Document Type
Article
Rights
Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence
Abstract
An optically transparent microstrip patch mounted on the surface of a commercially available solar module is proposed. The patch comprises a thin sheet of clear polyester with a conductive coating. The amorphous silicon solar cells in the module are used as both photovoltaic generator and antenna ground plane. The proposed structure provides a peak gain of 3.96 dBi in the 3.4-3.8 GHz range without significantly compromising the light transmission in the module. A comparison between copper and transparent conductors is made in terms of antenna and solar performance. The proposed technique is considerably simpler that previous integration approaches.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1049/el.2010.7397
Recommended Citation
Roo Ons, M. et al. (2011) Transparent Patch Antenna on a-Si Thin Film Glass Solar Module, Electronics Letters, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 85-86, 01/2011. doi:10.1049/el.2010.7397
Funder
Science Foundation Ireland
Included in
Electromagnetics and Photonics Commons, Power and Energy Commons, Systems and Communications Commons
Publication Details
Electronics Letters, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 85-86, 2011