and parallel processing heads for increased throughput. Innovative handling concepts minimize defects and contamination. The IMPALA laser systems are designed for all high-accuracy processes (P1 through P3) of thin film processing. InnoLas Systems can ensure optimal transition to industrial production conditions.
