Photovoltaic solar cell laminated in vehicle windshield
AssigneeExide Corporation
InventorsCarl J. Anderson, Howard E. Mitchell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A laminated windshield in which thin solar cells are sandwiched between the glass layer. The solar cell is electrically connected to a vehicle battery to provide recharging current to the battery from the electrical current generated by the solar cells. The solar cells may be formed of dendrite solar cells arranged in flexible strings. These solar cell strings may be positioned in the windshield proximate to an edge of the windshield and superimposed over windshield tinting or darkened border areas of the windshield.
Claims15
A laminated windshield for a moving vehicle comprising:
- outer and inner glass layers both having substantially the same non-planar shape;
- first and second layers of PVB, and
- a string of solar cells sandwiched between said first and second layers of PVB which are sandwiched between the outer and inner glass layers that are laminated together.
A laminated windshield as in claim I wherein said string of solar cells is arranged and located proximate a perimeter of said windshield.
A laminated windshield as in claim I wherein the first layer of PVB is substantially thicker than the second layer of PVB and electrical connections for the solar cells are arranged on a side of the cells adjacent the first layer of PVB.
A laminated windshield and battery for a moving vehicle comprising:
- outer and inner glass layers both having substantially the same complex curved shape, and a opaque or translucent border area proximate at least one edge of the glass layers;
- first and second layers of PVB having a shape substantially the same shape as the shape of the glass layers;
- a string of dendrite solar cell strings sandwiched between said first and second layers of PVB which are sandwiched between the outer and inner glass layers that are laminated together, wherein the solar cell strings are superimposed over the border area of the glass layers, and
- wherein the vehicle battery is electrically coupled to said solar cell strings to receive a recharging current from the solar cell string.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.