Optimizing front metallization patterns: Efficiency with aesthetics in free-form solar cells

Free-form solar cells are cells of unconventional shapes (e.g. hexagonal, leaf-shaped etc). Their flexible shape adds to the aesthetics of the surroundings as well as allows to place them over objects where conventional solar cells might not fit. Evidently, these cells need to be efficient as well, and one of the important factors that controls their performance is the front metallization design. In this paper, we present the application of topology optimization (TO) to optimize the front metallization patterns for free-form solar cells. TO distributes the electrode material on the solar cell front surface in an efficient manner, such that the total power output is maximized. To demonstrate the capability of the proposed methodology, we use it to optimize front metal grids for several complex solar cell shapes e.g. circular, hexagonal, leaf-shaped, motorbike fairings, etc. The results presented here demonstrate the capability of TO to generate efficient designs for these free-form shapes.