OUR TECHNOLOGY
The science used in our solar cell technology is
based on an invention entitled, “Photovoltaic
cell with integral light transmitting waveguide in a
ceramic sleeve”, and utilizes Cadmium/Tellurium
Cadmium/Sulfide powders layered in a ceramic sleeve
with a copper back contact. The solar cell can
utilize a variety of materials in powdered form
layered in a ceramic sleeve with a conductive metal
back contact. The ceramic sleeve eliminates the
need for vacuum chambers or a vat with a molten
material. A removable lens is clamped on to the
cell. By having a removable lens, we are able to
repair or add materials to the cell if necessary
unlike existing technology. The cell utilizes a
wave guide to carry light through the cell. In
addition, the wave guide can photo generate an
electrical potential in the cell. The material and
amount of layers determines voltage while amperage
is dependent in part upon particle size. In
essence, a multiple stacked solar cell using a wave
guide transfers the square conversion area of the
solar cell exposed to the sun from the horizontal to
the vertical.
Our patent pending technology incorporates a process
that is conducive to manufacturing using a batch
process. This is possible because the solar cell
cylinder itself replaces the necessity to use
expensive vacuum chambers during production. We
believe this approach is the most expeditious and
cost-effective alternative to development of
manufacturing capability. Consequently, since the
batch processing approach is highly labor intensive,
Nuvo has executed a definitive agreement with
Pioneer Materials, Inc. to establish a
pilot manufacturing facility in China due to the
fact that the only independent mine and refining
operations for Cadmium/Tellurium production known to
the Company in the world is located in China. In
addition, over 50 companies in China have announced
refining capacity for Silicon. Cadmium/Tellurium
and Silicon are some of the raw materials that can
be used in our production process.
Our technology uses a ceramic
sleeve as a receptacle for the various materials
used for a solar cell. The ceramic sleeve replaces
typical equipment such as expensive vacuum chambers
thereby permitting the interchangeability of
materials. Production processes using a vacuum
chamber in many cases cannot interchange materials
because of contamination issues. We believe that by
utilizing the technology, if a shortage of one type
of material occurs, a shift can be made quickly and
economically to a more cost effective but
complementary material.
The materials that can be used in these cells goes
from soft materials like Cadmium/Tellurium to hard
materials like Silicon.
A
recently published independent report by the
Joannopoulos Research Group at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”)
determined that light trapping was increased by 37%
by wave guides they placed into photovoltaic cells. This was
accomplished by placing clear crystal particles as
waveguides within the solar cell’s layered or
stacked semiconductor materials.
We believe our technology
offers a number of significant advantages in light
trapping efficiencies and certain production
economies compared to current technologies.
We believe our technology can increase light
trapping even further than the MIT method by
inter-dispersing these clear crystal particles in a
random manner.
In addition, these wave guides allow even more
layers of photovoltaic materials to be put down. The
wave guides bring the light down even further than
the few microns it can now travel in most
materials.
We believe these ceramic sleeve
solar cells with wave guides lend themselves to
ideal cells for use in a concentrator
system and other specialty
applications.
How it works
The Company’s photovoltaic cells consist of:
·
An initial semiconductor layer, comprised of N type
semiconductor
material having a top surface and a bottom surface.
Light-transmitting particles are interspersed within
the N type semiconductor material; and
·
A second semiconductor layer, consisting of P type
semiconductor material having a top surface and a
bottom surface. Light-transmitting particles are
interspersed within the P type semiconductor
material. The top surface of the second layer is in
direct physical and electrical contact with the
bottom surface of the first layer to form an N-P
junction
The generation of electrical current from the lower
N-P junctions of a stacked multi-layer photovoltaic
cell results from the transmission of light through
each semiconductor layer to the lower semiconductor
layers. As a result, photovoltaic cells are produced
which exhibit greater current-generating capacity
for a given surface area of sunlight exposure.
The technology utilizes light-transmitting materials
reduced to a powder form, typically through grinding
the material to a size of 5 micrometers to 150
micrometers, followed by a further reduction in the
particle size to 400 to 800 nanometers.
A wave guide carries light through the cell. This is
achieved by exciting metallic structures that cause
the conduction electrons to oscillate. Conduction
electrons improve the absorption and emission of
light from thin planar semiconductor layers by
coupling the light with the wave guide modes of the
semiconductor layer. Enhancing absorption through
the use of conduction electrons also avoids the
increase in surface recombination that occurs with
conventional light-trapping methods.
Source: www.pv.unsw.edu.au/Research/3gp_Surface_Plasmons.asp
The
wave guide mode concentrates electrical potential in
the cell. The material and amount of layers
determines voltage while amperage is determined by
particle size. The multiple stacked solar cell and
wave guide mode enables sunlight- exposed conversion
areas to be maximized by shifting the orientation
from horizontal to vertical.
In addition, the technology enables PV cells to be
packaged in any desired physical shape and with a
reduced overall surface area such as cubes or
elongated tubular structures designed to fit within
specific size and shape constraints. This design
flexibility greatly reduces the difficulty and costs
of
shipping, storing, deploying, and securing large
solar module arrays.
