Manufacturing News

Dye Solar Cells on-the-move with motion control technology

DYESOL is a world leader in the development of Dye Solar Cell (DSC) technology which produces elec tricity in a process that utilises the principles of nanotechnology and photosynthesis. The primary advantage of DSC technology over silicon-based cells is that DSC is particularly efficient in real-life conditions such as low or dappled light, and uses low- cost, sustainable materials together with low-cost, low-ener gy manufacturing techniques.

Today, the Dyesol group con centrates its efforts on the indus trialisation and commercialisa tion of DSC technology through out the world, assisting solar cell manufacturers to develop their own products, improve cell per formance and develop low-cost mass production systems.

“There are a number of processes in the production of a DSC cell, and it is in one of these processes that Baldor motion control technology has proven so beneficial”, said Anthony Oh, Senior Design Engineer at Dyesol’s headquarters in Queanbeyan NSW.

“We have used Baldor equip ment in previous designs and have found it to be very success ful, and from our point of view Baldor offers us a good develop ment platform, a neat package with proven compatibility between components and robust design.”

The DSC cells are manufac tured by preparing glass outer skins with a printed circuit on one side, followed by a layer of porous titanium dioxide and application of the dye to the entire surface. The Dyesol Dye Profiling Machine equipped with Baldor motion control systems is used to accurately remove sec tions of the applied medium from the glass panel. This results in multiple individual cells on the glass panel, joined by the printed circuit. The cell is com pleted by vacuum backfilling with the electrolyte (iodide) and finally sealing with thermo- plastic, resulting in a DSC solar cell capable of producing an electrical current.

“Our latest dye profiling machine incorporates a Baldor NextMove e100 multi-axis con troller along with Baldor HMI touch-screen control panel, oper ational software developed by Dyesol based on the inbuilt Baldor Mint software, 2 x 3 amp Baldor MicroFlex servo drives and 2 Baldor BSM brushless servo motors”, said Oh.

“The NextMove e100 is very powerful and capable of control ling up to 16 interpolated axes, yet is still cost effective for our 2 axis application. We also like the MicroFlex e100 ethernet-based servo drives because now we can connect all of the limit and home position switches back to the MicroFlex servo drives. This sig nificantly reduces the amount and complexity of wiring and connections around the machine and leaves the I/O capabilities of the NextMove controller free for additional machine functions.

“We have included limit switches on our Y-axis, and two optical sensors on the X-axis for positioning.”

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