COMPOSITE VEHICLE SKIN CO-CURED WITH SOLAR-CELL ARRAY

摘要

A vehicle skin, such as a composite skin for a UAV wing or other vehicle component, is co-cured with an array of solar cells to form a thin, lightweight, integrated skin structure. In one embodiment, an upper surface of the solar-cell array may be substantially coplanar with an upper surface of the composite skin. A coating, such as a spray-on fluorinated polymer coating, is applied to the upper surface of the integrated skin structure to protect the solar cells from the environment or other potentially harmful elements.