A team at the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg (HI ERN), an institute of the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZ Jülich) in Germany, has developed a portable, miniaturized spectroscopy solution to analyze polymer components of solar panels, backsheets and encapsulants, in the field.
The team built the solution, which it calls PV-Scanner, for rapid non-destructive backsheet and encapsulant polymer analysis on-site, rather than in a lab. It saw the need for a portable tool to analyze PV panel polymer components because even amongst modules of the same type or the same nominal specification, there can be variations, as a result of manufacturing changes or supply chain differences, for example.
Such variations can have an impact on PV module performance, durability, and the long-term behavior of modules and even strings, according to Oleksandr Mashkov, FZ Jülich researcher.
“Traditionally, analyzing backsheets and encapsulants involves destructive sampling: modules are cut open, and samples are sent to the lab for characterization using techniques like Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) or Raman spectroscopy,” Mashkov told pv magazine. “While field-based FTIR exists, it’s generally limited to surface analysis and cannot probe the full laminate structure.”
The PV-Scanner, currently in prototype form, is a handheld device with a near-infrared absorption spectroscopy (NIRA) sensor sourced from Germany-based Spectral Engines, a member of Nynomic Group. The hardware is integrated with machine learning models developed within HI ERN that reportedly support reliable classification of backsheets and encapsulant materials without the need to ship components to a lab for analysis.
The team aims to complete product development by the end of 2025 and to distribute it with LayTec, a sister company of Spectral Engines also based in Germany, and via Anymo, a soon-to-be-formed spinoff company. Tools and services based on prototypes are available upon request for use in pilot projects.
One of the group’s early papers laying the foundation for the subsequent work, “Nondestructive characterization of polymeric components of silicon solar modules by near-infrared absorption spectroscopy (NIRA),” was published in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells.
Besides solar panel field diagnostics, other applications include material verification, research, and supporting sorting during the recycling of end-of-life panels.
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This looks to be an useful instrument would like to buy one once available