- SPECIAL REPORTS Solar cells and panels require some unique and
highly technical manufacturing processes that have more in
common with making microchips than mechanical assemblies. And
yet, these engineering wonders also share an assembly process
with more pedestrian products, like air filters and oil pans.
That process is dispensing. Whether it’s needed for flux, solder
paste, dopant, adhesive, ink, potting compound or gasketing
material, dispensing technology plays a vital role in the
assembly of solar cells and panels. Dispensing equipment is
employed at virtually every step in the process, from the very
start, when wafers are sliced from a silicon ingot, to the very
end, when finished solar panels are assembled into frames. And
that’s just for crystalline and polycrystalline solar cells.
Dispensing technology plays a role in manufacturing amorphous or
thin-film solar cells, too. In addition, dispensing technology
is used to assemble a host of products related to solar power
generation, including batterie