Patents
US 12249667 B2: Space vehicles including multijunction metamorphic solar cells
- Granted
- 2025-03-11
- Filed
- 2021-02-19 application 17180210
- Type
- Utility · 20 claims
- Elsewhere
- Google Patents ↗ · USPTO patent document ↗ · USPTO Patent Center record ↗
Abstract
A plurality of space vehicles forming a satellite constellation, each space vehicle comprising a housing having a first side and an opposite side, and an axis; a first elongated, rectangular sheet including an array of transducer devices including multijunction solar cells mounted on, and extending from a surface of the first side of the housing, and a second elongated rectangular sheet including an array of transducer devices including multijunction solar cells mounted on and extending from a surface of the second side of the housing in a direction opposite to that of the first elongated rectangular sheet, wherein the selection of the composition of the subcells and their band gap of the multijunction solar cells maximizes the efficiency of the solar cell at the end-of-life EOL in the application of one of (i) a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite that typically experiences radiation equivalent to 5×1014 electron fluence per square centimeter (“e/cm2”) over a five year EOL, or (ii) a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite that typically experiences radiation in the range of 5×1014 e/cm2 to 1×1015 e/cm2 over a fifteen year EOL, with the efficiency of the multijunction solar cells being less at the beginning-of-life (BOL) than the end-of-life (EOL).
Source: PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 (ipg250311.xml).
Assignees
| Assignee | Type | Place | Also on furp.org | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SolAero Technologies Corp 189 patents | US company or organization | Albuquerque, NM | SOLAERO TECHNOLOGIES CORP State business registration EXACT high confidence: identical full name and state SOLAERO TECHNOLOGIES, INC. Federal lobbying client FUZZY medium confidence: same name (legal endings aside) and state | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
Inventors
| Inventor | Place | Patents | Person page | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Derkacs | Albuquerque, NM | 84 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
CPC categories
| Subclass | Category | First group | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| H10F | Inorganic semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation | H10F10/1425 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
| B64B | Lighter-than air aircraft | B64B1/14 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
| B64G | Cosmonautics; vehicles or equipment therefor | B64G1/443 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
| B64U | Unmanned aerial vehicles [uav]; equipment therefor | B64U10/10 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
| H02S | Generation of electric power by conversion of infrared radiation, visible light or ultraviolet light, e.g. using photovoltaic [pv] modules | H02S20/30 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
| Y02E | Reduction of greenhouse gas [ghg] emissions, related to energy generation, transmission or distribution | Y02E10/544 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
| Y02P | Climate change mitigation technologies in the production or processing of goods | Y02P70/50 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
Cooperative Patent Classification, as currently assigned (one row per subclass).
Assignments and security interests
| Recorded | What | From | To | Reel/frame | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-02-23 | Assignment Assignment of assignor's interest | DERKACS, DANIEL signed 2021-03-25 | SOLAERO TECHNOLOGIES CORP. ALBUQUERQUE, NM | 55745/563 | ECORSEXC, file of 2026-09-25 |
Documents recorded with the USPTO Assignment Recordation Branch that list this patent. A security interest is a lender’s claim on the patent as collateral; a release ends it.
USPTO bulk data: PatentsView granted patents, disambiguated (PVGPATDIS) for patents, assignees, inventors, places and CPC categories; the USPTO Patent Assignment Dataset (ECORSEXC) for assignments and security interests. Patents filed in the last 20 years. No claims or full text. Links to other records are by name (and state): EXACT means the identical full name and state; FUZZY means a looser name match, with the confidence shown.