Bryan Chavez

Application of micro-robots for building carbon fiber trusses

Using diamagnetic micro-manipulation, micro-robots (~10 mm in size) with specialized end-effectors are able to grasp and manipulate small light weight (~mg) carbon fiber elements to construct macroscopic cubic carbon fiber trusses (~1000 parts and 300 mm long) that can achieve mechanical crush performances surpassing those of commercially available aluminum honey combs. Employing low cost micro-robots and end-effectors allows the implementation of both parallelization and new functionality without the need for expensive fixed tooling. We demonstrate this concept by modifying the micro-robot end effectors to build carbon fiber octet trusses and carbon fiber trusses with integrated electronics.

Progress on crystalline silicon thin film solar cells by FBR-CVD: Effect of substrates and reactor design

Thin film polycrystalline solar cells on low cost substrates offer an attractive path to large scale production of solar cells with the potential to generate electricity at 1

Wave powered generation

/W. SRI International has a propriety technology to deposit Si films in a reactor based on fluidized bed technology. The results presented in this paper show that, with a proper reactor design, Si films can be grown at rates of 7 μm/min and higher. Films are crystalline, with crystallite sizes higher than 20 μm. We have also evaluated the performance of SiO2 diffusion barriers as a potential way towards the use of low cost substrates, such as metallurgical grade Si. Whereas SiO2 layers of 0.1 μm are not sufficient to stop P diffusion from the substrate to the film, 0.7 μm layers are thick enough to accomplish this goal. The reactor configuration can be used for continuous and integrated cell/panel fabrication. At present we are building a first continuous reactor, and in this paper we present some preliminary considerations.