Spire Announces the Spi-EL(TM) Electroluminescence Solar Module Tester

BEDFORD, Mass., Feb 23, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --ire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turn-key manufacturing lines to produce photovoltaic (PV) modules announced today the introduction of a new advanced metrology product, the Spi-EL(TM) Electroluminescence Solar Module Tester, at the SNEC 5th (2011) International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Exhibition in Shanghai, China.The Spi-EL series of solar module testers use electroluminescence (EL) to identify microcracks and other invisible defects in modules. The testers utilize cooled near-infrared charge-coupled device camera technology to image each solar cell with resolutions less than 200 um per pixel, the equivalent of a 60 megapixel image for an entire module.