Design of a Pneumatic Robotic Arm for Solar Cell Tester System by Using PLC Controller

Abstract

Solar cell testers sort photovoltaic cells according to their electrical performance, tested under simulated sunlight. A variety of testers exist, but they all face a common challenge of handling cells that are very small and thin, which makes it difficult to transport the cells from the conveyer to the storage box. This paper presents a new design for a handling robot with vacuum end-effectors, which uses a PLC controller to govern the movement of the cells and the testing process. The design applies to solar cell testers for monocrystalline, polycrystalline, cadmium telluride (CdTe), and copper indium diselenide (CIS) cells. Each cell is tested for efficiency and categorized accordingly into four groups (A to D). A Virtual Reality (VR) model was built to simulate the system, keeping in mind real world constraints. Two photoelectric sensors were used to make detections for both the testing process and the robot movement. The PLC controller guides the trajectory of the robot according to the results of the efficiency testing. It was seen that the system worked very well, with the testing process and the robot movement interacting smoothly. The robot trajectory was seen to be highly accurate, and the pick and place operations were done with great precision.