Solar Panels You Can Walk On

[marshmat]

Also, you do understand these things have a limited "useful" life span?

In some cases this lifespan is a year or two. In others it can be fifty years or more.

The lifespan of photovoltaic cells seems to be dependent mainly on two factors:
(1) The encapsulation of the cells, and their protection from weather;
(2) The stability of the distribution of doping impurities within the silicon crystal, a function of the cell's design, chemistry and manufacturing process.

There's nothing an end user can do, or know, about the second point, because this is proprietary information and, without a background in semiconductor device design, is useless information anyway.

The first point, encapsulation and protection, is vastly more important in terrestrial applications. Conveniently, it is also the one the end user can control.

Try using the cell bare and unprotected. I bet you'll break it within hours.

Now try mounting it between a couple of sheets of Plexiglas. You might get a few years out of it now, but could still kill it in weeks if you're not careful.

Now seal it in an argon-filled chamber under a piece of tempered glass. If the seals are good, your cell could last for decades. Note that the seals have to be good. Whatever gas is in there, air, nitrogen or argon, if water gets in there your array's going downhill pretty quick.

Finally, wrap it in a reinforced encapsulation such as Gochermann's system. Costs a fortune, but you can now bend, hit and vibrate a fragile, monocrystalline cell without hurting it. Put this under glass and your array is immune to just about all normal weather for as long as you live, probably more.

And keep the thing cool. High temperatures allow the critical trace impurities that give the silicon crystal its photovoltaic properties to diffuse deeper into the cell, accelerating its demise.

[ElectricFlyGuy]

If that were the case, I would go the extra mile of installing a sheet of 3/4 or 1 inch plexiglass or lexan over the panels. Scott.

Originally Posted by justinDesign

I am currently designing a vessel with a large deck and wish to incorporate solar panels into this deck, however this deck is intended to be walked on. Does anyone know of a solar panel that one can walk on without damaging and do they get hot. Could you walk on them with bare feet if they exist. Please let me know if such a panel exists and the manufacturer if possible.

Thanks