Spire Corp., a global solar company providing turnkey solar factories and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) modules and cells worldwide, has received a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a microcrack detection technique for silicon solar cells and wafers.
This automated diagnostic system will enable solar cell and module manufacturers to significantly reduce the cost and improve the reliability of their PV modules, the company says.
Both mono- and multi-crystalline solar cells and wafers occasionally contain microcracks that are difficult or impossible to detect by visual inspection. These cracks can propagate during module assembly or after installation, resulting in cell breakage and module power loss. Spire will investigate a microcrack detection technique that can be used as an in-process diagnostic method for identifying defective crystalline silicon wafers or solar cells in a production line.
Source: Spire Corp.
