Glass Inspection

Solar panel producers add tremendous value to glass, and glass is one of the largest cost elements in panel production; therefore it is imperative that incoming glass be free of all glass defects, as well as edge and corner damage. 

Glass defects from the float process (bubbles, seeds, stones and more), can cause broken scribes by interfering with the laser scribing operations.  In addition, glass defects, from subsequent cutting and handling, will impact the panel integrity (cracks, clamshells, and broken corners to name a few).

Edge defects can also be inherited from the cutting, breaking and seaming processes.  Corner damage can allow moisture invasion of the module and subsequent performance degradation, delamination, and warranty claims.

NxtGen™ systems employ proprietary optics and powerful processing to detect, classify, and provide a reject panel signal for customer-defined conditions.  Broken scribes caused by glass defects will be eliminated and the lifetime of the panel in the field can be assured.

NxtGen™ optics and special algorithms find subtle changes in edge and corner quality.  The Edge/Corner module is integrated with the defect detection system to provide unified reporting and alarming.  Sheet reject algorithms enable digital outputs which can be interfaced with reject gates and robots.

Unique NxtGen™ Features and Benefits:

• Proprietary optics for detection and classification of glass defects.
• Eliminate broken scribes.
• Increase field life.
• On-line, real-time 100% inspection at full production speed.
• Operator friendly Windows® user interface.
• Defect trending.
• AI/Self-Learning: NxtGen™ Intelligent Classification Engine (NICE).
• Communication links and digital outputs (Panel Reject).
• Panel and Roll Recall.