Temperature profiling

DATAPAQ, a Fluke company will present three new products for photovoltaic cell and module manufacturers at the 25th EU PVSEC in Valencia, Spain, 6th – 9th of September 2010. The new Datapaq products will also be displayed at Solarpeq/Glasstec exhibition in Düsseldorf, Germany, 28th of September – 1st of October 2010.

Datapaq designed the innovative SolarPaq systems to provide temperature-profiling solutions for the contact firing, anti-reflective coating and lamination processes. These operations are all key to the quality and performance of the photovoltaic cell and hence, module. The SolarPaq system travels through the furnace or thermal process, measuring a time temperature profile directly from the product.

The SolarPaq Anti-reflective Coating System provides temperature profiles from the solar cells as they pass through the silver nitride coating process. This is typically conducted using a plasma sputtering process and users can now for the first time monitor the cell temperature profile even with the plasma energized. This system has been designed so that it simply takes the place of one of the cells in the carrier, thus no modification is required to the expensive carrier.

Incorporating feedback from process engineers using this profiling system in contact firing furnaces, the SolarPaq Contact Firing Cell Clamp is paired with custom-designed thermocouple probes to ensure accurate and repeatable measurements—the foundation for any process optimization.

The SolarPaq Vacuum Lamination System is used to profile the final assembly stage of the solar modules. An all-new thermal barrier ensures that the data logger is protected from not only the heat of the lamination process, but also the external pressure that is applied. A unique external barrier frame eliminates the risk of any stress points being created on the vacuum membrane.

Routine temperature profiling gives you reliable data to optimize your process, prove process control and make corrections when required. By analyzing the profile you are able to verify products are of the highest quality, increase throughput, and solve production problems.