Denmark-based Grafisk Maskinfabrik (GM) is now selling roll-to-roll turnkey pilot production lines with slot-die coating, available through the GM Functionals unit.
The functional film unit of Danish production equipment manufacturer Grafisk Maskinfabrik (GM) currently offers turnkey roll-to-roll pilot production lines for the production of organic solar photovoltaics (OPV) and perovskite solar cells with a slot-die coating.
The tools emerged from a long-term collaboration with Sciprios, a spin-off of a German university specialized in laboratory automation and measuring equipment.
Demand for thin-film roll-to-roll production equipment is growing because it can be used by developers of solar energy, fuel cells, batteries and printed electronics.
“Currently the market is very excited about the recent major advances in both OPV and perovskite technology. Many startups, as well as established silicon solar companies, are joining the race to bring the technology to market,” says Tobias Stubhahn, founder of Sciprios and technical sales manager at GM Functionals. pv magazine. “A large number of our customers are involved in research into solar energy, but also into batteries. Hydrogen technology and printed electronics are important markets for us.”
GM Functionals’ OPV and perovskite pilot production equipment includes slot-die coating, printing, texturing, backend and module processing. The equipment capacity ranges from 100 kW to 5 MW of PV products.
There are three models in the current range. The flagship, Flexicoat, the compact Testcoat and Pilotcoat. They support a range of web widths, speeds and curing options. The Testcoat model is a slot-mold coater and curing tool with a web width of 15 cm. With a cabinet surface of 60 cm x 60 cm, it is suitable for placement on a table top and integration in the glove compartment.
The FlexiCoat has a web width of 33 cm and a coating width of 30 cm with a processing speed of up to 30 m/min. The PilotCoat system is available in a variety of sizes to support roll-to-roll web widths from 25cm to 35cm, it supports two curing methods, has a processing speed of 40m/min and also supports a range of deposition materials from conductive inks to adhesives, according to the manufacturer.
Equipment with larger capacities can be ordered, as well as integrations with tools from third party manufacturers. “We are an integrator for many third-party components and tools in our lines. You name it, we can integrate it,” says Stubhahn.
A recent integration example is a snowblast cleaning tool developed by Acp Systems, which was validated as an effective tool for deburring OPV and perovskite electrodes in a recent project collaboration between Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Acp Systems and Sciprios.
Sciprios was founded in 2018 as a spin-off of the Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research and the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nuremberg for Renewable Energy. It produces laboratory automation equipment such as automated spin coating and squeegee tools for solution-based thin film manufacturing, ink processing instruments, as well as substrate annealing robots, material acceleration platforms and integrated optoelectric measuring instruments.
GM Functionals supplies equipment for spray coating, inkjet printing, knife coating, squeegee coating tools, as well as laser processing equipment, die-cutting machines and laminating machines for functional materials.
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