Smit Ovens forges partnership with Holst Centre and Solliance

Cooperation between technology leaders will accelerate development of thermal solutions for OPVs

Eindhoven - Tuesday, February 7 - Smit Ovens is joining forces with Holst Centre and Solliance to develop new thermal solutions for organic photovoltaics (OPVs). In a five-year deal, Smit Ovens becomes a partner in Holst Centre’s Large area printing program and Solliance’s OPV program. It will supply Holst Centre and Solliance with drying furnaces for a roll-to-roll processing pilot line. The partners will work together to define and modify OPV furnace specifications based on experience gained over the course of the agreement. This will reduce Smit Ovens time to market for mature, advanced thermal solutions that meet OPV manufacturers’ needs.

As concerns over energy prices and resources intensify, OPVs offer huge potential for low-cost, environmentally friendly, renewable energy. However, their widespread adoption relies on the availability of low-cost, high-volume manufacturing processes such as roll-to-roll production. Building on knowledge generated at Holst Centre, Solliance aims to develop such processes by creating an integrated pilot production line. For that, it is looking to work with innovative equipment suppliers such as Smit Ovens.

Under the deal, Smit Ovens will supply multiple furnaces for drying the various layers of material from which OPVs are built. This will allow Holst Centre to expand its pilot line to a multi-layer set-up that more closely mimics a real production environment. Smit Ovens will draw on the extensive know-how within Holst Centre’s Large area printing program to design and build an initial furnace. Solliance, Holst Centre and their eco-system partners will then use the furnace as part of the pilot line to develop new OPV manufacturing processes. The insight and feedback gained will allow Smit Ovens to refine and mature its design, quickly developing new furnace generations.

In particular, this deal will allow the partners to investigate key outstanding challenges in OPV manufacturing. These include achieving the strict cleanliness and layer uniformity standards required for cost-effective, high-yield production. In addition, the furnaces will support inert gas environments and feature a modular architecture that allows for easy scaling to higher volumes, streamlining the future transition to full-scale production.

“As a machine builder, Smit Ovens has extensive experience in high-precision thermal solutions for the solar energy industry and we are eager to apply this know-how to new market areas such as OPVs. Holst Centre and Solliance are highly valuable technology partners with a vast knowledge of OPV requirements. Partnering with them will help us deliver mature solutions to meet manufacturers’ technical requirements in a timescale that supports industry roadmaps,” said Smit Ovens CEO Wiro Zijlmans.

“The partnership with Smit Ovens is the first example of what we are trying to do as part of Solliance. By working with a highly experienced equipment manufacturer, we can start to address the challenges of transferring OPVs from R&D to high-volume manufacturing. This is an important innovation for the ELAt (Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle) region and will accelerate the development of equipment and process technology worldwide,” adds Hein Willems, Managing Director, Solliance.

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Pictures

A Smit Ovens furnace similar to the one that will be developed within the new organic photovoltaics (OPV) partnership.

Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) cell developed within the Solliance research activities (© Holst Centre).

(High resolution  pictures available upon request)

About Smit Ovens
Founded in Nijmegen, the Netherlands in 1936, Smit Ovens is a leading supplier of customized thermal equipment and processes for the glass, electronics, displays and photovoltaics industries. It employs around 50 people and currently has around 3000 installations operating, including some 86 in the solar industry.
www.smitovens.nl

About Holst Centre
Holst Centre is an independent open-innovation R&D centre that develops generic technologies for wireless autonomous sensor technologies and for flexible electronics. A key feature of Holst Centre is its partnership model with industry and academia around shared roadmaps and programs. It is this kind of cross-fertilization that enables Holst Centre to tune its scientific strategy to industrial needs.

Holst Centre was set up in 2005 by imec (Flanders, Belgium) and TNO (The Netherlands) with support from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Government of Flanders. It is named after Gilles Holst, a Dutch pioneer in Research and Development and first director of Philips Research.

Located on High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Holst Centre benefits from, and contributes to, the state-of-the-art on-site facilities. Holst Centre has over 170 research staff from about 25 nationalities and a commitment from more than 30 industrial partners.
Visit us at www.holstcentre.com

About Solliance
Solliance is a partnership of R&D organizations working in photovoltaic solar energy (PV) in the ELAT region Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen). In order to strengthen the region’s position as a world player in PV, Solliance is creating the required synergy by consolidating and coordinating the activities of industry, research institutes and universities. Solliance partners are: ECN, imec, TNO, Holst Centre, TU/e.

Solliance is supported by the Dutch province of North Brabant, which has dedicated € 28 million to Solliance. This will fund a large shared laboratory in Eindhoven with the newest equipment, complementing the partner’s labs which are also available to the other partners. In order to make optimal use of these lab facilities, they are open to valorization programs in joint research with industry. Solliance aims to collaborate with all main companies and institutes in the world. The Industrial Advisory Board Solliance secures a program that reflects the industry’s needs.

Solliance aims to broaden its scope and therefore welcomes the entry of new partners, from industry, research and/or education.

Solliance offers participation in its research and opens up its lab facilities to new entrants, either from industry or in research. On the basis of clear Intellectual Property (IP) agreements, each industrial partner can participate in this research effort, or alternatively, hire equipment and experts to further develop its own technology.

Contact
Smit Ovens
Michael van der Gugten
Sales Manager Smit Ovens
T: +31 (0)499 494 549
m.v.d.gugten@smitovens.nl


Holst Centre
Koen Snoeckx
Communication Manager Holst Centre
Koen.Snoeckx@holstcentre.com
T: +31 (0)40 40 20 561
M: +31 (0)612 71 98 43

Solliance
Dr. Hein Willems
Director Solliance
Willems@solliance.eu
T: +31 (0)40 24 75 034
M: +31 (0)6 22 52 00 99

See also:

• Organic Photovoltaics

Useful links:

• Solliance website