Patent ID: 6903260

Claim:
A solar panel for space satellites, having a plane surface comprising a plurality of photovoltaic cells disposed side-by-side, said cells being electrically connected into plurality of serpentines, each serpentine comprising cells connected in series two-by-two forming parallel cell segments, two successive segments of a serpentine being electrically connected at their ends, and each serpentine comprising positive terminals (+) and negative terminals, said positive (+) and negative (−) terminals being distributed along each serpentine and over the surface of the panel so that the positive terminals are far enough away from the negative terminals, to reduce the risk of electrical arcing between two terminals; said panel comprising a plurality of serpentines interlaced and arranged substantially symmetrically with respect to an axis of the panel, said axis being perpendicular to said segments, and two contiguous segments of the panel belonging to two different serpentines, which solar panel is characterized in that the direction of the current is reversed starting from first pair of contiguous segments so that each pair of contiguous cells has a potential difference less than the voltage drop of a segment of cells, in order to reduce the risk of electrical arcing between contiguous cells.