tesla patent reveals technology behind its camouflaged solar roof tiles

a new patent obtained by tesla and released last week reveals the amount of technology behind the company’s solar roof tiles. since tesla’s acquisiton of solarcity in 2016, a company started by elon musk‘s cousin, talk’s of the ‘solar roof’ have gained traction. 

the solar cells are integrated within tiles making them undetectable from a street view whilst still capturing sunlight. the solar cells have been developed with panasonic and use a connector technology which links each one. 

in order to conceal the cells from a street view without disrupting the absorption of UV rays, tesla developed a special glass with louvers that looks opaque at a lower angle because of the way light reflects off of its surface. as well as explaining the glass in detail the full patent describes the different ways in which it can be given different colours and textures:

‘a solar panel includes a backsheet layer, a bottom encapsulant layer adjacent the backsheet layer, a plurality of photovoltaic cells adjacent the bottom encapsulant layer, a top encapsulant layer adjacent the plurality of photovoltaic cells having a plurality of louvers constructed therein to block side view of the plurality of photovoltaic cells, and a top layer adjacent the top encapsulant layer.’