Konarka Technologies, Inc., announced it is developing solar photovoltaic (PV) fabric with Swiss University Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL).
The joint project is expected to produce the firest fully integrated woven PV material. That means PV will be able to woven into garments, tents or coverings.
Said Daniel Patrick McGahn, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Konarka. “We’ll be able to offer to the marketplace practical new products, such as wearable power generation for mobile electronics made from the solar fabric.”
Konarka has previously demonstrated it can produce a working photovoltaic fiber. To weave a fabric, Konarka and EPFL will optimize the strength, thickness and electrical performance of the photovoltaic fiber. In addition, the team will work to interweave fibers so as to maximize the performance of the textile without compromising the fibers’ integrity. The goal is to produce a fabric sample with at least a four percent efficiency rating.
The EPFL team is led by Dr. Jan-Anders Manson, the director of the Laboratory of Composite and Polymer Technology, who is well known for his work as the scientific coordinator for the EPFL-Alinghi Project, which designed the yacht that won the 2003 Americas Cup. The undertaking is expected to last one year and is funded by the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI). CTI promotes the rapid conversion of state-of-the-art laboratory findings to marketable products through cooperation between educational institutions and industry.
This new endeavor further deepens Konarka’s close relationship with the university. In 2002, Konarka became the first company in the United States to license Dr. Michael Grtzel’s dye-sensitized solar cell technology, which augmented its own intellectual property. Since then, Dr. Grtzel has served as a senior scientific advisor to the Company, helping it to commercialize its light-activated plastic power.
Loading...