Spire ships 100th SLP solar simulator

BEDFORD, USA: Spire Corp., a global solar company providing turnkey manufacturing lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) modules and solar systems, has shipped its 100th Spi-Sun Simulator™ 4600 SLP to Saflex Solar Encapsulants (Saflex), a unit of Solutia Inc., located in Springfield, MA.

The Spi-Sun Simulator PV module testing systems, which have received a “Beyond AAA Classification,” feature light sources that closely match the solar spectrum while avoiding the excessive solar cell heating caused by continuous sources. The Spi-Sun Simulator SLP is uniquely designed to create a very stable uniform single long-pulse (SLP) of light during which the entire I-V measurement is performed. Manufacturers of both crystalline silicon and thin film modules use the simulator.

“Although we have been manufacturing solar simulators for many years, the SLP Series is new to the market,” said Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire.

“We just introduced it in the first quarter of 2008, so I am happy the 100th simulator is already being shipped. It is also pleasing that it is now being used by many UL and CE module qualification laboratories throughout the world. Saflex is developing critical material for PV module encapsulation, so they need to have a state-of-the-art tool for their material evaluations.”

“Saflex recently added a PV research center to help foster innovation of solar encapsulants,” comments Francois Koran, Saflex Photovoltaic Development Manager. “Sourcing state-of-the-art equipment, like the Spire Spi-Sun Simulator, is critical to develop break-through product and process solutions.”