The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 28, 1993
Filed:
Feb. 24, 1992
Louis M Fraas, Issaquah, WA (US);
James E Avery, Fall City, WA (US);
The Boeing Company, Seattle, WA (US);
Abstract
A photovoltaic cell (20) with a single pn-junction (46) is disclosed that is capable of functioning as both a current source and a bypass diode. The photovoltaic cell is made of material that has a low bandgap energy, 1.0 eV, or less. One version of the photovoltaic cell is formed of a GaSb wafer doped with Te to form an n-region (22); the Te concentration is between 3 and 15.times.10.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3. Multiple photovoltaic cells of this invention can be connected in series and placed in parallel across a like number of photovoltaic cells (76) that do not function as tunnel diodes in order to form a power-generating array (70). The photovoltaic cells are arranged in tandem pairs so that the photovoltaic cells (76), which are transparent to the light absorbed by the photovoltaic cells (20), overlie the photovoltaic cells (20). In the event one of the photovoltaic cell pairs (20, 76) is rendered inactive, current will flow through the inactive photovoltaic cell (20) to minimize the drop in output current from the array.