Company patents
SUNPOWER CORPORATION
SUNPOWER CORPORATION's patent strategy shows a significant shift, with its core "Photovoltaic (Solar Cells)" category, representing 46.2% of its portfolio, experiencing a dramatic 94.1% decline in patent grants from 2024 to 2025. This decline is mirrored across almost all categories, including "Photovoltaic Cells (Legacy CPC)" (30.8% of portfolio) and "Power Distribution & Storage" (24.6% of portfolio), both seeing 94.7% and 54.5% YoY declines respectively from 2023 to 2024, and further sharp drops in 2025, suggesting a broad de-emphasis on patenting across its traditional energy and power-related domains.
Patent Trend by Technology Area
Yearly patent publications since 2023
Product themes
Product-level themes inferred from filings since 2023, with category chips showing where each theme appears. Select a theme to filter the patents below.
65 US filings (since 2023) · 11 categories · 11 themes
Systems that incorporate solar panels as a primary or auxiliary power source for various applications, including visual displays, remote devices, and portable battery charging, often emphasizing efficiency and adaptability.
Mechanical structures and components for securely attaching photovoltaic modules to various surfaces (ground, roof, canopy) while allowing for adjustment, sealing, and integration with cleaning or support features.
Methods and components for electrically connecting photovoltaic cells within a module and ensuring long-term reliability, including busbar designs, bypass diodes, and flexible module assembly techniques.
Focuses on novel semiconductor materials, heterostructures, and doping profiles to improve photovoltaic conversion efficiency, stability, and spectral response.
Integration of power converters with energy storage devices (batteries, supercapacitors) or grid interfaces, often involving AC/DC conversion, power flow management, and fault handling for hybrid power systems or specific applications like EVs or PV.
Methods and devices for monitoring the operational parameters of photovoltaic systems, detecting anomalies, and diagnosing specific faults like reverse connections, insulation failures, or efficiency drops, often using predictive models.
Techniques for optimizing light capture, transmission, and internal reflection within photovoltaic devices, including surface texturing, anti-reflection coatings, and light concentration or redistribution.
Design and control of power supply architectures that combine multiple power sources (e.g., AC grid, DC battery, generators) or modular battery units, often featuring switching, conversion, and redundancy for enhanced reliability and flexibility.
Systems and methods for automatically removing dust, dirt, or debris from photovoltaic panel surfaces to maintain optimal energy conversion efficiency, often involving robotic or integrated mechanisms.
Innovations in the physical and optical structure of photovoltaic modules, including cover plates, integrated features, and non-planar designs, to improve light absorption, aesthetics, or installation.
Synthesis and processing of silicon and silicon carbide materials in various forms (e.g., particles, nanowires, films) for applications beyond traditional semiconductors, such as battery components, refractories, or advanced electronics.
Patents
Showing 1-10 of 98
PV Module Interconnection & Reliability