Case Study: The SOFT-PV Skin

This chapter is focused on the fabrication of a new kind of fluoropoly-meric foil (ETFE, THV, EFEP) fully integrated with a smart, organic, flexible, and translucent photovoltaic cell (named SOFT-PV). Several investigations have been developed concerning flexibility and translucency of both the PV polymeric cells and ETFE cushions. Furthermore, the application of organic photovoltaic cells as a printable texture onto one of various ETFE transparent layers of an air-supported building component was achieved; however, this technology has not been integrated yet at a fully building scale. Therefore, the goals of this research are the creation of a demonstrator prototype of a SOFT–photovoltaic cell; and, its integration in a building component prototype, to predict its optical, thermal, and structural perfor-mance and to assess its environmental profile. Several tests have been conducted through a coupled mechanical and electrical characterization method to monitor the correlation of OPV electrode resistance and cell performance upon tensile strain and to verify the deterioration effect and reason for the tension strain on the OPV performance response. This methodology resulted optimal, and it can contribute to subsequent building of product development toward OPV integration onto ETFE membrane.