Obscuring, color matching, and camouflaging solar panels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11569401-B2
Application number	US-202117184866-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2021
Priority date	Oct 28, 2016
Publication date	Jan 31, 2023
Grant date	Jan 31, 2023

Abstract

A solar panel includes a plurality of photovoltaic cells embedded in a layer of encapsulant. A textured and/or colored layer is positioned on a back side of the layer of encapsulant. The textured and/or colored layer matches a color and/or texture of the plurality of photovoltaic cells. A top layer is positioned on a front side of the layer of encapsulant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A solar panel comprising:
a topsheet;
a photovoltaic layer adjacent the topsheet, the photovoltaic layer comprising a plurality of photovoltaic cells encapsulated in a photovoltaic layer material, the plurality of photovoltaic cells comprising a first topography; and
a textured layer comprising a second topography matching the first topography; and
a layer of Si coating a surface of the textured layer facing the photovoltaic layer, wherein a color of the textured layer coated by the layer of Si matches a color of the plurality of photovoltaic cells.

2. The solar panel of claim 1 , wherein the textured layer comprises polyethylene terephalate.

3. The solar panel of claim 1 , wherein the textured layer comprises glass.

4. The solar panel of claim 1 , wherein the textured layer further comprises a layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) or Si 3 N 4 on the layer of Si.

5. The solar panel of claim 4 , wherein the textured layer is formed using a molding process.

6. The solar panel of claim 1 , wherein the textured layer is a backsheet.

7. The solar panel of claim 1 , wherein the photovoltaic layer comprises silicon with the first topography that has features of a first shape and the textured layer comprises a polymer that has the second topography with features of the first shape.

8. The solar panel of claim 1 , wherein the first topography has pyramidal features and the second topography has matching pyramidal features and wherein the textured layer is formed of a polymer.

9. The solar panel of claim 1 , wherein the textured layer comprises metallic layers and etched tracks that form electrical circuitry.

10. A solar panel comprising:
a photovoltaic layer comprising a plurality of photovoltaic cells encapsulated in a photovoltaic layer material, the plurality of photovoltaic cells comprising a first topography;
a topsheet positioned on a first side of the photovoltaic layer; and
a textured layer comprising a second topography that matches the first topography; and
a layer of Si coating the textured layer, wherein the textured layer reflects light matching a color of the plurality of photovoltaic cells and the textured layer is positioned on a second side of the photovoltaic layer opposite the first side.

11. The solar panel of claim 10 , wherein the reflectance of the textured layer is higher for infrared wavelengths than for visible wavelengths.

12. The solar panel of claim 10 , wherein the topsheet is a layer of glass.

13. The solar panel of claim 10 , wherein the textured layer comprises a polymer.

14. The solar panel of claim 10 , wherein the second topography comprises pyramidal features.

15. The solar panel of claim 10 , wherein the photovoltaic layer material further comprises ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA).

16. The solar panel of claim 10 , wherein the layer of Si coated on the textured layer is covered by a layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) or Si 3 N 4 .

Assignees

• Tesla Inc

Inventors

• Pilliod Michael
• Gougoussis Christos
• Laurin Michael M
• Tandoi Scott
• Verdura Javier
• Von Holzhausen Franz
• Park Caroline
• Muntean Radu
• Kuzina Kate
• Lamastra Dante

Classifications

• H02S40/20

  Optical components · CPC title

• H02S20/25

  Roof tile elements · CPC title

• Y02E10/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] energy · CPC title

• H01L31/0463 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/048

  Electricity · mapped topic