Foam-Backed Rollable Solar Panels for Lightweight Floating PV
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional solar panels are typically rigid, heavy, brittle, and fragile, making them cumbersome for installation and limiting their flexibility and buoyancy, which can hinder their operational efficiency and usability in various environments.
Innovation Solution
Development of a flexible and rollable solar panel with an integrated polymeric foam backing layer that provides mechanical support, protection, and reduced density, allowing the panels to float on water while maintaining operational efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional rigid solar panels are used, then structural strength and stability are improved, but weight and brittleness increase, limiting flexibility and installation options
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite materials by integrating photovoltaic cells with a polymeric foam backing layer. This composite structure combines the electrical functionality of PV cells with the mechanical advantages of foam materials, achieving both structural integrity and reduced weight. The foam substrate provides structural support while being significantly lighter than conventional rigid panel backings.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes flexible thin films by mounting PV cells on a polymeric foam backing layer that enables the panel to be flexible and rollable. This flexible substrate replacement allows the solar panel to bend and conform to different surfaces, eliminating the rigidity constraint of conventional panels while maintaining structural functionality.
2Reliability
If conventional rigid solar panels are used, then durability is improved, but flexibility and rollability are reduced, making installation cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces rigid backsheet materials with flexible polymeric foam and thin film structures, enabling the solar panel to be rolled and installed in various configurations. This flexible construction maintains durability through proper material selection and bonding while dramatically improving ease of installation and handling.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic flexibility to the solar panel structure by using a polymeric foam backing layer that allows the panel to bend, flex, and roll without compromising structural integrity. This dynamic capability enables adaptive installation on curved surfaces and simplifies transportation and handling.
3Stability of the object's composition
If conventional solar panels are used, then structural stability is improved, but buoyancy is reduced, limiting aquatic installation options
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a composite structure combining PV cells with polymeric foam that inherently provides buoyancy. The foam material's low density and air-filled cellular structure give the panel floating capability, enabling aquatic installations while maintaining structural stability through the integrated composite design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the buoyant force generated by the polymeric foam backing layer to counteract the weight of the PV cells and panel structure. This natural buoyancy mechanism enables the panel to float on water surfaces, providing environmental adaptability for aquatic applications without additional buoyancy devices.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The flexible and rollable solar panels with a polymeric foam backing layer offer increased mechanical resilience, buoyancy, and reduced weight, enabling them to be rolled and unrolled without damage, and can float on water while maintaining PV functionality.
Implementation Method 1
The foamed polymeric backing layer provides additional or increased mechanical support and/or mechanical protection and/or mechanical resilience to the solar cell
Implementation Method 2
reduces the overall density (or, the overall Specific Weight) of the integrated PV article to enable it (or to assist it) to float on water or to float in a body-of-water or to otherwise improve its buoyancy
Implementation Method 3
PV solar panels absorb sunlight or light energy or photons, and generate electricity through the PV effect
Data Source
AI summary
A photovoltaic article, that is configured to generate electricity from light, includes: a flexible and rollable and non-brittle solar cell, that is capable of being flexed and being rolled without becoming broken or non-operational; and an integrated, functional, backing layer that is non-detachably attached to a back side of that flexible and rollable and non-brittle solar cell. The backing layer is formed of foamed polymer, and can be flexible and rollable while also providing mechanical support to the solar cell.