Innovative Integration of Flexible CIGS Photovoltaics for High Altitude Airships

"A new generation of Lighter than Air (LTA) vehicles is being developed to provide continuous, geostationary presence at a sufficient altitude to negate interference from weather and other atmospheric interaction. Military applications for these vehiclesinclude surveillance, communications, threat detection, and even as stationary platforms for missile and kinetic energy weapons. ITN Energy Systems, Inc. (ITN) has been working with Lockheed Martin in Akron, OH towards the development of a high-altitude,heavy lifting geostationary airship that is powered by lightweight, flexible copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) thin film photovoltaics. While the initial vehicle will likely involve the attachment of self-contained flexible PV arrays to the hull, theproposed effort investigates direct integration of our flexible CIGS photovoltaics both onto and into the proposed hull fabric. Advantages of this approach are simplified construction and reduced weight over mechanical attachment of self-contained flexiblePV arrays. Commercial applications of this approach include the non-military utilization of the high-altitude airship concept for high-speed Internet, wireless communications, surveillance, and wireless cable television. Direct extrapolation of this effortcan also lead to direct integration of PV into fabric for tents and support structures for both commercial and military use. simplified construction, reduced weight, simplified main