A Data-Driven Machine Vision Framework for Quality Management in Photovoltaic Module Manufacturing

As renewable energy production grows, the photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing process has received worldwide attention. In 2019, the total sales of PV modules were 1.7 billion U.S. dollars, and 78.7% of PV modules were made in South Korea. However, Korean manufacturers are facing high production...

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Main Authors: In-Bae Lee, Youngjin Kim, Sojung Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Machines
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1702/13/4/285
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author In-Bae Lee
Youngjin Kim
Sojung Kim
author_facet In-Bae Lee
Youngjin Kim
Sojung Kim
author_sort In-Bae Lee
collection DOAJ
description As renewable energy production grows, the photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing process has received worldwide attention. In 2019, the total sales of PV modules were 1.7 billion U.S. dollars, and 78.7% of PV modules were made in South Korea. However, Korean manufacturers are facing high production costs due to high domestic labor costs and long-distance raw material procurement, making it difficult to produce price-competitive PV modules. In this situation, the best alternative for Korean manufacturers to gain a competitive edge is to produce high-quality PV modules. To this end, this study is going to propose a novel data-driven machine vision framework for the quality management of a PV manufacturing process consisting of seven stages, including tabbing, auto bussing, electro luminescence (EL), laminating, fame station, frame, and junction box. Particularly, the framework uses machine vision to analyze image data collected from an actual PV module manufacturing facility in South Korea. Autonomous decision-making algorithms are devised to recognize incorrect patterns of PV modules in terms of product quality. This experiment shows that the proposed framework enables the detection of PV module defects in electroluminescence (EL) and tabbing operations with a fault detection accuracy of over 95%. Therefore, the proposed framework enables a reduction in the number of defects, and this helps to improve quality loss during the PV module manufacturing process.
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spelling doaj-art-ed219aeff4e9480e9cccb91ec0d8877a2025-08-20T02:18:09ZengMDPI AGMachines2075-17022025-03-0113428510.3390/machines13040285A Data-Driven Machine Vision Framework for Quality Management in Photovoltaic Module ManufacturingIn-Bae Lee0Youngjin Kim1Sojung Kim2Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Dongguk University-Seoul, Seoul 04620, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Dongguk University-Seoul, Seoul 04620, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Dongguk University-Seoul, Seoul 04620, Republic of KoreaAs renewable energy production grows, the photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing process has received worldwide attention. In 2019, the total sales of PV modules were 1.7 billion U.S. dollars, and 78.7% of PV modules were made in South Korea. However, Korean manufacturers are facing high production costs due to high domestic labor costs and long-distance raw material procurement, making it difficult to produce price-competitive PV modules. In this situation, the best alternative for Korean manufacturers to gain a competitive edge is to produce high-quality PV modules. To this end, this study is going to propose a novel data-driven machine vision framework for the quality management of a PV manufacturing process consisting of seven stages, including tabbing, auto bussing, electro luminescence (EL), laminating, fame station, frame, and junction box. Particularly, the framework uses machine vision to analyze image data collected from an actual PV module manufacturing facility in South Korea. Autonomous decision-making algorithms are devised to recognize incorrect patterns of PV modules in terms of product quality. This experiment shows that the proposed framework enables the detection of PV module defects in electroluminescence (EL) and tabbing operations with a fault detection accuracy of over 95%. Therefore, the proposed framework enables a reduction in the number of defects, and this helps to improve quality loss during the PV module manufacturing process.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1702/13/4/285renewable energymachine visionartificial intelligencephotovoltaic module
spellingShingle In-Bae Lee
Youngjin Kim
Sojung Kim
A Data-Driven Machine Vision Framework for Quality Management in Photovoltaic Module Manufacturing
Machines
renewable energy
machine vision
artificial intelligence
photovoltaic module
title A Data-Driven Machine Vision Framework for Quality Management in Photovoltaic Module Manufacturing
title_full A Data-Driven Machine Vision Framework for Quality Management in Photovoltaic Module Manufacturing
title_fullStr A Data-Driven Machine Vision Framework for Quality Management in Photovoltaic Module Manufacturing
title_full_unstemmed A Data-Driven Machine Vision Framework for Quality Management in Photovoltaic Module Manufacturing
title_short A Data-Driven Machine Vision Framework for Quality Management in Photovoltaic Module Manufacturing
title_sort data driven machine vision framework for quality management in photovoltaic module manufacturing
topic renewable energy
machine vision
artificial intelligence
photovoltaic module
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1702/13/4/285
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