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US 8,138,412 B2Granted
Flexible electrical substrate
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorKarl S Weibezahn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A flexible substrate layer having metallic bus-lines and connecting stitches is formed. A trace layer having electrical traces and thermal vias is also formed. The substrate layer and the trace layer are bonded together by way of respective thermal pathways and electrically interconnected. The resulting layer-wise assembly is configured to support and electrically interconnect an array of photovoltaic cells and to channel away heat during operation.
Claims5
An apparatus, comprising:
- a flexible thermally conductive electrically non-conductive material defining a substrate;
- a plurality of metallic strips supported by the substrate, including a plurality of first metallic strips and a plurality of second metallic strips;
- a plurality of electrical traces disposed over the metallic strips, including a plurality of first electrical traces, the first electrical traces each being electrically bonded to a single corresponding first metallic strip, the first metallic strips defining electrical bus-lines;
- a plurality of thermal vias each disposed over and bonded to a corresponding second metallic strip, the second metallic strips defining heat spreader bus-lines;
- and
- wherein the metallic strips further include a plurality of third metallic strips and the electrical traces further include a plurality of second electrical traces, the second electrical traces each disposed over and electrically isolated from a corresponding third metallic strip.
3 more elements
An array of photovoltaic cells, comprising:
- a substrate of flexible and thermally conductive and electrically non-conductive material;
- a plurality of metallic strips disposed on the substrate, including a plurality of first metallic strips and a plurality of second metallic strips, the first metallic strips disposed in parallel arrangement and defining a plurality of electrically conductive bus-lines, the second metallic strips disposed in parallel arrangement and defining a plurality of thermally conductive heat spreader bus-lines, the electrically conductive bus-lines including a plurality of first electrically conductive bus-lines and a plurality of second electrically conductive bus-lines;
- a plurality of thermal vias each bonded to a corresponding heat spreader bus-line;
- and
- a plurality of electrical traces each disposed over and electrically coupled to a single corresponding first electrically conductive bus-line, at least some of the electrical traces each disposed over and electrically isolated from a corresponding second electrically conductive bus-line.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.