(Yicai) Aug. 1 -- Aijiang Technology, a Chinese supplier of photovoltaic testing equipment, has unveiled the first solar battery testing system that integrates machine vision and artificial intelligence technologies, significantly enhancing testing efficiency and lowering costs.

Xinghan AI can enhance solar batteries' testing efficiency by over 13 times, with defect identification accuracy of 98.7 percent, Yuan Wuhui, chief executive of Wuhan-based Aijiang Technology, told Yicai. The tool has been applied in six fields, including flexible solar panels and micro light-emitting diode displays, reducing testing costs by 40 percent, Yuan noted.

The materials used in solar batteries in China are shifting towards perovskite from the traditional crystalline silicon, featuring high optoelectronic conversion efficiency and adjustable band gaps, an industry insider said to Yicai, adding that the new materials' precision also means higher requirements on the accuracy of quality inspections.

Liquid spray coating is necessary when producing perovskite batteries, but in past quality inspections, defect recognition mainly depended on people, with at least two to three days needed for feedback, Ai Zhao, a professor at Wuhan Textile University's School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, told Yicai. Production lines' capacity and pass rate will be significantly improved with the use of AI tech, Ai added.

Xinghan AI's test dataset covers 25 types of perovskite materials and 38 types of quantum-dot structure, which refer to the spatial structure of nanometer-level semiconductor materials, and materials with such varied structures have different optical properties, Yuan said.

Market demand for smart testing equipment has surged amid the Chinese manufacturing sector's high-end development in recent years. China's smart testing gear market exceeded CNY260 billion (USD36.2 billion) last year and will likely top CNY300 billion this year, according to the latest report by research, consulting, and information technology outsourcing service firm CCID Consulting.

With the integration of next-generation tech, such as AI and quantum, and testing equipment, relevant testing technologies will shift from 'passive detection of problems' to 'proactive prediction of risks,' Ai pointed out. They will also be upgraded from a single tool to systematic solutions to assist the whole development of China's high-end manufacturing sector, Ai said.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev