UV/IR reflecting solar cell cover
AssigneeOptical Coating Laboratory, Inc.
InventorsWilliam T. Beauchamp, Trudy Tuttle-Hart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A new solar cell cover comprises a substrate that transmits the spectral region to which the solar cell responds and a multilayer infrared-reflecting coating which incorporates means for suppressing low order reflections. The multilayer coating may also contain ultraviolet or blue coatings and be formed on one or both substrate surfaces. The multilayer coating reflects spectral bands which are adjacent to the short- and long-wavelength limits of the spectral response of the cell. The upper limit wavelength of the short-wavelength reflection band and the lower wavelength limit of the long-wavelength reflection band are independent and may be separately specified.
Claims25
A red reflector cover for a solar cell or panel having a given spectral response range of solar radiation incident on the solar cell or panel, the cover comprising:
- a substrate of material transparent over the spectral response range of the solar cell or panel;
- and
- a multilayer thin film composite formed on the substrate and comprising alternating layers of low and high index of refraction materials, the layers including an infrared reflector comprising (a) a first group of layers selected for reflecting incident infrared radiation immediately adjacent and above the longer wavelength end of the response range, (b) an anti-reflection component comprising one or more layers selected for decreasing the reflection of incident radiation across the spectral response range, and (c) means for suppressing low order reflection, whereby the reflection band of the infrared reflector is independent of the reflection band associated with any other group of layers.
A blue red reflector cover for a solar cell or panel having a given spectral response range to solar radiation incident on the cell or panel, the cover comprising:
- a substrate of material transparent over the spectral response range of the solar cell or panel and having a first major surface adapted to face the solar incident side of the solar cell or panel and a second major surface on the side thereof optically opposite the solar incident side;
- a multilayer thin film composite comprising alternating layers of low and high index of refraction materials, the composite including an ultraviolet reflector comprising a first group of layers selected for reflecting ultraviolet radiation immediately adjacent and below the shorter wavelength end of the response range, an anti-reflection component comprising one or more layers selected for decreasing the reflection of incident radiation across the spectral response range, an infrared reflector comprising a second group of layers selected for reflecting infrared radiation immediately adjacent and above the longer wavelength end of the spectral response range, and means or suppressing low order reflection, whereby the reflection bands of the infrared reflector and the ultraviolet reflector are independent.
A blue red reflector cover for a solar cell on panel having a given spectral response range to solar radiation incident on the solar cell or panel, the cover comprising:
- a substrate of material transparent over the spectral response range of the solar cell or panel and having a first major surface adapted to face the solar incident side of the solar cell or panel and a second major surface on the side thereof optically opposite the solar incident side;
- a multilayer thin film composite comprising alternating layers of low and high index of refraction materials;
- an ultraviolet reflector comprising a first group of layers of the composite selected for reflecting ultraviolet radiation immediately adjacent the shorter wavelength end of the solar response range, the ultraviolet reflector being formed on the first major surface;
- an anti-reflection component comprising one or more layers selected for decreasing the reflection of incident radiation across the spectral response range;
- and
- an infrared reflector comprising a second group of layers selected for reflecting infrared radiation immediately adjacent the longer wavelength end of the solar response range, the infrared reflector being formed on the second major surface, and including order suppression means for suppressing low order reflection, whereby the reflection bands of the ultraviolet reflector and the infrared reflector are independent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.