Germany-based PCO was founded in 1987 to develop and produce specialised fast and sensitive video camera systems, mainly for scientific applications. Nowadays the company’s extensive product range covers digital camera systems with high dynamic range, high resolution, high speed and low noise, which are sold in the scientific and industrial market all over the world. The company also recently made the natural leap into the PV market. Here PES talkes to Dr Gerhard Holst of the Science & Research department about recent developments . . .
PES: Welcome back to the magazine. Could you begin by telling us what developments there have been in your company since we last spoke, particularly with regard to the support you provide to the growing solar industry.
Gerhard Holst: We have now finished the optimisation of the new scientific CMOS camera pco.edge, which is now available. The camera proved to have an excellent quantum efficiency and hence sensitivity in the NIR, which enables the recording of the electroluminescence of solar panels with exposure times down to 800ms, and this at a resolution of 2560 x 2160 pixel.
