Origami Solar has advanced to a final round of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) American-Made Solar Prize competition. Only one out of 10 Hardware Track teams made it to this round. That is why Origami Solar received a prize of $100,000. The money is meant to advance its innovation from proof-of-concept to production-ready by the contest’s final phase.
The company’s patent-pending approach mixes innovative engineering and its design with precision roll-forming. Also, it includes the domestically available recycled steel that delivers performance to equal or better than aluminum frames. That way, they can lower the material cost and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The five unique benefits of Origami’s rigorous advancement and testing has confirmed.
- Origami Solar novel design: It provides the company a high strength and stiffness. Also, help minimize the amount of steel required. “roll forming results in more than ten tight folds in a two square inch cross-sectional area.”
- The patent-pending steel module frame: It’s equal to or better than the aluminum frames used today. Better more, it has a GHG gas reduction in the production of it
- “Higher shipping density product without sacrificing strength or performance”: That fact was discovered by TESCI Solar, a third-party consulting firm. The load-bearing requirements allowed. The Origami 35mm frame has equivalent performance characteristics to a standard 40mm aluminum frame.
- The globally available robust steel ecosystem: They can eliminate the emissions produced by shipping the imported aluminum module frames. China produce most of those emissions.
- Steel anti-corrosion coatings: Origami Solar uses this type of coat, enabling steel components to last for approximately 30 years.
You also might want to read “Samsung Electronics join renewable pledge on green energy.”
“The Origami frame is a real breakthrough for the American solar market because it outperforms aluminum, relies on domestic steel, and is easily adoptable by manufacturers,” said Samuel Truthseeker, CEO and Principal Engineer of TESCI Solar. “Furthermore, the assembly process for the Origami steel frame is the same as for aluminum frames, making their adoption a simple and low-impact manufacturing cutover. Module manufacturers will not need to modify their manufacturing tooling to introduce these superior frames. Thus Origami’s journey to market will be simple, quick, and low cost.”
