Patent ID: 11967923
Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  Y | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. An apparatus, comprising:
one or more solar cells connected to a flex circuit, wherein:
the flex circuit is a single sheet comprised of a flexible substrate having a plurality of conductors in one or more conducting layers for making electrical connections to the solar cells, wherein at least one of the conducting layers is embedded in the flex circuit and sandwiched between at least the flexible substrate and an insulating layer laminated on top of the at least one of the conducting layers and the flexible substrate;
the solar cells are mounted on the flex circuit;
the flex circuit includes one or more flat sections where the solar cells are attached to the flex circuit and one or more folding sections between the flat sections where the flex circuit is folded;
at least a first portion of one or more of the conductors is positioned along one or more edges of the flex circuit, laterally separated from the solar cells on the flex circuit, and extending across one or more of the folding sections of the flex circuit; and
at least a second portion of the one or more conductors connected to the first portion extends from the first portion positioned along the edges of the flex circuit to one or more of the solar cells in a string, and underneath one or more of the solar cells that are not in the string, for making the electrical connections to the one or more of the solar cells in the string.