Quickly and reliably identify cables and inverters for 124,000 panels.
Durable, colour-coded tags printed with BradyPrinter i3300
Efficient identification meets customer requirements for 10+ years.
Vindo Solar B.V. (opens in a new tab) is a solar PV engineering, design, installation, and maintenance company, operating in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, and Poland.
Vindo Solar will be able to efficiently locate any inverter and cable marked for maintenance in a 124,000 solar panel renewable energy park with reliable labelling.
Challenge: Quickly and Reliably Identify Large Volumes of Various Outdoor Cable Types
Vindo Solar quickly needed an efficient solution to reliably identify the cables and inverters of 124,000 solar panels in the Haringvliet-Zuid renewable energy park in the Netherlands. In agreement with Vindo Solar’s main customer, any identification solution used had to stay attached and remain legible for 10 years under active UV radiation and in rough environmental conditions.
Solutions: Reliable, Colour-Coded Tags Printed at the Construction Site
Brady offered B-7598 cable tags made out of polyester, B-7593 polyester nameplate alternative labels for the inverters, and the BradyPrinter i3300 Industrial Label Printer to print them at the construction site.
The B-7598 tags are designed to perform great in outdoor environments for up to 10 years. Printed tags show no visible effect when exposed to 95% humidity at 37°C, heated up to 100°C, or cooled down to -40°C. They also offer excellent abrasion resistance and are available in white, black, yellow, red, green, blue, and metallic. This enabled Vindo Solar to easily colour code AC cables, solar cables, fuses, grounding cables, communication cables, and fibre optic cables.
The bulk of the tags were printed at Brady factories and delivered ready-to-apply. Additionally, blank tags were supplied so Vindo Solar could respond to additional needs by printing them on-site with their BradyPrinter i3300. All tags can be printed with unique identifiers, source and destination information, and other data to enable fast future cable interventions or replacements. "The B-7598 cable tags offered by experienced Brady specialists quickly seemed a perfect match," said Tadas Malinauskas, Solar PV Project Manager at Vindo Solar. "They are made from reliable materials and tested in different environmental conditions."
To identify 100+ inverters on-site, Brady supplied its B-7593 nameplate label. This polyester label features a foam layer that mimics the look of an engraved metal nameplate with added flexibility at a fraction of the cost. After printing, the self-adhesive label expands to resemble a metal nameplate.
With the compact, high-volume BradyPrinter i3300 Industrial Label Printer, Vindo Solar is equipped with flexible and fast identification capabilities. The system can print various labels, sleeves, tags, and signs for cable, product, and facility identification. Printable materials can be switched and ready to print in less than 20 seconds thanks to smart label rolls and printer auto-calibration. Using Brady Workstation label design apps, Vindo Solar can easily import data from Excel to print labels efficiently. "In a 124,000 solar panel plant, the quantity of labels needed is enormous. The flexibility offered by the BradyPrinter i3300 is just what we needed."
Results: Reliably Identified Outdoor Cables
Vindo Solar can meet their customer’s identification requirements with reliable cable tags and inverter labels. This will enable them to quickly find specific cables and inverters among the 124,000 solar panels in the Haringvliet-Zuid renewable energy park in the Netherlands. "We are very satisfied with the Brady identification solutions and will use them in other solar plants as well."