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:
Nov. 06, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 28, 2000
Daniel S. Shugar, San Bruno, CA (US);
Thomas L. Dinwoodie, Piedmont, CA (US);
PowerLight Corporation, Berkeley, CA (US);
Abstract
A PV roof assembly (,) includes a roof (,) mountable to an electric car (,), and a PV assembly (,) at the upper part of the roof. The PV assembly may be mounted to a separate roof surface (,) or the PV assembly may itself constitute all or part of the roof. The PV assembly may include a monolithic PV panel (,) with a plurality of PV cells (,). The roof may define a storage region (,) accessible through a closable access opening (,). The roof may include a circumferential lip (,) which extends around and above the PV assembly to help prevent damage to the PV panel. The roof may include a protective, at least semi-transparent top layer (,), an at least semi-transparent bottom layer (,) and a semi-transparent PV layer (,) secured between and in contact with the top and bottom layers to create a roof which is itself semi-transparent. The ratio of PV cells to the number of battery cells may be chosen to create a self-regulating design. A misting system (,) with roof-mounted misting outlets (,) can be used for enhanced comfort during hot weather. A graphical display may be used to provide the driver with, for example, energy production and battery charge level.