Mechanics Design of a Zigzag Structured Substrate for Stretchable Solar Arrays

Abstract

Stretchable solar arrays meet the demands of light weight and flexibility for future solar array design. Research in stretchable electronics has uncovered ways to build stretchable systems with inorganic materials. Island-bridge layout and structured substrate are two effective methods to build stretchable systems. This work proposes a zigzag structured substrate for stretchable solar arrays to provide levels of stretchability.A zigzag structure serves as the device island of the solar array to absorb and isolate large deformation of the substrate. An analytic model is established to analyze the stretchability of a planar zigzag structure. A stretchable solar array with a zigzag structured substrate is analyzed by FEM.The solar array with a zigzag structured substrate enables high area coverage and stretchability. This work presents a new approach for design of stretchable solar array and introduce a simply effective model as guidelines.