Clothing integrated photovoltaics

The integration of flexible solar cells into clothing or accessories enables ubiquitous power generation for mobile electronic equipment. This contribution reports on recent progress in important areas of integrated photovoltaics' development, i.e. i) direct deposition of flexible solar cells on plastic foils; ii) forecast of the energy yield under realistic operating conditions; and iii) charge controller and system design. Modeling of the attainable energy yield proves the validity of the concept, and first prototypes demonstrate its feasibility.