[gizmowatch]

PNNL, Vitex developing process to help protect flexible solar power shingles

The flexible rooftop solar panels - called building-integrated photovoltaics, or BIPVs - could replace today's boxy solar panels that are made with rigid glass or silicon and mounted on thick metal frames. The flexible solar shingles would be less expensive to install than current panels and made to last 25 years.

"There's a lot of wasted space on rooftops that could actually be used to generate power," said Mark Gross, a senior scientist at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "Flexible solar panels could easily become integrated into the architecture of commercial buildings and homes. Solar panels have had limited success because they've been difficult and expensive to install."

Researchers at PNNL will create these flexible panels by adapting a film encapsulation process currently used to coat flat panel displays that use organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs. The work is made possible by a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement recently penned between Vitex Systems and Battelle, which operates PNNL for the federal government.

PNNL researchers developed the thin film technology in the 1990s. At the time, the lab's team investigated 15 possible applications, including solar power. Vitex licensed the technology from Battelle in 2000 and focused its initial efforts on developing the ultra-barrier films for flat-panel displays. Now PNNL and Vitex are taking a hard second look at solar power.

The encapsulation process and the ultra-barrier film - called Barix™ Encapsulation and Barix™ Barrier Film, respectively - are already proven and effective moisture barriers. But researchers need to find a way to apply the technology to solar panels that are made with copper indium gallium selenide, called CIGS, or cadmium telluride, called CdTe.

Under the agreement, researchers will create low-cost flexible barrier films and evaluate substrate materials for solar panels, which are also called photovoltaics, or PVs. Both the film and substrate must be able to survive harsh ultraviolet rays and natural elements like rain and hail for 25 years.

The agreement also calls for researchers to develop a manufacturing process for the flexible panels that can be readily adapted to large-scale production. If successful, this process will reduce solar panel manufacturing costs to less than $1 per watt of power, which would be competitive with the 10 cents per kilowatt-hour that a utility would charge.

"Vitex is proud to continue its long, successful relationship with PNNL," said Martin Rosenblum, Vitex's vice president of operations and engineering. "Vitex is excited to further its Barix™ technology's proven barrier performance for photovoltaics toward mass manufacturing. Together, we look forward to creating a product that will help alleviate America's dependence on foreign oil and increase America's access to an abundant renewable energy source - the sun."

Battelle, which is the majority shareholder of Vitex, is optimistic that this research agreement will contribute to a new way of generating solar power. Battelle recently increased its investment in Vitex for new state-of-the-art thin film encapsulation equipment and expanded its intellectual property portfolio.

"We're confident that Vitex will be uniquely positioned to help meet the demand for flexible solar panels, OLED displays and lighting that should rise along with the economy," said Martin Inglis, Battelle's chief financial officer.

PNNL's research efforts will be paid for with up to $350,000 from the DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technology Commercialization Fund. Last year, DOE announced that up to $1.5 million from the fund would be available to PNNL for projects that help commercialize technologies that reduce energy use or tap renewable energy sources. Because the fund requires commercial partners to match funding, Vitex will provide up to $350,900 of in-kind labor, equipment and materials for this project.

About Vitex Systems Inc.

headquartered in San Jose, Calif., licenses a proprietary encapsulation solution, Barix™, as well as deposition systems and next-generation flexible barrier substrates, that enable the cost-effective production of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays that are lighter and thinner than any other commercially available displays. Vitex's technology can also be used to address a wide array of photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications. The company was incubated at Battelle, the world's largest independent private non-profit research foundation, and was spun off as an independent company.

About Battelle

is the world's largest non-profit independent research and development organization, providing innovative solutions to the world's most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management, National Security, Energy Technology, and Health and Life Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $5.2 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 20,400 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories which Battelle manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and two international laboratories—a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom and a renewable energy lab in Malaysia.

[PNL]

Gecchelin reasons if Apple were to go small, flexibility may be more important than hard rigidness - a trend current Apple laptops buck because they’re in favor of unibody construction. Flexible OLED technology may be the key because it can provide the rich color and resolution density needed for a smaller screen without being a power hog and resists damage by its malleable nature. The thinnest screens now are barely 8mm thick and can fold like a piece of paper.

The core of this concept is a technology he calls iSpine. Like the spine of a book, the tech avoid excessive compression on the screen, yet allows the laptop to sit in multiple viewing positions. Go from a normal laptop with screen and touchscreen board - to a large widescreen canvas for drawing, presentation or movie watching. To keep everything minimal, ports like power, the mini display, and additional USB are externalized on a “Magic Dock” to keep most of the laptop slim and clean of an array of holes and plugs.

The Kyocera EOS can be used in its folded-up shape for simple phone calls, unfolds to reveal a wide screen, and we were excited to hear that the it derives its energy from human interaction. The more you use the phone, the more kinetic energy is turned into an electric charge through an array of tiny piezoelectric generators. In other words, you’ll never have to worry about leaving the house with a semi-charged cell phone again.

The EOS is still in the early design stage, but Kyocera teams in San Diego and Bangalore hope to integrate concepts from the device into cell phone lineups in the near future. Maybe future versions of the EOS will follow Samsung and LG’s lead and use solar power in addition to kinetic energy

[inhabitat]