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Technology
Solar energy panels brighten business
Iowa Thin Film Technologies enters world market
By DAVID ELBERT
REGISTER BUSINESS EDITOR
July 19, 2004
Ames, Ia. - Iowa Thin Film Technologies is on the verge of turning a niche business into a mass market.
In the past 15 years, co-founders Frank Jeffrey and Derrick Grimmer have engineered enough breakthroughs in solar power to bring the small Ames company to the edge of what could be a very bright future.
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PowerFilm is exported to China, where it is used to power radios, cell phones and other small consumer appliances, some of which are imported back to North America. Last summer, PowerFilm was the focus of a worldwide design conference in France.
Earlier this month, the company received a technology award from the U.S. Army for incorporating PowerFilm with tent fabric to create tents that are mobile power sources.
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"Our idea is to make military shelters as dual-purpose structures that not only provide shelter but generate power safely and quietly," Tucker said. The initial design of tents that incorporate PowerFilm in the tent fabric was a "huge success," Tucker said.
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The company is working with design engineers to incorporate PowerFilm into roofing material, so that solar panels are attached in a single step as part of the roof.
more....
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