58 patents
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Utility
Multijunction Solar Cells
2 Mar 23
A multijunction solar cell including an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap and positioned for receiving an incoming light beam; a second solar subcell disposed below and adjacent to and lattice matched with said upper first solar subcell, and having a second band gap smaller than said first band gap; wherein at least one of the solar subcells has a graded band gap throughout the thickness of at least a portion of the active layer.
John Hart, Daniel Derkacs, Zachary Bittner, Andrew Espenlaub
Filed: 6 Sep 22
Utility
Multijunction Metamorphic Solar Cell
2 Mar 23
A multijunction solar cell comprising a first solar subcell having a first band gap; a second solar subcell disposed adjacent to said first solar subcell and including an emitter layer, and a base layer having a second band gap less than the first band gap, and being lattice mismatched with the upper first solar subcell, and an intermediate layer directly adjacent to and disposed between first and the second solar subcells and compositionally graded to lattice match the first solar subcell on one side and the second solar subcell on the other side, and arranged so that light can enter and pass through the first solar subcell and at least a portion of which can be reflected back into the first solar subcell by the intermediate layer, and is composed of a plurality of layers of materials with discontinuities in their respective indices of refraction.
Daniel Derkacs, John Hart, Zachary Bittner, Andrew Espenlaub
Filed: 8 Aug 22
Utility
Interconnection of neighboring solar cells on a flexible supporting film
28 Feb 23
A method of fabricating a solar cell assembly comprising a plurality of solar cells mounted on a flexible support, the support comprising a conductive layer on the top surface thereof divided into two electrically isolated portions—a first conductive portion and a second conductive portion.
Daniel Aiken, Daniel Derkacs
Filed: 4 Jan 21
Utility
System and method to attach and remove space vehicles
7 Feb 23
A system and method for installing, deploying, and recovering a plurality of spacecraft that provides an ease of use and structural stability, and facilitates a standardization of spacecraft design.
Walter Holemans, Ryan Williams
Filed: 21 Dec 21
Utility
Recovery of a final stage of a spacecraft launch vehicle
31 Jan 23
After deploying its payload, the final stage of a launch vehicle is maneuvered to couple the nosecone of the launch vehicle to the ‘rear’, or ‘engine-end’ of the final stage.
Walter Holemans, Ryan Williams
Filed: 9 Sep 20
Utility
Multijunction solar cells
31 Jan 23
A multijunction solar cell including an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap and positioned for receiving an incoming light beam; a second solar subcell disposed below and adjacent to and lattice matched with said upper first solar subcell, and having a second band gap smaller than said first band gap; wherein the upper first solar subcell covers less than the entire upper surface of the second solar subcell, leaving an exposed portion of the second solar subcell that lies in the path of the incoming light beam.
Daniel Derkacs, Daniel McGlynn
Filed: 13 Jul 20
Utility
Method of fabricating multijunction solar cells for space applications
24 Jan 23
A method of fabricating a four junction solar cell having an upper first solar subcell composed of a semiconductor material including aluminum and having a first band gap; a second solar subcell adjacent to said first solar subcell and composed of a semiconductor material having a second band gap smaller than the first band gap and being lattice matched with the upper first solar subcell; a third solar subcell adjacent to said second solar subcell and composed of a semiconductor material having a third band gap smaller than the second band gap and being lattice matched with the second solar subcell; and a fourth solar subcell adjacent to and lattice matched with said third solar subcell and composed of a semiconductor material having a fourth band gap smaller than the third band gap; wherein the fourth subcell has a direct bandgap of greater than 0.75 eV.
Daniel Derkacs, Daniel McGlynn
Filed: 7 Jul 16
Utility
Airfoil Body
8 Dec 22
An airfoil body for an aircraft extending from an inner end to an outer end, and between a leading edge and a trailing edge, comprising an airfoil skin, a planar sheet disposed below the airfoil skin including an array of transducer elements attached to the planar sheet comprising one or more of: (i) an array of semiconductor sensors not including solar cells; (ii) an antenna array and (iii) thermal transfer elements.
Matthew Kruse
Filed: 19 Aug 22
Utility
Multijunction Metamorphic Solar Cells
8 Dec 22
A multijunction solar cell including interconnected first and second discrete semiconductor regions disposed adjacent and parallel to each other including first top solar subcell, second (and possibly third) lattice matched middle solar subcells; a graded interlayer adjacent to the last middle solar subcell; and a bottom solar subcell adjacent to said graded interlayer being lattice mismatched with respect to the last middle solar subcell; wherein an opening is provided from the bottom side of the semiconductor body to one or more of the solar subcells so as to allow a discrete electrical connector to be made extending in free space and to electrically connect contact pads on one or more of the solar subcells.
Daniel Derkacs
Filed: 17 Aug 22
Utility
Inverted Metamorphic Multijunction Solar Cells Having a Permanent Supporting Substrate
8 Dec 22
A method of manufacturing a solar cell that includes providing a semiconductor growth substrate; depositing on said growth substrate a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a solar cell; applying a metal contact layer over said sequence of layers; affixing the adhesive polyimide surface of a permanent supporting substrate directly over said metal contact layer and permanently bonding it thereto by a thermocompressive technique; and removing the semiconductor growth substrate.
Arthur B. Cornfeld, Jeff Steinfeldt
Filed: 17 Aug 22
Utility
Multijunction Solar Cell
3 Nov 22
A multijunction solar cell including a substrate and a top (or light-facing) solar subcell having an emitter layer, a base layer, and a window layer adjacent to the emitter layer, the window layer composed of a material that is optically transparent, has a band gap of greater than 2.6 eV, and includes an appropriately arranged multilayer antireflection coating on the top surface thereof.
Daniel Derkacs, Andrew Colin Espenlaub
Filed: 28 Apr 22
Utility
Airfoil body
1 Nov 22
An airfoil body for an aircraft extending from an inner end to an outer end, and between a leading edge and a trailing edge.
Matthew Kruse
Filed: 31 Oct 20
Utility
Multijunction solar cells
25 Oct 22
A multijunction solar cell including an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap and positioned for receiving an incoming light beam; a second solar subcell disposed below and adjacent to and lattice matched with said upper first solar subcell, and having a second band gap smaller than said first band gap; wherein at least one of the solar subcells has a graded band gap throughout the thickness of at least a portion of the active layer.
John Hart, Daniel Derkacs, Zachary Bittner, Andrew Espenlaub
Filed: 3 Sep 21
Utility
Multijunction Solar Cells for Low Temperature Operation
20 Oct 22
A multijunction solar cell includes an upper solar subcell, a bottom solar subcell adjacent to the upper solar subcell, a layer of light scattering elements below and directly adjacent to the bottom solar subcell, and a metallic layer disposed below and adjacent to the layer of light scattering elements.
Daniel Derkacs
Filed: 1 Jul 22
Utility
Solar Cell Module on Flexible Supporting Film
13 Oct 22
A solar cell module comprising a plurality of solar cells mounted on a flexible support, the support comprising a conductive layer on the top surface thereof divided into two electrically isolated portions—a first conductive portion and a second conductive portion.
Daniel Aiken, Daniel Derkacs
Filed: 12 May 22
Utility
Multijunction Solar Cells with Shifted Junction
6 Oct 22
A multijunction solar cell including an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap and positioned for receiving an incoming light beam; a second solar subcell disposed below and adjacent to and lattice matched with said upper first solar subcell, and having a second band gap smaller than said first band gap; wherein the ratio of the thickness of the emitter layer to the thickness of the base layer in at least one of the solar subcells is between 5:1 and 1:1.
Daniel Derkacs
Filed: 1 Apr 21
Utility
Inverted metamorphic multijunction solar cells having a permanent supporting substrate
23 Aug 22
The present disclosure provides a method of manufacturing a solar cell that includes providing a semiconductor growth substrate; depositing on said growth substrate a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a solar cell; applying a metal contact layer over said sequence of layers; affixing the adhesive polyimide surface of a permanent supporting substrate directly over said metal contact layer and permanently bonding it thereto by a thermocompressive technique; and removing the semiconductor growth substrate.
Arthur Cornfeld, Jeff Steinfeldt
Filed: 10 Jun 20
Utility
Inverted Metamorphic Multijunction Solar Cell
11 Aug 22
A solar cell comprising an epitaxial sequence of layers of semiconductor material thrilling at least a first and second solar subcells; a semiconductor contact layer disposed on the bottom surface of the second solar subcell; a reflective metal layer disposed below the semiconductor contact layer such that the reflectivity of the reflective metal layer is greater than 80% in the wavelength range 850 to 2000 nm, for reflecting light back into the second solar subcell.
Clayton Cozzan, John Hart, Michael W. Riley, Christopher Kerestes
Filed: 11 Apr 22
Utility
Multijunction Solar Cells
4 Aug 22
A multijunction solar cell including an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap and positioned for receiving an incoming light beam; a second solar subcell disposed below and adjacent to and lattice matched with said upper first solar subcell, and having a second band gap smaller than said first band gap; wherein at least one of the solar subcells has a graded band gap throughout the thickness of at least a portion of the active layer.
Daniel Derkacs, John Hart, Zachary Bittner, Andrew Colin Espenlaub
Filed: 3 Sep 21
Utility
Multijunction Solar Cells
28 Jul 22
A multijunction solar cell including an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap and positioned for receiving an incoming light beam; a second solar subcell disposed below and adjacent to and lattice matched with said upper first solar subcell, and having a second band gap smaller than said first band gap; wherein at least one of the solar subcells has a graded band gap throughout the thickness of at least a portion of the active layer of the one solar subcell.
Daniel Derkacs, John Hart, Zachary Bittner, Andrew Colin Espenlaub
Filed: 13 Jan 22