公开(公告)号：US20190249923A1

公开(公告)日：2019-08-15

申请号：US16274997

申请日：2019-02-13

Applicant: Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Inventor： Daniel M. Ruf ,  Erik R. Anderson ,  Roy Kearns Ball

IPC: F27D19/00 ,  H01L31/18 ,  H02S50/10

CPC classification number: F27D19/00 ,  F27D2019/0034 ,  F27D2019/0056 ,  F27D2019/0059 ,  H01L31/18 ,  H02S50/10

Abstract: Methods and apparatus to provide closed loop control in a solar cell production system are disclosed. An example solar cell production system includes: a firing furnace comprising a plurality of zones and a belt configured to transport photovoltaic cells through a sequence of the plurality of zones, the zones comprising firing elements configured to fire a metallization layer of photovoltaic cells by heating ambient air in the zones to respective temperatures; a cooling chamber configured to cool the photovoltaic cells; a photovoltaic cell tester configured to measure a property of the photovoltaic cells after cooling of the photovoltaic cells in the cooling chamber; and control circuitry configured to control firing elements based on the property of the photovoltaic cells measured by the photovoltaic cell tester.