Project 026 – Realising a concept
Creation of an assembly machine for prototype solar panels
A research institute for renewable energies wanted to built a lot of their new prototype metallisation-wrap-through (MWT) solar panels.
Doing the assembly by hand was really not preferred because that would take too long and it would affect the consistency and quality between the different prototypes. A constant assembly quality was needed for proper comparison of panels made with different materials.
Also, in these prototype solar panels there were more than a thousand connections of electrically conductive adhesive. A machine was needed to build such a solar panel quickly enough. Otherwise the adhesive would set or it would degrade due to evaporation of volatile components or due to pickup of moisture from the air.
I designed this computer controlled machine and wrote the software to assemble these prototypes. I guided the production of the machine and its parts. I also partly build the machine. The machine could be used to align the backsheet foil, calculate and correct for any foil stretch, cut encapsulant layers, dispense conductive adhesives and pick-an-place the solar cells. This machine could produce one solar panel per day.
This job was really multidisciplinary. I did the project coordination, mechanics, electronics, software, sourcing of parts, installation, assembly and more. Great!
Now the institute could easily built their prototypes. The new solar panels were now ready just in time before an important solar energy conference. The researchers could now show this new solar panel type to the world and they had great succes.
For more information please see also Project 024 and Project 025.
Currently, these MWT-type solar panels are in full production around the world. A few links: