Electrodynamic Dust Shield Coating Pattern for Solar Cells

Implementation of EDS inside the solar array cover glass is a major interest for the Photovoltaic and Electrochemical Systems Branch at NASA GRC. The technology is currently at TRL 3 for this application, because it has not yet been implemented on an IMM solar array cover glass. The project will culminate in a prototype solar array cover glass with embedded EDS electrodes. This proposal is a development step beyond the Materials International Space Station Experiment-11 (MISSE-11). The MISSE-11 project is exposing EDS samples to the low Earth orbit environment outside the ISS. The GRC team will conduct solar cell testing with their multi-source solar simulator as well as ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectrophotometry. The optimized EDS parameters will be used to build a prototype sample that can be flown on a future ISS flight.

The team will design an electrode pattern for the solar cell EDS. The design will minimize the optical interference on the pristine solar cell while maintaining the 100% dust clearing efficiency of the current EDS.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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