By ramping up production capacity while driving down unit cost through new mass-production technologies and strategies, solar power is poised to reach a much wider market

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KUKA Systems’ goal is to pioneer automated manufacturing solutions, including robotized cells and integrated production lines that can be adapted to any type of solar cell technology, so that a labour-intensive industry with niche appeal can take a much larger place in the broader electricity marketplace.

Solar power (photovoltaics/PV) is about to fulfil its promise as the most viable commercial energy source. As capture efficiency improves and installation costs decline, every house, office and institution worldwide will have the opportunity to be energy self-sufficient with a much faster payback on investment than the industry has been able to offer to date. Germany has the world’s largest and fastest growing PV market, gaining a further 1.5 GW of PV capacity in 2007. Now, German-based international supplier KUKA S-Tec, a business unit of KUKA Systems GmbH,

plans to become a key enabler in driving the proliferation of solar power.

Until now, the industry’s biggest hurdle to reaching mass-market status has been the high cost per KW/h of electricity compared to other sources of energy, whether for a utility-scale project or residentially installed panels. Payback on invested capital can take decades, even with government subsidies and incentives. This is poised to change for a combination of reasons. Predominantly, PV technologies are becoming more efficient. The current polysilicon shortage is expected to ease, and new ultra-thin cells use less polysilicon. Additionally, there is enormous potential to scale up production and drive down costs by automating PV manufacturing, an area where KUKA Systems plans to become a world leader, leveraging the in-house automation products and systems that the KUKA Group, which includes KUKA Robotics, has developed for industries such as automotive manufacturing and suppliers.

Marketplace will determine winners

Another sign of the viable nature of solar power is that not one PV technology dominates the marketplace. New and improved versions are also in the pipeline. Markets, not government regulators or large utilities, will determine winners and losers. A PV manufacturer with a proprietary product need not develop proprietary manufacturing technology to mass-produce it or understand how to optimise production. That’s KUKA’s job. They can buy state-of-the-art equipment, customised solutions, even contracts for turnkey manufacturing facilities and have access to the greatest efficiency and productivity. KUKA can even take over the management of a plant. KUKA’s solutions are modular and scalable to support expansion, so a small PV manufacturer can grow into a larger one with incremental investments.

Solar plants grow in size

In 2007, the output of a typical solar manufacturing plant was about 100-150 MW per year, and that was a major leap forward from 12-20 MW previously. Investments of €300m and more are becoming the norm, and KUKA is considering participating in the construction of mega-plants with output of 1.2 GW per year. Scaling up and automating production is expected to help slash the cost per W from €1.40+ today to an industry target of €0.70 by 2010. This will have far-reaching ramifications for the environment, energy security and even, paradoxically, employment. Automating solar manufacturing greatly diminishes the labour component of PV unit costs. Solar manufacturers won’t have to base themselves in low-wage countries to be competitive and will instead be able to locate manufacturing facilities in key target

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By ramping up production capacity while driving down unit cost through new mass-production technologies and strategies solar power is poised to reach a

Automated manufacturingset to slash solar costs

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markets to reduce shipping costs and turnaround times.

Robots can boost productivity

Robotics and automation have realised perhaps 30-35% of their potential in the sector, mainly in handling and logistics functions. As larger manufacturing facilities are built, there are many situations where robots of all sizes can replace workers and do their work far more efficiently. KUKA Systems has unrivalled experience in developing innovative robotic and handling solutions for all kinds of manufacturing situations that can be adapted to PV manufacturing, including materials positioning, framing, any type of welding, soldering, cutting, bonding, sealing and handling. These functions can be performed in linear fashion or grouped together in automated work groups, or so-called “robot gardens”, to perform a series of sequential tasks. Robot gardens, a concept developed by KUKA (and successfully introduced to automotive manufacturing), is ideal for producing sub-assemblies. The robots in this work group can be equipped with multiple tools/ tool-change systems in order to multi-task. Alternatively, a robot can act like a central co-ordinator, loading and unloading parts and products at surrounding workstations.

KUKA is realising integrated manufacturing lines that assemble large-scale solar modules every 10 seconds with great precision. When the system operates at full speed, it can handle more than 10 tonnes of glass per hour. In one robot garden, nearly finished units are fitted with electrical connector boxes, each with a cable assembly attached. The boxes have to be positioned and glued with the cable straightened, and all these functions are performed by two lightweight robots originally developed for the aerospace sector. The lightweight robots serve as end effectors. The work group takes the connector boxes, positions and affixes them, solders all connections and straightens the cable. The robots are equipped with smart sensors that enable them to distinguish different lengths of cable so they don’t damage them by pulling too hard on the cable.

Any function can be automated

2007 marked KUKA’s first venture into the solar industry, a highly successful enterprise which culminated in an order backlog to build systems capable of

manufacturing 450 MW per annum. Our mission is to automate every stage of production from the processing of silicon, the stamping of PV wafers into ultra-fine layers, and producing PV cells and complete modules. KUKA solutions can be developed for any type of solar capture technology – from PV to solar thermal power.

Many possible productivity gains

KUKA Systems can draw on the products and capabilities of its parent company’s different divisions, with decades of experience in automating different aspects of production for various industries. For example, when it comes to solutions for cutting PV wafers, KUKA Systems can turn to the KUKA subsidiary that specialises in building automobile power-train production lines. This subsidiary has a huge repository of expertise in cutting, drilling and polishing applications. KUKA Systems is also forming external partnerships. One such arrangement, with US-based Spire Corporation, draws on the latter’s expertise in module manufacturing equipment such as stringers or laminators to offer complete turnkey solutions like fully-automated, high-throughput PV production lines.

With this combination of new solar technologies and automated manufacturing, the solar age has truly arrived. After a number of starts and stops, solar energy is on the verge of realising its full potential. ■

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Albert Vontz, Product Group Manager for Solar Technology at KUKA Systems GmbH, discusses the company’s philosophy in developing solar manufacturing solutions.

“Our idea is not to adapt manufacturing processes with high labour/manufacturing content into the automated world – but to come up with new, innovative approaches to doing the work more effectively.

“Only KUKA’s precision automation can meet the high standards demanded by the solar industry and guarantee more than 20 years of efficient power generation capability.

“Solar manufacturing is at the point where the automotive industry was 20-30 years ago in terms of productivity. The application of new technological solutions will achieve a great leap forward.”

A brief profile of KUKA Systems

KUKA Systems Group and KUKA Robotic Group are the operating arms of KUKA AG, a world leader in industrial automation, with headquarters in Augsburg, Germany. KUKA Systems, with 3,600 employees worldwide and an annual turnover of €900m, develops and implements production system design solutions incorporating the company’s demonstrated leadership in industrial automation and robotics.

KUKA Systems’ long history of commitment to the automotive industry has resulted in a unique array of products and services, ranging from body production to assembly and component development to pay-on-production factory operations. KUKA Systems’ competence is increasingly utilised in other sectors such as metalworking, aerospace and solar manufacturing.

For more information on KUKA solar technology, visit www.kuka-systems.com

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