Solar cells and cards
2 June 2004
Power Electronics / Power Management
Ixys has released a new range of solar cell PV-Arrays (solar arrays), and PV-Cards (solar cards), for charging various battery powered and handheld products such as mobile phones, PDAs, cameras and toys as well as for industrial applications such as wireless sensors and portable instrumentation.
With an efficiency of over 17%, the company says these Solar PV arrays enable the ability to extend run time even in 'low light' conditions and increase battery run time and life in a small footprint.
The PV-Array family of products, as well as a PV-Card consists of multiple series/parallel-connected solar cells, which provides a range of output voltages at currents from 30 to 100 mA. The cells are proprietary mono-crystalline, high efficient Ixolar cell technology. There are four different cell areas available: 120 mm2, 240 mm2, 360 mm2, and 480 mm2.
The XOA17-12-04 PV-Array has four Ixolar solar cells connected in series on a PCB. With an area of 480 mm2, this array generates typically 72 mW and 2,4 V as an open circuit voltage (Voc) making it ideal for portable electronic instruments, remote sensors, military and civilian portable wireless communication, consumer products like: PDAs, MP3 Players, and for emergency backup battery power. The PV-Card product family, however, is constructed using Ixys' proprietary DCB (direct copper bonded) ceramic as the substrate for the solar cells. The advantages of DCB substrates are improved thermal conductivity and better reliability due to similar thermal expansion coefficients. In addition, it can be patterned to mount additional chips such as a Schottky diode to prevent discharging of batteries during night-time.
PV-Cards are ideal for higher power outdoor concentrator applications such as for battery backup in commercial and telecom equipment. The PV-Cards available are the XOA17-12-14D (58 x 48 mm2) and capable of 225 mW and Voc = 8,4 V and the XOA17-36-10DS (106,7 x 46,7 mm2) with up to 500 mW. The latter has two strings of five series-connected cells that can be either connected in series to generate Voc = 2 x 3,1 V = 6,2 V or in parallel.
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