Enhancing the quality control of solar panels with a phase camera

Wooptix’s advanced camera ensures that both manufacturers and consumers enjoy peak performance

 

Spain is making a new bet for solar panels. Companies and individuals interested in installing them will be able to apply for subsidies from their autonomous communities to reduce their price, but that’s not all. The government has allocated 250 million euros from the Next Generation EU funds to boost innovative photovoltaic projects in Spain, with the goal of increasing renewable power capacity and storage.

Solar panels are coming stronger than ever, and bring many benefits for companies. The most remarkable ones are those in the fiscal section, with bonuses of up to 50% in several taxes, and up to 95% for the Tax on Constructions, Installations and Works. However, there are many other advantages that no entity should disregard.

 

Solar panels bring bonuses of up to

50% in several taxes

 

Thanks to these devices, entities can save between 40% and 60% on their electricity consumption. This means that they can pay off the installation costs in between 7 and 10 years, out of a total of 25 years of useful life, and gain a minimum of 15 years of savings. In addition, they have a low maintenance cost, and the company using them will not only reduce its carbon footprint, but also improve its reputation in a time when the public is ever more aware of the impact the various industries have on the environment.

Of course, solar panels are complex devices, with semiconductors as that indispensable heart, and batteries, inverters, circuits and more as the muscles and skeleton that enable them to transform sunlight into electricity. Both in their manufacture and in their daily use, imperceptible, but important, defects can appear and put at risk their performance and reduce their useful life. As an answer to this problem, Wooptix has developed the SEBI RT1000, a compact phase camera capable of detecting these same defects down to a few micrometers in real-time.

 

SEBI RT1000 detects the defects that put the

performance of the solar panels at risk

 

But what makes the RT1000 the right tool for the job? Thanks to combining an electrically tunable lens (ETL) with the company’s proprietary imaging technique, Wavefront Phase Imaging, the camera can obtain data from two out-of-focus images in symmetrical planes, before and after the focal point. The device detects with precision where light concentrates in both images and compares them to measure the slope and correct it to its ideal position. The result is a high-resolution observation of minuscule details in real-time, with a dynamic range of micrometers.

The combination of the ETL and the technique allows for a simple design that discards any component that isn’t the lenses or the detector. Because of it, it retains its ease of use while managing to collect both components of light with all of the detector’s resolution: the intensity and the phase.

For manufacturers, our camera is designed to help them in the quality control of each of the cells that make up the panels down to the smallest details. In addition, Wooptix specializes in the quality control of semiconductors, and they are the object of great attention in every technology it develops. Since they’re exposed to the sun all day long, solar panels are subjected to conditions that can damage their efficiency and even their components, especially in installations with dozens, or even hundreds, of panels. Faced with these challenges, the materials that compose them must be able to withstand the heat and dirt, while capturing as much energy as possible in the process.

However, these technical challenges can appear not only on the parts of the panel that receive light, but also on those that distribute and alter the current. Inverters transform the direct current that the cells capture into alternating current that moves through our infrastructure and feeds the devices we use. We also have the batteries, which store photovoltaic energy so that we can make use of it when there’s no light to reach the panels. Any failure in these components affects the entire solar system and its performance, risking the customer’s outrage.

For companies that benefit from the many advantages of solar panels, the SEBI RT1000 ensures a quick and in-depth inspection of their condition during maintenance work. Thanks to it, each cell’s lifetime is maximized while greatly reducing the time required. No matter how small the defect is or where it’s located, the camera detects it and ensures a real-time display for the professionals in charge.

Regardless of whether you are a manufacturer or a company that profits from them, SEBI RT1000 is the ideal partner for your solar panels. Wooptix is fully committed to the implementation of renewable energies and the ecological transition to combat climate change. All our products are designed to ensure the energy efficiency of the processes in which they are used, reducing the environmental footprint of their users.

Daniel Cuartero

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