The Power of Design: Product Innovation in Sustainable Energy Technologies

C.4 The “Flower Cell”

The ABC set and figurative cell fulfill both the demands and wishes. The ABC set has geometric lines, while the figurative cell has curved lines and is less familiar. Curved lines are difficult to screen print, and it is possible that these lines are incompletely filled with metal paste. To demonstrate that this contact pattern is producible, the figurative cell is chosen for detailing. This figurative cell has an abstract flower-shaped contact pattern and is named the flower cell.

A standard multicrystalline Si wafer was used as the foundation for the flower cell. The cell's dimensions were 15.6 × 15.6 cm, and the four final contact points have been located at the same location of the H cell for interconnections. The cells were blue colored and had the same finger pattern. The flower cell was inspired by the poppies of Andy Warhol's Flowers 1. The idea was to have a pattern that can be interpreted not only as a flower but also as a different figure. The detailing of the design was executed in several steps.

Firstly, pictures of flowers were gathered. A selection of flower shapes was collected in a collage (Figure C.4.1).

Figure C.4.1 Collage of flower shapes

Secondly, many sketches of possible flowers were developed. One flower was selected for the contact pattern, which is shown in Figure C.4.2. This cell can be used in four different configurations due ...