Thermomechanical Behavior of Multifunctional GFRP Sandwich Structures with Encapsulated Photovoltaic Cells

The feasibility of encapsulating solar cells into the glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) skins of load-bearing and thermally insulating sandwich elements with foam cores has been evaluated. Exposure of the encapsulated cells to artificial sunlight led to a significant temperature increase on the top sandwich surface, which almost reached the glass transition temperature of the resin. Mechanical loading up to serviceability limit loads did not...