Camera system from VITRONIC provides retrofit solar cell colour classification

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VINSPEC solar VCOFLC1 camera system from VITRONIC enables exact and reliable front print and color inspection.

Problem

Tier one solar cell manufacturers require high quality solar cells. Sorting into different color classes is a key activity at Asian factories, therefore many Asian solar cell producers are looking at ways of retrofitting their existing production plants to enable this process.

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Solution

The new VINSPEC solar VCOFLC1 camera system combines front print and colour inspection, and performs exact and reliable quality inspection and cell classification. Claimed to be easy to operate and calibrate, VITRONIC provides a standard calibration tool to define the colour classes and borderlines. Even if several cell testers have to be operated and tool matching is required, the setup process needs to be done only once and the classification rules can be copied to all other testers.

Applications

The inspection system can be used for both mono and multicrystalline silicon cells. Its throughput achieves more than 2,400/h, and the sorting pureness is higher than 99.8%.

Platform

The sensor box consists of a color line scan camera with four 4,096 pixel lines, a white LED illumination module, a backlight and a computing subsystem. The software provides automated, fast tool calibration and tool matching, a graphical user interface comprising yield control tools for rapid intervention and process adjustments, statistics and visualisation of all quality-relevant features of current and recently tested cells.

Availability

April 2013 onwards.

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