IPC Standards Development for Solar Industry

(IPC: Bannockburn, IL) -- Driven by its members’ needs, the IPC—Association Connecting Electronics Industries has announced that an IPC Solar Standards Committee has been formed and has begun work on standards for the poly-silicon photovoltaic (solar) industry, specifically the assembly of solar panels.

“IPC facilitated the birth of standards for both the printed circuit board and electronics assembly industries, so it’s only natural that IPC address the need for additional standards in the solar industry,” explains Jack Calderon, managing director, Lincoln International, and a member of IPC’s board of directors.

An organizational meeting was first held in May in Chicago. Subsequently, a standards committee was formed at a meeting on July 17 in San Jose, California. Committee members include representatives from Jabil, Flextronics International, Celestica, 3M Co., Bürkle North America Inc., Christopher Associates Inc., DEK, Indium Corp., EFD Inc., Vitronics Soltec, and Lincoln International.

At the July meeting, committee members identified seven areas of standardization that will be addressed by the committee and subcommittees:

• Acceptability guidelines for solar panel lamination
• Specification for materials used in tabbing and stringing
• Acceptability criteria for tabbing and stringing
• In-process test methods for solar panels
• Visual acceptance criteria for solar panels—final module assembly
• Guidelines for final test with an emphasis on flash test
• Design guidelines for tabbing and stringing

“It’s interesting how many of the solar assembly processes, from tabbing and stringing to lamination, have some commonality with the manufacture and assembly of PCBs,” says Thomas Cipielewski, clean technologies technical director for Jabil.

Cipielewski went on to explain that IPC’s current acceptability and performance standards, such as IPC-A-600—“Acceptability of Printed Boards,” IPC-A-610—“Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies,” and J-STD-001—“Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies,” are known and used by hundreds of thousands of technologists worldwide. “It’s exciting that we can develop much-needed standards for this segment of the solar industry,” he says.

“As solar energy manufacturing takes on a global scale, it is critical that comprehensive assembly standards, including DFM, process materials, workmanship, test, and inspection, are developed and adopted across the industry. IPC, with active support from its members, is well positioned for this,” explains Dongkai Shangguan, vice president of advanced technology for Flextronics.

The next meeting of the IPC Solar Standards Committee will be Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, in Anaheim, California. Companies wishing to participate in the committee are invited to contact Anthony Hilvers, IPC vice president of industry programs, at (847) 597-2837 or AnthonyHilvers@ipc.org.
 

About The Author

IPC

Since 1957, IPC—Association Connecting Electronics Industries has been guiding the electronic interconnection industry through its dramatic changes. A global trade association dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its more than 2,700 member companies, IPC represents all facets of the industry, including design, printed circuit board manufacturing and electronics assembly. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $1.7 trillion global electronics industry.

IPC maintains offices in Bannockburn, Illinois (headquarters); Taos, N.M.; Arlington, Virginia; Garden Grove, California.; Stockholm, Sweden; Moscow, Russia; and Shanghai and Shenzhen, China.