Method and material for coupling solar concentrators and photovoltaic devices
AssigneeSolaria Corporation
InventorsKEVIN R. GIBSON, Alelie Funcell, Abhay Maheshwari, Shirish Shah
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Abstract
A method and system for manufacturing an integrated concentrator photovoltaic device is disclosed. In an embodiment, the invention includes a one step process using a sheet of coupling material provided in a pre-arranged pattern to couple an array of photovoltaic members to an array of respective optical concentrating members. In another embodiment, the invention includes an integrated concentrator photovoltaic device made by coupling a photovoltaic member and an optical concentrating member together through an encapsulant or coupling layer formed from a sheet member of coupling materials possessing a pre-arranged pattern
Claims35
A method for fabricating a photovoltaic device, the method comprising:
- providing a photovoltaic member having a plurality of photovoltaic elements, the plurality of photovoltaic elements including a first photovoltaic element and a second photovoltaic element;
- providing a sheet member comprising a coupling material, the sheet member having a predefined pattern of coupling elements, the predefined pattern of coupling elements including a first coupling element and a second coupling element;
- providing an optical concentrating member having a plurality of concentrating elements, the plurality of concentrating elements including a first concentrating element and a second concentrating element;
- disposing the sheet member between the photovoltaic member and the optical concentrating member such that the first coupling element being positioned between the first photovoltaic element and the first concentrating element and such that the second coupling element is positioned between the second photovoltaic element and the second concentrating element;
- and
- processing the sheet member between the photovoltaic member and the optical concentrating member using at least a curing process to cause the first photovoltaic element to be coupled to the first concentrating element and the second photovoltaic element to be coupled to the second concentrating element.
A sheet element for coupling together a photovoltaic member and a concentrating member, the photovoltaic member having a plurality of photovoltaic elements and the optical concentrating member having a plurality of concentrating elements, the sheet element comprising:
- a patterned portion having a plurality of coupling elements arranged in a predefined pattern, the coupling elements surrounded by a filler region and the coupling elements being made of a first material;
- and
- a frame-structure portion adapted for the sheet member to be:
- positioned between the photovoltaic member and the concentrating member;
- aligned with the optical concentrating member such that the plurality of coupling elements being lined up with the plurality of concentrating elements;
- and
- aligned with the photovoltaic member such that the plurality of coupling elements being lined up with the plurality of photovoltaic elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.