Page 66 - Solar Power in Building Design The Engineer's Complete Design Resource

36 SOLAR POWER TECHNOLOGIES

Figure 2.15 Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, Los Angeles, California. Photo courtesy of Solar Integrated
Technologies.

a comprehensive real-time data acquisition and monitoring system whereby customers
are able to monitor exactly the amount of solar power being generated with real-time
metering for effective energy management and utility bill reconciliation. Figure 2.15
depicts installation of Solar Integrated Technologies system in Coca-Cola Bottling
Plant, Los Angeles, California

Custom-fabricated BIPV solar cells Essentially BIPV is a term commonly used
to designate a custom-made assembly of solar panels specifically designed and man-
ufactured to be used as an integral part of building architecture. These panels are used
as architectural ornaments such as window and building entrance canopies, solariums,
curtain walls, and architectural monuments.
The basic fabrication of BIPV cells consists of lamination of mono- or polycrys-
talline silicon cells which are sandwiched between two specially manufactured tem-
pered glass plates referred to as a glass-on-glass assembly. A variety of cells arranged
in different patterns and spacing are sealed and packaged in the same process as
described previously in this chapter. Prefabricated cell wafers used by BIPV fabrica-
tors are generally purchased from major solar power manufacturers. Figure 2.16
depicts Atlantis Energy system BIPV manufacturing robotics machine.
Fabrication of BIPV cells involves complete automation whereby the entire assem-
bly is performed by special robotic equipment which can be programmed to implement
solar cell configuration layout, lamination, sealing and framing, in a clean room envi-
ronmental setting without any manual labor intervention. Some solar power fabricators