Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC

Ut-battelle, Inc.

Przemyslaw Rupnowski

Bhushan L Sopori

Michael J Ulsh

Claus Daniel

Jianlin Li

David L Wood, Iii

Michael Mihaylov Penev

Guido Bender

Thermal methods and systems are described for the batch and/or continuous monitoring of films and/or membranes and/or electrodes produced in large-scale manufacturing lines. Some of the methods described include providing an energy input into a film, measuring a thermal response of the film, and correlating these to one or more physical properties and/or characteristics of the film.

Batch and continuous methods for evaluating the physical and thermal properties of films

An example system includes a material transport system configured to transport a substantially planar material through a monitoring zone, an illumination source configured to illuminate at least a portion of the material that is within the monitoring zone with light, and a sensor configured to obtain a plurality of consecutive datasets. Datasets indicate, for locations of the material and for a specific wavelength of light, a respective intensity of the light that is of the wavelength and that is received from the location. The system also includes a processing system configured to receive the dataset, determine, based on the dataset and for each of at least two locations in the plurality of locations, a respective value of a thickness of the material, and execute, based on the respective value of the thickness of the material for at least one of the at least two locations, an action.

Thickness mapping using multispectral imaging

A monitoring systemcomprising a material transport systemproviding for the transportation of a substantially planar materialthrough the monitoring zoneof the monitoring system. The systemalso includes a line camerapositioned to obtain multiple line images across a width of the materialas it is transported through the monitoring zone. The systemfurther includes an illumination sourceproviding for the illumination of the materialtransported through the monitoring zonesuch that light reflected in a direction normal to the substantially planar surface of the materialis detected by the line camera. A data processing systemis also provided in digital communication with the line camera. The data processing systemis configured to receive data output from the line cameraand further configured to calculate and provide substantially contemporaneous information relating to a quality parameter of the material. Also disclosed are methods of monitoring a quality parameter of a material.

On-line, continuous monitoring in solar cell and fuel cell manufacturing using spectral reflectance imaging

Wafer breakage is a serious problem in the photovoltaic industry because a large fraction of wafers (between 5 and 10%) break during solar cell/module fabrication. The major cause of this excessive wafer breakage is that these wafers have residual microcracks&#x2014;microcracks that were not completely etched. Additional propensity for breakage is caused by texture etching and incomplete edge grinding. To eliminate the cost of processing the wafers that break, it is best to remove them prior to cell fabrication. Some attempts have been made to develop optical techniques to detect microcracks. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to detect microcracks that are embedded within the roughness/texture of the wafers. Furthermore, even if such detection is successful, it is not straightforward to relate them to wafer breakage. We believe that the best way to isolate the wafers with fatal microcracks is to apply a stress to wafers&#x2014;a stress that mimics the highest stress during cell/module processing. If a wafer survives this stress, it has a high probability of surviving without breakage during cell/module fabrication. Based on this, we have developed a high throughput, noncontact method for applying a predetermined stress to a wafer. The wafers are carried on a belt through a chamber that illuminates the wafer with an intense light of a predetermined intensity distribution that can be varied by changing the power to the light source. As the wafers move under the light source, each wafer undergoes a dynamic temperature profile that produces a preset elastic stress. If this stress exceeds the wafer strength, the wafer will break. The broken wafers are separated early, eliminating cost of processing into cell/module. We will describe details of the system and show comparison of breakage statistics with the breakage on a production line.

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Golden, CO, United States of America

Przemyslaw Rupnowski