Download Thin Cell PV Panels

Thin Film PV Panels
Ben Normand & Elizabeth Sipple
Thin Film History
 Developed in 1980
 Applied to calculators, watches
and other portable low-watt
appliances
 Expanded to larger appliances as
efficiency rate increased
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Thin Film Advantages
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 Simple fabrication
 Requires low fabrication temp (300 C)
 Manufacturing requires little materials. -thin
cell to crystinal thickness= 1 to 300
 Flexible/ non-breakable
 High voltage can be obtained
 No infrastructure needed to support cells
 Cell can double as building material (roofing
tiles, walls, etc)
Challenges
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 making thin film that is as efficient and
durable as silicon.
 thin-film materials may be too polluting.
Thin-film technology has been developed
using cadmium, telluride and selenide, but
there are environmental concerns about the
manufacture and disposal of these heavy
metals.
Cell efficiency comparison
 -Thin Film= 2.5 to 4%
 -Single crystal silicon= 10 to 12%
-…although lab performance testing shows higher efficiency for both
cell types
 To get the same amount of electricity from a
thin-film PV panel requires about twice the
area of crystalline PV.
 typical commercial cell has an efficiency of 15%.
Cost by Brand
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 Unisolar 21 watt= $153.00
 Shell 20 watt= $198.00
 Isofoton 165 watt= $650.00
-research shows that on average thin cell
costs $5 per watt
DuPont Tefzel
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 Architect Nicholas Goldsmith, created tent like structures with thin
film cells
 He used thin film amorphous silicon solar modules encapsulated
in Tefzel,closely related to DuPont Teflon.
 Tefzel is
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lighter
less fragile than glass
Flexible
nearly 100 percent transparent
reliability against cracking and abrasion very little degradation due to
UV radiation exposure.
 Typical performance is five watts peak power per square foot of
module in bright sunlight.
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Future of Thin Films
 Natures solution to thin film cells
 developing molecules out of organic
compounds ﾐ like carbon and hydrogen
 super-thin film about 100 nanometers thick,
can be applied as a paint.
 Replaces heavy metals currently being used
in cells.
 Creates a biodegradable, almost natural cell