solar cell
A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.Sylmar, California. It is a subsidiary of The Boeing Company, and part of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. Spectrolab was founded in 1956 by Alfred E. Mann, a billionaire American
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
and
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
. Spectrolab was originally a division of Textron. Spectrolab was acquired by Hughes Aircraft Company in 1975 and became a subsidiary of Hughes until its sale to Boeing in 2000.
The company states its "NeXt Triple Junction" high efficiency solar cells have a minimum average efficiency of 29.5% to AIAA-2005-111 and AIAA-2005-112 requirements. In 2006 testing at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory demonstrated an efficiency of 40.7% using triple-junction solar cells developed by Spectrolab under concentration.
In 2013, testing at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory demonstrated an efficiency of 38.7% without concentration, a new world record at the time.
Spectrolab claims to have manufactured over 4 million space qualified multi-junction solar cells or solar panels to the industry as of 2013.
Spectrolab has recently geared its highly efficient space solar cell technology for terrestrial purposes with great success using concentrators. Spectrolab's terrestrial concentrating cell boasts greater than 30% AM1.5D min. avg. efficiency from 200 to 400 Suns concentration in production.
Solar Cells
The company's ultra triple junction solar cells use exotic materials like
germanium
Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid in the carbon group that is chemically similar to its group neighbo ...