In the photovoltaic industry chain, silicon wafers are considered to be the core part. With the rapid development of the entire photovoltaic industry, the demand for silicon wafer process and testing equipment is also increasing continuously. As a segment of the PV industry chain, PV wafer inspection and sorting equipment can realize multi-directional inspection of PV wafer quality. In this regard, Apache provides a total solution based on machine vision for online detection of wafer defects for this industry. With the edge computing controller as the core unit, it brings higher accuracy, better stability, and improves the automated inspection level of multi-functional wafer sorting machine.

Project Description

  Photovoltaic wafer inspection and sorting equipment, is the use of machine vision, through deep learning AI algorithms, to achieve single crystal, polycrystalline, black silicon and other processes of silicon wafers size, line marks, warping, chipping, surface defects, hidden cracks, electrical properties and other characteristics of one-stop high-speed full inspection. Highly efficient and highly recognizable extraction of defective features in silicon wafers. After professional image analysis, the images with clear features are transmitted to the edge computing control system at high speed, and then the execution is controlled according to the calculation results for classification, elimination, alarm and other actions.

  Due to the high timely performance requirements of the silicon wafer sorting and testing equipment, the selection of the industrial control machine is the key, not only requires a fast response, but also has to be stable, safe, anti-interference and other characteristics. The main requirements are as follows:

  l High performance, industrial grade compact design.

  l Resistant to high and low temperatures, in order to normalize production in harsh operating environments.

  l Anti-vibration, anti-electromagnetic interference ability.

  High compatibility of software and system.

  l Ensure long-term stable work, long service life, can work continuously for 7X24 hours.

  Application Cases

  1、ABOX700+Display

ABOX-700 is a high-performance embedded industrial mainframe, which subverts the traditional performance and power consumption matching mode, directly using Intel 3rd i3/5/7 desktop-class processors, through a large area of heat dissipation surrounded by aluminum fins, combined with heat pipes and PWM active mute fan, **** to solve the stable operation of 95W CPU. The whole machine is designed using the modularization concept with 2+4 Intel Gigabit LAN, 6+4 serial ports and miniPCIE/PCI/PCIE flexible expansion capability, which is in line with Apache's modularization strategy, and can be combined with Apache's display panels to form an all-in-one machine of various specifications. Together with the high-strength aluminum alloy strong body, it adapts to high temperature, vibration and other harsh industrial environments, and is widely used in machine vision, intelligent manufacturing and other fields. The main features are as follows:

  ■ Support Intel ®3 th Core™ i7/i5/i3 desktop-class processors.

  ■ 2x DDR3L SO-DIMM with dual-channel support for 16GB.

  ■ 9 USB ports, 4 of which support Hi-Speed USB 3.0 ports,**** up to 10 serial ports can be expanded.

  ■ Expandable 6 Intel Gigabit network interfaces, support WiFi/4G expansion, so that the motherboard has a flexible network application

  ■ Expandable 6 Intel Gigabit network interfaces to support WiFi/4G expansion, enabling the motherboard to have a flexible network application environment to realize remote management and control.

  ■ Provide HDMI, VGA two display output ports, support independent dual display.

  ■ Support -20℃~60℃ working temperature, suitable for outdoor harsh environment.

  IPC400

  IPC400 is a rugged and reliable rack-mounted industrial computer, adopting 19-inch standard 4U rack-mounted design, which can guarantee 24-hour full-speed CPU operation under industrial conditions with ambient temperature up to 60ºC. At the same time, it also combines with Apache modular design concept, through the simple combination of modules. A variety of products with different interfaces and performance can be formed to meet the different application requirements of various industries. Mainly has the following advantages.

  ■ Support Intel®2~12th desktop-class CPU;

       ■ Graphics card anti-vibration and power supply enhanced design, can support NVIDIA RTX 4090 independent graphics card;

       ■ Support 7-slot full-height card expansion, can expand the motion control card, data acquisition card, multi-network interface card, etc.;

       ■Humanized design, chassis front system fan tool-free maintenance;

       ■Well-designed tool-free PCle expansion card mounting bracket, with higher shock resistance;

       ■Optional 8 3.5-inch anti-vibration and anti-shock hard disk space;

       ■ Optional 2 5.25-inch optical drive mounting box;

       ■ front panel USB, switch design, power and storage status display, easier system maintenance;

       ■Support illegal open box alarm, can lock the front door to prevent unauthorized access;