Dr. Schenk at GulfGlass 2009: In-line Inspection of Flat Glass

Visit Dr. Schenk at booth M03 at Sharjah Expo Centre, UAE from March 16-18, 2009.

• Enhanced defect classification for higher yield in float glass manufacturing: Remarkable evolution as result of two years successfully selling float glass inspection to the industry

• Dr. Schenk ready for the PV market and new glass processing technologies: Growing focus on structured and unstructured solar glass as well as on coated and laminated glass

Dr. Schenk GmbH based near Munich, Germany is worldwide leading in the development, production and marketing of automated vision and inspection systems  for glass as well as for plastic, film, foil and solar panels. At this year’s GulfGlass (March 16-18, 2009 at Sharjah Expo Centre, UAE), Dr. Schenk presents its flat glass inspection solutions to the middle east and international glass industry. Focus at the inspection expert’s booth M03 will be the enhanced system for in-line inspection of float glass as well as systems that are specialized for coated and laminated glass.

GlassInspect for Float Glass: Determination of Defect Size and Type with Highest Accuracy Thanks to a Unique Illumination Concept

Dr. Schenk‘s inspection solutions for continuous flat glass are focusing on the quality assurance and process control for the production of float, down draw or rolled glass. Used as raw material for a wide range of applications e.g. in the architectural, automotive, solar or display industries, continuous glass has to meet highest quality standards. In order to guarantee these, the material is  inspected for glass defects that could cause a reduced quality or glass breakage during further processing steps.

Dr. Schenk‘s GlassInspect convinces by its absolute reliable analysis of type, size and location of relevant glass defects. Considered unmatched in the industry, this performance advantage grounds on two innovations:

• A unique technology combines two illumination concepts and enables the exact distinction between the defect‘s core size and its distortion size. This analysis allows the vision software to differentiate between relevant glass defects, as e.g. bubbles or stones, and non-critical contaminations or other “pseudo–defects”.
• The system‘s defect classification and image processing software has been consequently adapted to the needs of float glass.

These advantages enable GlassInspect to deliver realistic, microscope like images as reliable decision basis for declaring material as “Good“ or “Not Good“.

GlassInspect for PV Glass: New Inspection Demand in the Glass Industry

Suppliers for the photovoltaic industry as well as manufacturers of coated and laminated glass experienced an immense growth during the past year. As a consequence, the demand for inspection systems specialized for the requirements of these glass processing technologies rises, too. Among other developments in the past 2 years Dr. Schenk has launched the following new product enhancements, which will be a further focus at Dr. Schenk’s GulfGlass booth:

• An advanced inspection and measurement system for glass sheets that are used as substrate for thin film solar modules. Here especially scratches, bubbles and edge defects might have costly consequences if not detected and might cause e.g. glass breakage in further processing.
• For rolled, structured glass, as used for cover glass of silicon solar panels, a unique optical set-up specializes on the distinguishing of critical material defects from the glass structure.
• Coated and laminated glass has become more and more important for a growing number of high tech applications (AR, TCO or Molybdenum coatings on solar panels) or for the architectural and automotive industry (low-E coating or lamination for fire protection and safety glass).

The volume growth of glass coatings and laminations as well as the boost in the PV industry has created a business uplift for glass panel inspection systems at Dr. Schenk.

For further information on Dr. Schenk’s inspection solutions for flat glass, please visit booth M03 at the GulfGlass 2009 at the Sharjah Expo Centre. If you would like to make an appointment with our team at the exhibition, please contact us.

Official website of GulfGlass 2009