HIGH IMPACT AND LOAD BEARING SOLAR GLASS FOR A CONCENTRATED LARGE AREA SOLAR MODULE AND METHOD

摘要

A solar module device. The device has a substrate having a surface region. The device has one or more photovoltaic regions overlying the surface region of the substrate. In a preferred embodiment, each of the photovoltaic strips is derived from dicing a solar cell in to each of the strips. Each of the strips is a functional solar cell. The device also has an impact resistant glass member having a plurality of elongated concentrating elements spatially arranged in parallel configuration and operably coupled respectively to the plurality of elongated concentrating elements. Preferably, the impact resistant glass has a strength of at least 3X greater than a soda lime glass, e.g., conventional soda lime glass for conventional solar cells, e.g., a low iron soda lime glass. In a preferred embodiment, the impact resistant glass member comprises a planar region and a concentrator region comprising the plurality of elongated concentrating element spatially arranged in parallel configuration.