Tesla, Inc.

Kaleb A Klauber

Peter P Nguyen

Bobby Yang

Piotr Zajac

Seth M Winger

Charles Bernardo Almy

Brian Edward Atchley

Jiunn Benjamin Heng

Alex Christopher Mayer

Alex Mayer

Andreas Meisel

Scott Tripp

Jennifer L Wang

Brian E Atchley

One embodiment can provide a photovoltaic roof tile module. The photovoltaic roof tile module can include a front cover, a back cover assembly, photovoltaic structures positioned between the front cover and back cover assembly, and an internal circuit component electrically coupled to the photovoltaic structures. The internal circuit component is positioned between the front cover and the back cover assembly. The back cover assembly can include at least one through hole and a metallic plug inserted inside the through hole. A first surface of the metallic plug can electrically couple to the internal circuit component, and a second opposite surface of the metallic plug can be exposed to surroundings external to the photovoltaic roof tile module, thereby facilitating electrical coupling between the photovoltaic roof tile module and another photovoltaic roof tile module.

External electrical contact for solar roof tiles

One embodiment can provide a photovoltaic roof tile module. The photovoltaic roof tile module can include a front glass cover, a back glass cover, a plurality of photovoltaic structures positioned between the front and back glass covers, and an internal circuit component electrically coupled to the plurality of photovoltaic structures. The internal circuit component is positioned between the front and back glass covers. The back glass cover can include at least one through hole and a metallic plug inserted inside the through hole. A first surface of the metallic plug can electrically couple to the internal circuit component, and a second opposite surface of the metallic plug can be exposed to surroundings external to the photovoltaic roof tile module, thereby facilitating electrical coupling between the photovoltaic roof tile module and another photovoltaic roof tile module.

One embodiment provides a solar roof tile module. The module includes a plurality of solar roof tiles positioned side by side and one or more tile spacers. The tiles are electrically and mechanically coupled to each other. A tile spacer is positioned between two adjacent solar roof tiles, thereby preventing water leakage. A solar roof tile can include a front cover, a back cover, and a plurality of photovoltaic strips positioned between the front and back covers. Each photovoltaic strip includes a first edge busbar located on an edge of a first surface and a second edge busbar located on an opposite edge of a second surface, and the photovoltaic strips are arranged in such a way that the first edge busbar of a photovoltaic strip overlaps with a second edge busbar of an adjacent photovoltaic strip, thereby forming a serial connection among the photovoltaic strips.

Packaging for solar roof tiles

One embodiment can provide a photovoltaic roof module. The photovoltaic roof module can include a plurality photovoltaic roof tiles. A respective photovoltaic roof tile can include a glass front cover, a back cover that includes glass of photovoltaic backsheet, and a plurality of photovoltaic structures encapsulated between the glass front cover and the back cover by an encapsulant. The photovoltaic roof tile can be configured to function as a roof tile when placed on a rooftop of a building, thereby protecting the building from weather elements.

System and method for packaging photovoltaic roof tiles

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Oakland, CA, United States of America

Kaleb A Klauber