OREC at Oregon Tech named as semifinalist in the American-Made Solar Prize

Article by Ashley Van Essen, public information representative, Oregon Tech.

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - The American-Made Solar Prize, a multimillion-dollar competition funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has selected 20 teams to advance in Round 6 of the prize as semifinalists, including CRACK CATCHER AI – the Oregon Renewable Energy Center (OREC) team at Oregon Tech.

Each team won $50,000 in cash prizes and is eligible to continue to the next phase of the competition, which is designed to energize U.S. solar innovation.

OREC entered the competition with the CRACK CATCHER AI (artificial intelligence), a system of lasers and artificial intelligence to assess mechanical stress on PV (photovoltaic) cells inside solar modules, sensing and predicting fracturing in high volume PV manufacturing.

Representing Oregon Tech are OREC Director and Assistant Professor Arief Suriadi Budiman, Ph.D., as the Main Principal Investigator (PI); Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology Instructor Derrick Speaks, Ph.D.; and Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology Professor Tim Pasang, Ph.D.

“To enable more solar manufacturing in the United States, CRACK CATCHER AI enables smarter, more innovative way to sense and predict cracks in silicon solar cells using scientific principles, which has not been possible hitherto and will then lead to higher manufacturing yield as well as quality, and secure U.S. competitiveness in solar PV manufacturing worldwide,” PI Budiman said.

In the next phase of the competition, teams will advance with the assistance of members of the American-Made Network to develop their innovations in a way that addresses real challenges in the solar market. OREC will continue working to substantially advance its technology solution toward a viable and promising proof of concept, which they will discuss with a panel of industry experts at the Set! Demo Day virtual event in spring 2023.