KR101174117B1 - Buoy with dye-sensitized solar cell system and solar power generating apparatus comprising the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A buoy including a dye sensitized solar cell and a solar power generating system including the same are provided to simultaneously increase the energy output and density of a dye sensitized solar cell by connecting a plurality of unit cells in series and parallel. CONSTITUTION: A semiconductor electrode substrate includes a substrate(201a,201b), a transparent conductive layer(205a,205b), and a semiconductor material layer(204). A combination member(206a,206b) electrically connects adjacent transparent conductive layers. The combination member overlaps the end of the transparent conductive layer. A groove(207a) is formed on a horizontal surface of the semiconductor electrode substrate. A protrusion(207b) is formed on the horizontal surface of the adjacent semiconductor electrode substrate.

Description

Buoy with dye-sensitized solar cell and photovoltaic power generation system comprising same {Buoy with dye-sensitized solar cell system and solar power generating apparatus comprising the same}

The present invention relates to a buoy provided with a dye-sensitized solar cell and a photovoltaic power generation system including the same.

Buoys are installed in the ocean, and are specifically configured to emit light at night, it is used for the purpose of guiding the safe route of the marine farms, the indication of the location of the marine structures, and the ship. In recent years, it is also used for ocean observation to explore the marine ecological environment. Buoys are also used to indicate the location of objects in water, such as fishing gear and anchors. The simplest buoys used for this purpose include a flagpole on a large moxibustion in the daytime, a weight on the bottom, a flag on the upper side, and a lamp on a wooden frame at night, or an iron and moxa frame. There is a light on with the battery on.

But this is not noticeable at very long distances, so radio buoys or radio-reflective buoys are used. Radio buoys detect the direction of radio signals emitted from the buoy by the radio wave direction detector on the ship, and radio-reflective buoys are equipped with a radio reflector at the top of the buoy to reflect radio waves emitted from the radar on the ship. By coming in to find out its location.

Such a buoy should normally be configured to emit a lamp with its own power, and can rely on only a built-in battery to emit a lamp and the like. In addition, when adding elements driven by power to add various functions, there is a problem in that it is difficult to add power consumption elements due to limited power supply and demand.

On the other hand, dye-sensitized solar cells are an active area of research in recent years, including photosensitive dye molecules capable of generating electron-hole pairs that absorb visible light, and transition metal oxides that transfer generated electrons. It is a photoelectrochemical solar cell whose main component is material. A typical example of such a dye-sensitized solar cell is a photoelectrochemical solar cell published in 1991 by Michael Gratzel of Switzerland. These dye-sensitized solar cells are in the spotlight as next-generation solar cells that can replace existing silicon solar cells because they have a lower manufacturing cost and about 10% energy conversion efficiency than silicon solar cells.

One unit cell constituting the dye-sensitized solar cell includes a semiconductor electrode including a transparent conductive electrode coated with a nanocrystalline oxide on which dye molecules are adsorbed, a counter electrode including a transparent conductive electrode coated with nanoparticle metal platinum, and It consists of an electrolyte containing an iodine-based redox electrolyte and the like. By connecting the plurality of unit cells in series or in parallel to form a module, it is possible to increase the energy density or output of the dye-sensitized solar cell. In a system to which a module using such a unit cell is applied, a dye-sensitized solar cell module 103 is generally inserted between two glass plates 101 and 102 as shown in FIG. 2.

On the other hand, in order to increase the area of the dye-sensitized solar cell, the area of the semiconductor electrode or the counter electrode should also be increased, but increasing the area of the semiconductor electrode is limited. Titanium dioxide (TiO ₂ ) may be used as a material of the semiconductor electrode, which is generally applied by screen printing. At this time, the application of titanium dioxide is preferably formed as large as possible so that light can be absorbed in a large area, the thickness uniformity is lowered when applying the titanium dioxide by the screen printing method. If the thickness of the titanium dioxide is not uniform, the generation of electron-hole pairs is not spatially uniform, resulting in a lower overall efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cell.

Therefore, there is a great need for the development of a buoy using a dye-sensitized solar cell and a photovoltaic power generation system technology including the same, which can reduce the thickness of the semiconductor electrode and keep it uniform.

Therefore, the present invention is to provide a buoy with a dye-sensitized solar cell and a photovoltaic power generation system including the same.

In particular, it is to provide a buoy provided using a dye-sensitized solar cell capable of large area while maintaining uniformly the reduced thickness of the semiconductor electrode and a solar power generation system including the same.

According to one aspect of the invention, (a) the semi-circular upper case of the transparent material, (b) the semi-circular lower case of the transparent material, (c) the aspect located on the inner surface of the upper case and the lower case Discoid buoys are provided that include batteries.

In the case of the disk-shaped buoy according to the present invention, the center of gravity can be located near the surface of the water, and there is an advantage that it can stably float without being overturned on the surface of the water.

According to one embodiment, an upper assembly flange and a lower assembly flange protrude outwardly from the upper case and the lower case, respectively; The upper assembly flange and the lower assembly flange each include a plurality of upper fastening holes and a plurality of lower fastening holes; The discoid buoy is provided with a discoid buoy further comprising a fastening means penetrating the plurality of upper fastening holes and the lower fastening holes and fastening the upper case and the lower case.

In the dye-sensitized solar cell employed in the present invention, since both the semiconductor electrode and the counter electrode are transparent, power generation is possible in both directions, even when the buoy is changed up and down by one wave in an unexpected climate. Has the advantage.

In addition, in the disk-shaped buoy of the present invention, the dye-sensitized solar cell is located on the middle surface of the case in which the solar cell constitutes the upper case and the lower case, and is reflected not only by sunlight incident from the upper case but also by the sea surface. Solar power is also generated by the reflected light incident through the lower case, thereby improving power generation efficiency.

In addition, the solar power buoy according to the present invention has the advantage that it can be installed without the intermediate struts, while most of the conventional solar power buoys have intermediate struts and solar cells are installed in the intermediate struts. have.

According to yet another embodiment, the discoid buoy is provided with a discoid buoy comprising one or more power usage members located on an outer surface of the upper case or the lower case. In addition, according to one embodiment, the buoy may further include a capacitor for storing the power generated in the solar cell. In addition, the power usage member may be selected from a light-emitting device, a GPS transmitter, an LED board, and a combination of two or more thereof.

According to another embodiment, the solar cell has a semiconductor electrode substrate and a counter electrode substrate are coupled so that the semiconductor electrode and the counter electrode are opposed, the electrolyte is filled in the space between the semiconductor electrode and the counter electrode, the semiconductor electrode substrate is separated into a plurality And a dye-sensitized solar cell coupled to the counter electrode substrate is provided.

According to another embodiment, at least one of the semiconductor electrodes of the plurality of semiconductor electrode substrate is electrically connected to the other semiconductor electrode, the counter electrode is formed by patterning on the counter electrode substrate, the patterned counter electrode And at least one of which is electrically connected to at least one of the semiconductor electrodes.

According to another embodiment, a buoy is provided, characterized in that a step is formed at an end portion of the plurality of separated semiconductor electrode substrates so that they can be overlapped and coupled to a neighboring semiconductor electrode substrate.

According to another embodiment, any one of the horizontal surface is formed with a protrusion is formed with a projection, the other neighboring horizontal surface is formed with a groove, the projection is seated in the groove is coupled to the adjacent semiconductor electrode substrate A buoy featuring is provided.

In the case of manufacturing a photovoltaic power generation system including a buoy or the same using the dye-sensitized solar cell of the present invention, since the semiconductor electrode substrate is separated and bonded to the counter electrode substrate, the formation area of the semiconductor electrode formed on each semiconductor electrode substrate is reduced. Can be reduced. Therefore, it is easy to uniformly control the coating thickness of the semiconductor material at the time of forming the semiconductor pole, and it is possible to increase the efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cell by lowering the electrical resistance of the semiconductor electrode. In addition, the supply of power available in the buoy may be facilitated, as well as the addition of power consumption elements having various functions.

1A-1C illustrate a photovoltaic power generation system in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention.
2 illustrates a dye-sensitized solar cell system in a buoy according to one embodiment of the invention.
3 shows a dye-sensitized solar cell in which unit cells are connected in parallel.
4 illustrates a dye-sensitized solar cell in which unit cells are connected in series.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.

The present invention relates to a buoy provided with a dye-sensitized solar cell, wherein the semiconductor electrode substrate and the counter electrode substrate are coupled so that the semiconductor electrode and the counter electrode in the buoy of the present invention are opposed to each other, and an electrolyte is formed in the space between the semiconductor electrode and the counter electrode. Filled, the semiconductor electrode substrate is characterized in that separated into a plurality of coupled to the counter electrode substrate.

2 illustrates a solar system in a buoy according to one embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 2, a solar cell in a buoy according to an embodiment of the present invention is formed by combining a dye-sensitized solar cell in which a semiconductor electrode substrate 201 and a counter electrode substrate 202 are combined with a glass plate 203. In the drawing, the dye-sensitized solar cell is shown below the glass plate, but the position of the glass plate and the dye-sensitized solar cell is reversed, or the positions of the semiconductor electrode substrate and the counter electrode substrate are also within the protection scope of the present invention. . Dye-sensitized solar cells may be used a variety of dye-sensitized solar cells filled with an electrolyte between the semiconductor electrode and the counter electrode.

The dye-sensitized solar cell in the buoy according to the embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the semiconductor electrode substrate is separated into a plurality and coupled to the counter electrode substrate. The dye-sensitized solar cell of such a structure is characterized in that it is possible to maintain high photovoltaic efficiency even with a large area. In order to increase the size of a dye-sensitized solar cell, it is essential to form a semiconductor electrode having a large area. The semiconductor electrode may be manufactured by coating a semiconductor material such as titanium oxide on a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide or fluorine tin oxide, and adsorbing a dye thereon. However, when the semiconductor electrode is formed by the screen printing method, the paste viscosity of the material constituting the semiconductor electrode is high, so that printing with a uniform thickness is impossible, and in some cases, the screen net and the substrate do not stick together. This phenomenon is because when the pattern formation area becomes wider, the bonding force between the screen net and the substrate becomes stronger and the elastic force of the screen net itself becomes weaker. In the case of photovoltaic generation with a dye-sensitized solar cell, the thickness of the semiconductor electrode is determined to maximize the photovoltaic efficiency. If the thickness of the semiconductor electrode is not uniformly maintained, the photovoltaic efficiency is inevitably lowered. In addition, if the screen net and the substrate are not separated smoothly during the screen printing process, pattern defects may occur, thereby reducing the efficiency of the manufacturing process.

Therefore, when the semiconductor electrode substrate is combined with the counter electrode substrate in a separated form as in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the above problems can be solved. The counter electrode of the counter electrode substrate is prepared by applying a catalyst layer such as platinum on a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide or fluoro tin oxide. The formation of the catalyst layer is performed by sputtering or dipping. Since it can form, the problem which arises in formation of a titanium oxide layer at the time of a large area application | occurrence | production does not arise. Therefore, when the semiconductor substrate, which is difficult to increase in size, is separated and manufactured in a small area, and combined with a counter electrode substrate having a larger area, the dye-sensitized solar cell can be made larger while maintaining high photovoltaic efficiency.

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a buoy and a photovoltaic power generation system including the same may be manufactured by using a dye-sensitized solar cell in which a plurality of semiconductor electrode substrates are separated and coupled to a counter electrode substrate.

When the dye-sensitized solar cell is manufactured by separating a plurality of semiconductor electrode substrates and combining the counter electrode substrates according to an embodiment of the present invention, each of the separated semiconductor electrode substrates constitutes a separate dye-sensitized solar cell unit cell. In general, electrical energy generated from unit cells is stored in a separate energy storage medium. To this end, unit cells must be connected in series or in parallel. This is a process of modularizing the unit cells, and for this purpose, a means for electrically connecting the unit cells should be provided.

3 shows a dye-sensitized solar cell in which unit cells are connected in parallel. Referring to FIG. 3A, the dye-sensitized solar cell and the glass plate 203 to which the semiconductor electrode substrates 201a, 201b, and 201c and the counter electrode substrate 202 are coupled are combined to form a buoy and photovoltaic power generation including the same. A system is formed, and the semiconductor electrodes of the semiconductor electrode substrates 201a, 201b, and 201c are electrically connected to each other. The counter electrode formed on the counter electrode substrate may be formed so as not to be separated for each unit cell, and thus no separate connecting means is required.

Referring to FIG. 3B, the semiconductor electrode substrate 201a has a step formed at the end of the plurality of semiconductor electrode substrates separated from each other so that the semiconductor electrode substrate 201a may be connected to the neighboring semiconductor electrode substrate 201b. Since a step is formed at the end of the electrode substrate 201b, the neighboring semiconductor electrode substrates 201a and 201b may overlap each other and be coupled to each other. Since the steps formed at the ends of the semiconductor electrode substrate are formed in a shape in which neighboring parts are inverted, the heights of the upper surfaces of the plurality of semiconductor electrode substrates can be equally adjusted when they are combined with each other. It is easy to adjust the overall thickness equally.

In addition, since the plurality of semiconductor electrode substrates are coupled to the counter electrode substrate while being bonded to each other, durability against external impact can be increased. The semiconductor electrode substrate is composed of the substrates 201a and 201b, the transparent conductive layers 205a and 205b formed thereunder, and the semiconductor material layer 204 formed thereunder. Metal meshes may be formed together to reduce the electrical resistance of the transparent conductive layer, but are not shown in the drawings. In order to electrically connect the adjacent transparent conductive layers 205a and 205b, coupling members 206a and 206b may be used. The coupling members 206a and 206b are formed to partially overlap the ends of the transparent conductive layers 205a and 205b and may be formed along a step formed in the semiconductor electrode substrate. When the semiconductor electrode substrates are coupled, the coupling members 206a and 206b are in contact with each other so that the transparent conductive layers 205a and 205b are electrically connected to each other. Although the coupling member is formed in both the horizontal plane and the vertical plane along the step of the semiconductor electrode substrate in the drawing, even if formed only in the horizontal plane does not cause a problem in the electrical connection. The coupling member preferably has electrical conductivity and physical coupling force. The coupling member may be a material in which a metal powder and a binder are mixed, such as silver paste, and any material known in the art may be used as long as it has electrical conductivity. In the coating of the coupling member, a dispensing method or a coating method using a brush may be used.

Referring to FIG. 3C, a groove 207a is formed in the horizontal surface of the step formed in the semiconductor electrode substrate 201a, and a protrusion 207b is formed in the horizontal surface of the step formed in the adjacent semiconductor electrode substrate 201b. It is. Coupling members 206a and 206b are formed along the step including the grooves 207a and the projections 207b, and the projections 207b are seated in the grooves 207a when the adjacent semiconductor electrode substrates are joined. When the protrusion 207b is seated and coupled to the groove 207a as described above, the movement of the semiconductor electrode substrate does not occur when the semiconductor electrode substrate and the counter electrode substrate are coupled, so that the joining operation is facilitated, and the bonding force between the substrates is also enhanced. Can be. As described above, when the semiconductor electrodes are electrically connected, the unit cells are connected in parallel to store the generated electrical energy through one terminal.

4 illustrates a dye-sensitized solar cell in which unit cells are connected in series. Referring to FIG. 4A, the semiconductor electrode substrates 201a and 201b are coupled to the counter electrode substrate 202 in a separated form, and the counter electrodes 208a and 208b formed on the counter electrode substrate 202 are separated from each other. Patterned to correspond to the semiconductor electrode substrate 201a, 201b formed separately. The counter electrodes 208a and 208b are patterned to be electrically separated from each other. The electrical connection between the semiconductor electrodes 205a and 205b and the counter electrodes 208a and 208b will be described with reference to FIG. 3B. Referring to FIG. 3B, the counter electrode 208a included in the unit cell is electrically connected to the semiconductor electrode 205b of the neighboring unit cell by the connection member 210. This connection can occur repeatedly in neighboring unit cells, and as a result, the unit cells can be connected in series. The connection member 210 should be made of a conductive material so as to electrically connect the semiconductor electrode and the counter electrode. A conductive paste such as silver paste may be used as the connection member, but may be formed as a conductive pattern formed by various methods. For example, the metal paste may be formed by screen printing or electroplating, and various other methods known in the art may be used. The connection member 210 is preferably formed to the outside of the sealing member 209 based on the unit cell. The sealing member 209 is formed to bond the semiconductor electrode substrate and the counter electrode substrate and to prevent leakage of the filled electrolyte. When the connecting member 210 is formed outside of the sealing material 209, the connecting member 210 is electrolyte. It is possible to prevent corrosion of the connecting member by avoiding contact with. Connecting the unit cells in series as described above can increase the voltage of the generated electrical energy, it is advantageous to use the stored electrical energy for various purposes.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, some of the unit cells of the dye-sensitized solar cell are connected in parallel, some may be connected in series. By connecting the plurality of unit cells in series and in parallel to form a module, it is possible to simultaneously increase the energy density and output of the dye-sensitized solar cell.

101, 102: glass plate
103: dye-sensitized solar cell module
201, 201a, 201b: semiconductor electrode substrate
202: counter electrode substrate;
203: glass plate
204: semiconductor material layer
205a and 205b: transparent conductive layer
206a, 206b: coupling member
207a: groove; 207b: turning
208a, 208b: counter electrode
209: sealing material; 210: connecting member

Claims (8)

(a) a disc-shaped upper case of transparent material, (b) a semi-circular lower case of transparent material, and (c) a disc-shaped solar cell including a dye-sensitized solar cell located on the inner surface of the upper case and the lower case. In the buoy,
The semiconductor electrode substrate and the counter electrode substrate are coupled so that the semiconductor electrode and the counter electrode of the dye-sensitized solar cell face each other, and an electrolyte is filled in the space between the semiconductor electrode and the counter electrode, and the semiconductor electrode substrate is separated into a plurality. And a dye-sensitized solar cell which is formed at a distal end thereof and overlaps with a neighboring semiconductor electrode substrate so as to be combined. According to claim 1, wherein the upper case and the lower case, respectively, an upper assembly flange and a lower assembly flange is formed to protrude to the outer surface; The upper assembly flange and the lower assembly flange each include a plurality of upper fastening holes and a plurality of lower fastening holes;
The disk-shaped buoy includes a dye-sensitized solar cell, characterized in that it further comprises a fastening means for penetrating the upper and lower fastening holes and the upper case and the lower case. 3. The discoid buoy of claim 2, wherein the discoid buoy comprises at least one power usage member located on an outer surface of the top case or the bottom case. 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the buoy further comprises a capacitor for storing power generated in the solar cell, wherein the power usage member is a light-emitting device, a GPS transmitter, an LED board, and a combination of two or more thereof. Discoid buoy comprising a dye-sensitized solar cell, characterized in that selected from. delete The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the semiconductor electrodes of the plurality of semiconductor electrode substrates is electrically connected to another semiconductor electrode, and the counter electrode is formed on the counter electrode substrate by patterning. At least one disc-shaped buoy comprising a dye-sensitized solar cell electrically connected to at least one of the semiconductor electrodes. delete The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein a protrusion is formed on one of the horizontal planes on which the step is formed, and a groove is formed on the other neighboring horizontal plane, so that the protrusions are seated in the grooves and the adjacent semiconductor electrode substrates are coupled to each other. Disc type buoy containing dye-sensitized solar cell.

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