Portable, lightweight, amalgamated thin-film photovoltaic/battery combination

This Small Business Innovation Research program is to develop a novel technology for fabricating amalgamated thin-film photovoltaic solar cell/lithium-ion battery energy devices. Such devices involve the development of Reveo's novel thin film solar cells and Reveo's novel thin film lithium-ion batteries. The solar cell and battery are nicely organized together through a novel charging/discharging controller for hybrid systems to function as a single unit for providing power and charging the battery in daylight, while continuing to supply electric power via battery discharging in darkness. The proposed technology takes advantages of dye-sensitized solar cells and overcomes the technical problems associated with thin film dye-sensitized photovoltaics and lithium-ion batteries. The result of the combined systems will be used to power a variety of portable electronic devices. Phase I activities will include designing and fabricating a power supply unit of the hybrid device suitable for portable application. The unit will provide 50 watts power at 28 volts in either the photovoltaic/charging or battery-only mode. The battery should be fully charged within 6 hrs even in cloudy daylight. Phase II activities will involve optimizing and delivering a portable, self-contained power system to operate actual devices comparable to or exceeding conventional batteries.