Aspects of the disclosure relate to high altitude or stratospheric balloon systems. For instance, a stratospheric balloon system may include a an upper structure, a lower structure, a platform associated with the lower structure, a stack of solar panels positioned on the platform, each solar panel coupled to an adjacent solar panel, at least one tension element connected, at a first end thereof, to the upper structure and, at a second end thereof, to the platform, and a first flexible tension member coupled, at a first end thereof, to the upper structure and to foremost solar panel of the stack of solar panels. Solar panels may be stacked in a “Z-fold” configuration with either solar cells of the adjacent solar panels facing one another or the frames of the adjacent solar panels facing one another. In this configuration, the adjacent solar panels are connected by a hinge system.
Deployable solar panels for high-altitude balloons
2022-08-16
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | H02S GENERATION OF ELECTRIC POWER BY CONVERSION OF INFRA-RED RADIATION, VISIBLE LIGHT OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT, E.G. USING PHOTOVOLTAIC [PV] MODULES , Erzeugung elektrischer Energie durch Umwandlung von Infrarot-Strahlung, sichtbarem Licht oder ultraviolettem Licht, z.B. unter Verwendung von Photovoltaik [PV]-Modulen / B64B LIGHTER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT , Luftfahrzeuge leichter als Luft |