Roof construction for a vehicle and a semi-transparent photo voltaic panel therein

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019207046-A1
Application number	US-201816232331-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 26, 2018
Priority date	Dec 28, 2017
Publication date	Jul 4, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A roof construction for a vehicle having an opening in its fixed roof, comprises at least one panel for at least closing said opening. The panel comprises a first and a second layer of glass and in between said first and second layer of glass a sheet of photo voltaic cells as a third layer. The sheet of photo voltaic cells has an active layer of a thin film of solar cell material and further has a first area which is semi-transparent and a second area which is substantially opaque.

First claim

1 . An roof construction for a vehicle having an opening in its fixed roof, comprising at least one panel for at least closing said opening, said panel comprising a first and a second layer of glass and in between said first and second layer of glass a sheet of photo voltaic cells as a third layer,
wherein the sheet of photo voltaic cells has an active layer of a thin film of solar cell material and further having a first area which is semi-transparent and a second area which is substantially opaque.

2 . The roof construction of claim 1 , wherein the semi-transparent first area is substantially located in a central area of the panel and the substantially opaque second area is located near an edge of the panel.

3 . The roof construction of claim 1 , wherein the semi transparency of the photo voltaic cells in the first area is created by laser engraving of lines into an active layer of the photo voltaic cells such that visible light can travel through the engraved lines.

4 . The roof construction according to claim 1 , wherein the sheet of photo voltaic cells comprises sequences of individual photo voltaic cells, boundaries of which are formed by laser engraved lines into an active layer of photo voltaic cell material and wherein the photo voltaic cells are electrically connected to each other.

5 . The roof construction of claim 4 , wherein a first sequence of individual photo voltaic cells is electrically connected in series to each other and wherein said first sequence of photo voltaic cells extends adjacent to each other in a first direction on the panel.

6 . The roof construction of claim 5 , wherein second sequences of first sequences of in series connected photo voltaic cells are connected to each other in parallel and wherein said second sequence of first sequences of in series connected photo voltaic cells lie adjacent to each other in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction.

7 . The roof construction of claim 6 , wherein a number of second sequences of in parallel connected cells adjacent to each other on the sheet of photo voltaic cells is an integer value.

8 . The roof construction of claim 5 , wherein the first direction of the first sequence of photo voltaic cells is a direction which is longitudinal with regard to a longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

9 . The roof construction of claim 1 , wherein a lower side of the sheet of photo voltaic cells is provided with a layer of black ink in a third area along a circumferential edge of said sheet of photo voltaic cells.

10 . The roof construction of claim 9 , wherein the third area, provided with a layer of black ink, covers an area which is a projection of an area on the lower side of the panel, comprising a mechanism bracket and or a reinforcement and material to fix said bracket and or reinforcement to the lower side of the panel by an encapsulation material or glue.

11 . The roof construction of claim 1 , wherein the sheet of photo voltaic cells comprises a thin support layer and deposited on this a thin layer of solar cell material which is the active layer.

12 . The roof construction of claim 11 , wherein the thin support layer is a thin film of chemical tempered glass or a layer of plastic foil having a thickness of smaller than 1 mm.

13 . The roof construction of claim 1 , wherein the thin film of solar cell material comprises a layer of amorphous silicon material.

14 . The roof construction of claim 13 , wherein the photo voltaic cells of amorphous silicon provided on the sheet of photo voltaic cells are either of the type of the so called semi-transparent single junction, semi-transparent tandem junction or triple junction.

15 . The roof construction of claim 1 , wherein the thin film of solar cell material being the active layer comprises a layer of either of CIGS material, CIS material or Perovskite material.

16 . The roof construction of claim 1 , wherein the panel comprises encapsulation material around a circumferential edge of the panel and wherein the first and second layers of glass comprises a ceramic layer on a lower side of each of said layers.

17 . The roof construction of claim 6 , wherein a first sequence of in series connected photo voltaic cells in the first semi-transparent area has photo voltaic cells having a first square area which is smaller than a second square area of the photo voltaic cells in the second opaque area, and wherein a boundary between the first semi-transparent area and opaque second area is created by a sequence of laser engraved lines between photo voltaic cells having a first square area and photo voltaic cells having a larger second square area.

18 . The roof construction of claim 6 , wherein the boundary between the first semi-transparent area and opaque second area is created by sequences of in series and in parallel connected photo voltaic cells that gradually grow in steps from the first square area to the second square area.

19 . The roof construction of claim 2 , wherein the semi transparency of the photo voltaic cells in the first area is created by laser engraving of holes into the active layer of the photo voltaic cells such that visible light can travel through the engraved holes.

20 . The roof construction of claim 1 , wherein at least one panel is movable so as to form an open roof construction.

Assignees

• Inalfa Roof Sys Group Bv

Inventors

• De Bie Sander

Classifications

• H02S10/40

  Mobile PV generator systems · CPC title

• H02S20/30

  Supporting structures being movable or adjustable, e.g. for angle adjustment · CPC title

• B60J7/043 Primary

  Sunroofs (B60J7/047 - B60J7/053 take precedence){e.g. sliding above the roof} · CPC title

• H02S20/00

  Supporting structures for PV modules · CPC title

• B62D25/06

  Fixed roofs (non-fixed roofs or like shelters B60J7/00; roof liners B60R13/02; insulating elements B60R13/08) · CPC title