Flexible Photovoltaics for Fabric Structures

"Demand for electrical power in portable and temporary installations continues to increase, which adds significant logistical burden in terms of weight, maintenance, and fuel demand. Power demands include command & control operations, medical operations,lighting, chemical/biological filtering, and communications. Iowa Thin Film Technologies (ITFT) manufactures a unique, flexible, thin film photovoltaic material on plastic which can be incorporated into the skins of military tentage to significantlyreduce this logistical burden. ITFT's technology is a monolithically integrated module on plastic film manufactured using a roll-to-roll process. These factors combine to give extreme flexibility, light weight, and durability while maintaining a lowmanufacturing cost. The Phase I effort demonstrated the viability of incorporating our photovoltaic modules into fabric tent panels without seriously compromising current tentage characteristics and identified materials and process steps for achievingthis integration. Phase II will advance the effort to full scale prototype tents and test their performance and durability under representative operating conditions. Also, cost effective and manufacturable processes will be developed for producing theintegrated panels needed for tent applications."