Novel Techniques for the Integration of Antennas and Photovoltaic Cells
Royal Irish Academy Research Colloquium on Wireless as an Enabling Technology: Innovation for a Critical Infrastructure, Dublin, Ireland, 21/04/2010
Abstract
Various novel approaches to the integration of antenna and photovoltaic technologies are proposed. These include the use of polycrystalline solar cells as groundplane for microstrip patch antennas as well as for reflectors of half-wave dipole antennas. Transparent materials were also evaluated as antenna radiating elements, allowing greater solar efficiency. A novel technique illustrating how emitter-wrap-through rear contact solar cells can be used as a folded-dipole antenna, which is located in the focal line of a parabolic solar concentrator, to provide high solar efficiency as well as high antenna gain, is presented.