News

BrightSpot will attend Silicon Valley Space Week (Satellite Innovation & MilSat conferences) from 21-24 October 2024 in Mountainview, CA in Booth #43. Brent and Dylan will be talking with current and future Aerospace customers about Electroluminescence, Photoluminescence, and Coverglass-Crack-Detection testing of their satellite PV cells/modules.

Andrew Gabor and Isaac Gould from BrightSpot Automation will attend the NREL PV Reliability Workshop, Feb 27-29 2024, and present work performed in conjunction with researchers from NREL and PVEL on "UV fluorescence imaging for solar panel product development and durability testing." Partners from Forum Construction & Consulting will present joint work on "Unveiling the unseen: harnessing UV fluorescence for comprehensive rooftop PV system assessment and successful insurance claims process," and partners from the U. of Central Florida will present joint work on "Investigating signs of contact degradation in field-exposed silicon photovoltaic modules."

BrightSpot will be exhibiting at #isnaesna in San Diego, CA from Jan 17-19. Join Andrew Gabor and Isaac Gould in booth 2140 to talk about your testing needs and how our systems can help you image defects in solar cells and panels. Or come by and see for yourself as we demonstrate our EL system.

Isaac Gould, Photovoltaics Technologist at BrightSpot, is speaking on Nov 28 2023 at the Materials Research Society Conference in Boston: EN05.06: Halide Perovskites Photovoltaics and Stability II, Hynes, Level 3, Room 311, 4:15-4:30pm, "Unraveling Perovskite Metal Shunting in Reverse Bias: Insights for Enhanced Module Design." This talk presents work that he conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder and NREL during his Ph.D. research, and he will present electroluminescence and photoluminescence data collected with the BrightSpot CellSpot-EL/PL tool.

Rich Landy has joined BrightSpot Automation as Senior Software Engineer.  He will further develop the IMPEL software for our Electroluminescence, Photoluminescence and UV Fluorescence imaging systems inspection systems, including the introduction of machine learning based defect detection.   Previously Rich was an Application Architect at Accenture focused on Data Engineering Pipelines. At GridCure he worked as both a Software Engineer and a Data Engineer building out their Data Platform.  Rich, a graduate of Columbia University, has over 8 years of experience in Software Engineering.

Andrew Gabor (CTO) and Maurice Covino (President) will be in booth 551 on Sands level 2 at the RE+ Tradeshow in Las Vegas, Sep 12-14, 2023. Please come by to see our EL, PL, UVF, and Contact Resistance testing equipment solutions. Contact us to schedule a meeting ahead of time.

BrightSpot Automation will be exhibiting at Intersolar Mexico which is collocated with the 30th edition of The Green Expo in Mexico City September 5th - 7th.  Thanks to a grant from the Colorado International Trade Office we will be in booth number 1306 at the Centro Citibanamex.  Home - THE GREEN EXPO® 2023 If you are attending, please stop by the booth and let’s talk about how BrightSpot Automation’s tools can help you build and install better PV cells, modules, and systems.  

BrightSpot will be at PVSC50 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, June 12-15, at trade show booth #13.  CTO Andrew Gabor will be presenting his paper on "Detection and Impact of Cracks Hidden Near Interconnect Wires in Silicon Solar Cells", on June 12 in Ballroom B at 1:45pm.

BOULDER, Colo.—BrightSpot Automation recently signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with funding assistance from West Gate, a DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program sponsored by the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office. Under the CRADA, BrightSpot will work with NREL researchers on UV fluorescence (UVF) imaging of defects in solar panels and machine learning for automated inspection of UVF and electroluminescence (EL) defect images.  “We are excited to be working with world-class NREL researchers and to have access to the wide array of fielded solar panels and environmental-chamber-tested panels on which to demonstrate the power of UVF defect imaging,” says Andrew Gabor, CTO of BrightSpot. Steve Johnston, senior research scientist at NREL will be coordinating the NREL work in collaboration with BrightSpot.  “UVF shows great potential for low-cost, solar-panel characterization and provides complementary information to the common techniques of EL and thermal IR imaging,” Johnson says. “Due to the high-throughput nature of UVF, automated inspection of the results becomes a necessity. We look forward to helping BrightSpot expand its product portfolio and to educating the PV community on these important topics.” With offices in Colorado and Massachusetts, BrightSpot Automation sells testing equipment worldwide throughout the entire PV value chain including R&D, product development, manufacturing, lab testing, field testing, and recycling.  Products include Electroluminescence, Photoluminescence, UV Fluorescence, and Contact Resistivity.   Learn more about BrightSpot Automation.

BrightSpot will be exhibiting at RE+ in Anaheim, CA, September 20-22, at trade show booth #379. We will be conducting Electroluminescence demos and training. CTO Andrew Gabor will also be presenting on "Module Life Cycle Testing Plan" Tuesday, September 20 at 1:45 PM at ACC Arena Foyer/Hall A, and his poster on this topic will be available for general viewing throughout the conference/tradeshow. 

BrightSpot will be at PVSC49 in Philadelphia, June 6-9, at trade show booth #14. CTO Andrew Gabor will also be presenting on Electroluminescence Analysis and Grading of Hail Damaged Solar Panels Thursday June 9th at 2 PM, Talk #441.  

BrightSpot Automation CellSpot at CU Boulder BrightSpot Automation today announced that it has installed a CellSpot-EL/PL system at the University of Colorado, Boulder in the laboratory of Prof. Mike McGehee.  BrightSpot staff worked closely with graduate student Isaac Gould on the customization of the tool for application to Perovskite solar cells, including changes in photoluminescence illumination wavelength, camera filters, electroluminescence power supply control down to the sub milliamp level, and automated time series image collection to observe degradation over time.   "Isaac was a pleasure to work with, and this collaboration was incredibly helpful in optimizing our tool for application to the large potential user base of Perovskite solar cell researchers, and we wish him luck at his upcoming MRS conference presentation on May 9," said BrightSpot CTO Dr. Andrew Gabor. Graduate student Isaac Gould said, "Both Phil Knodle and Andrew Gabor at BrightSpot were incredibly helpful in testing our cells and customizing their system for our Perovskite cells.  The system installation went smoothly, and we collected great data from the start.  The high camera resolution and sensitivity are enabling very detailed images at quick acquisition times, and this will be critical in our studies of Perovskite degradation modes."  CU Boulder Professor Michael McGehee said, " We really look forward to having spatially resolved information on how well our cells are working.  It will be great to know if we have problems everywhere in the device or only at certain places." About BrightSpot Automation, LLC BrightSpot Automation builds innovative solar cell and solar panel testing equipment.  The company is based in Westford, MA. www.brightspotautomation.com sales@brightspotautomation.com About the McGehee Group at Colorado University Boulder The McGehee group is currently doing research on perovskite solar cells.  The group is inspired to develop technology that can provide humanity with clean energy and solve environmental problems. www.colorado.edu/lab/mcgehee/

BrightSpot CTO, Andrew Gabor, is presenting at the NREL PV Reliability Workshop on Feb 22 on the topic of "UV Fluorescence Testing of Residential and Ground-Mount Solar Panels." Co-authors include the University of Central Florida, Southern Company, PVEL, and Solen Energy.

BrightSpot Automation will be attending Intersolar in Long Beach, CA from Jan 13-15. Come visit us in booth 2113 and register to win a UVF Flashlight Kit! Please contact us ahead of time if you would like to schedule a meeting or training on Electroluminescence and UV Fluorescence equipment operation or analysis of EL and UVF images.

BrightSpot CTO, Andrew Gabor, is presenting today on UV Fluorescence testing of Residential PV systems using the BrightSpot polemount UV Flash Camera system. Most of the systems tested had heavy levels of cell cracking and many had hotspots. Other problems such as finger corrosion/delamination, junction box seal failure, and soiling were also detected. See our Publications webpage for the full paper.

Phil Knodle has joined BrightSpot Automation as Principal Software Engineer.  He will further develop the IMPEL software for our Electroluminescence and Photoluminescence inspection systems, including the introduction of machine learning based defect detection.  He will also work on product development of our new line of high-throughput UV Fluorescence imaging systems.  Previously Phil contributed to the life sciences at TissueVision where he developed and implemented image acquisition electronics and related software in their TissueCyte Imaging Platform.  At Fraunhofer USA he designed and implemented control systems for custom lab and automation equipment.  Phil, a graduate of Boston University, has over 15 years of experience designing and implementing scientific instrumentation, industrial automation, embedded systems, and motion control systems. Phil is also an installation artist who focuses on the intersection between the physical and digital world.   A perfect match for our systems!

Maurice Covino has joined BrightSpot Automation as Director of Sales and Marketing. He has consulted part time for BrightSpot for over the last 2 years acting as International Sales Manager. He will continue in that role as well as assume responsibility for domestic sales and product marketing. Maurice has over 20 years of successful sales and marketing experience in the PV industry at companies including BERGER Lichttechnik, Spire, and Schmid GmbH.

BrightSpot Automation has a virtual booth at the The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) conference from Sep 9-24 2020, and will giving a company presentation on Sep 15, and a for-credit training course on Sep 22 on Electroluminescence (EL) and UV Fluorescence testing of defects in solar panels.

BrightSpot Automation is open for business. We place the well being of our staff, partners, and customers as a top priority, and are taking appropriate precautions.

Dr. Andrew Gabor will be attending Intersolar San Diego CA from Feb 4-5 as well as the NREL PV Reliability Workshop in Lakewood CO from Feb 25-27 2020.  Contact us if you would like to schedule a meeting.

BrightSpot Automation will be exhibiting at the Solar Power International tradeshow in booth #341 with demonstrations of the EL camera and EL Video camera systems.

BrightSpot Automation will be exhibiting at the IEEE PVSC tradeshow in booth #102 with demonstrations of the CellSpot-PL photoluminescence system and EL camera systems.  4 oral presentations with co-authors from UCF and D2Solar on "Powered by Sunshot" research.

BrightSpot Automation will be exhibiting at the SNEC tradeshow in booth #N3-100 with demonstrations of the CellSpot-PL photoluminescence system.

BrightSpot Automation staff will be exhibiting at the SPI tradeshow and available for discussions and demonstrations of the BrightSpot Electroluminescence camera system as well the new MobileTestSpot EL & IV trailer-based mobile testing lab.  In booth #105 together with our field service partners from Acuity Power Group.