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US 2001/0054262 A1Published application
Self-adhesive photovoltaic module
AssigneeUnited Solar Systems Corporation
InventorsPrem Nath, Avtar Singh, Kermit Jones, Steve Heckeroth
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A photovoltaic building material comprises a substrate having one or more photovoltaic generating devices encapsulated thereupon. The substrate includes a body of contact adhesive material, preferably protected by a release layer. The material is readily installed onto a roof, wall or other portion of a building structure by use of the adhesive. The material can also be used for the custom fabrication of power generating modules, and such modules and methods for their manufacture are disclosed herein.
Claims39
A photovoltaic building material comprising:
- a generally planar, flexible substrate having a first side and a second side opposed to said first side;
- a photovoltaic device operative to generate an electrical current in response to the absorption of light incident thereupon, said photovoltaic device being affixed to said substrate so that a bottom side thereof faces the first side of said substrate, and so that a top, light incident, side thereof faces away from said substrate;
- an encapsulant material disposed so as to cover the light incident side of said photovoltaic device, at least a portion of the encapsulant material which covers the light incident side of said photovoltaic device being light transmissive;
- and
- a body of contact adhesive covering at least a portion of the second side of said substrate.
2 more elements
A photovoltaic roofing material comprising:
- a generally planar, flexible substrate having a first side and a second side opposed to said first side;
- a plurality of photovoltaic devices each photovoltaic device being operative to generate an electrical current in response to the absorption of light incident thereupon, said photovoltaic devices being electrically interconnected and supported on said substrate in a spaced apart relationship so that a bottom side of each photovoltaic devices faces the first side of said substrate, and so that a top, light incident, side of each photovoltaic device faces away from said substrate;
- an encapsulant material disposed so as to cover the light incident sides of said photovoltaic devices and to affix said photovoltaic devices to said substrate, at least a portion of the encapsulant material which covers the light incident sides of said photovoltaic devices being light transmissive;
- a body of contact adhesive covering at least a portion of the second side of said substrate;
- and
- a pair of electrical terminals supported upon said substrate, said terminals being in electrical communication with said plurality of photovoltaic devices.
3 more elements
A photovoltaic power generating module comprising:
- I. a photovoltaic building material comprising:
- a generally planar, flexible substrate having a first side and a second side opposed to said first side;
- a photovoltaic device operative to generate an electrical current in response to the absorption of light incident thereupon, said photovoltaic device being affixed to said substrate so that a bottom side thereof faces the first side of said substrate, and so that a top, light incident, side thereof faces away from said substrate;
- an encapsulant material disposed so as to cover the light incident side of said photovoltaic device, at least a portion of the encapsulant material which covers the light incident side of said photovoltaic device being light transmissive;
- and
- a body of contact adhesive covering at least a portion of the second side of said substrate;
- and
- II. a support member, said support member having said photovoltaic building material adhesively affixed thereto by said body of contact adhesive.
5 more elements
A method for the fabrication of a photovoltaic power generating module, said method comprising the steps of:
- I. providing a photovoltaic building material, said photovoltaic building material comprising:
- a generally planar, flexible substrate having a first side and a second side opposed to said first side;
- a photovoltaic device operative to generate an electrical current in response to the absorption of light incident thereupon, said photovoltaic device being affixed to said substrate so that a bottom side thereof faces the first side of said substrate, and so that a top, light incident side thereof faces away from said substrate;
- and
- a body of contact adhesive covering at least a portion of the second side of said substrate;
- and
- II. providing a generally planar support member having a first side, and a second side opposed to said first side, said support member having a size corresponding to the intended size of said photovoltaic power generating module;
- and
- III. adhesively affixing said photovoltaic building material to the first side of said support member by means of said body of contact adhesive.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.