EoW January 2012

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EuroWire – January 2012 36
Plasmait GmbH is an Austrian supplier of
plasma based heat and surface treatment
machines. The management, under the
leadership of Primoz Eiselt, have had
a green vision from well before they
formed Plasmait: Primoz and Peter Ziger,
Plasmait’s technical director, started their
plasma annealing project at the Technical
University in Graz as part of a dissertation
in the 90s.
Plasmait was founded in 2003 and today
there are over 60 plasma treatment
lines installed worldwide, each of them
making their contribution for cleaner
environment. Plasmait machines have
either replaced dirty chemical processes
or are saving energy through best energy
efficiency in class; in many cases both.
Plasma cleaning is a dry surface treatment
that can be used as an alternative to
many chemical and environment-
compromising surface treatments such as
acid or alkaline cleaning and deoxidation
or fluxing that is used in soldering
processes. Plasmait’s solutions are suitable
for use in a wide range of industries from
solar photovoltaics, aerospace, welding,
precision electronics, to medical and steel
descaling.
Perhaps the greenest of Plasmait solutions
is the PlasmaPREPLATE tinning line, used
for production of PV ribbon – a tinned
copper ribbon used in virtually every solar
panel in the world. Solar ribbon, also
called PV ribbon, is soldered directly to a
solar cell to conduct electricity generated
in the solar cell. PV ribbon is tinned copper
ribbon between 1 and 6mm wide, and
from 0.08 to 0.5mm thick, with a 10-30
micron thick tin coat.
PV ribbon is required to retain a high
degree of conductivity throughout the
lifetime of a solar panel – typically 20-25
years. Its solder contact with the cell must
withstand outdoor weather conditions
that mean constant fluctuation of
temperature and humidity. PV ribbon
therefore commonly requires a high
degree of softness with YS (Rp0.2% <
60MPa and elongation > 25%). Good
solder coating is necessary to ensure
long-term corrosion protection and
durable solder joint. PV ribbon also
requires camber less than 0.3% and low
dimensional tolerances. The quality of
wire handling equipment is therefore
essential.
The PlasmaPREPLATE process has become
a popular choice for companies in the
PV ribbon industry in Europe, America
and Asia. The process has been rapidly
adopted by the PV ribbon industry
since its introduction in 2007. Its main
advantage is in the quality of the finished
product. The process allows production
of a ribbon with a high degree of softness
and tin coat quality with low tolerances.
This is only possible with a process that
is fully computer controlled and assisted
with multiple quality control features.
The PlasmaPREPLATE line runs at up to
five times the speed of conventional lines
whilst performing annealing and cleaning
inline with tinning in a single run. Such a
high output line requires less manpower
to operate than a conventional tinning
line. The process performs hot dip tinning
without flux and acid re-cleaning, and
also uses less energy and space.
Plasmait GmbH – Austria
Fax: +43 3182 52 4754
Email :
Website:
Plasmait UK
Fax: +44 161 3740 597
Email :
Website:
Plasma PREPLATE
for PV ribbon
▲ ▲ A spool of PV ribbon on
Plasmait take-up
s
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