SARASOTA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. (NASD OTC Bulletin Board: SUNV) and EPIR Technologies, Inc. (EPIR) are pleased to announce the completion of Phase I of the expansion of the world class Electro-Optic manufacturing facilities at EPIR in Bolingbrook, Ill., just west of Chicago. Electro-Optic technologies include advanced solar modules, infrared (IR) detectors and components and biosensor-decontamination devices.
Sunovia and EPIR have exclusively partnered to commercialize solar and infrared technologies for the renewable energy and night vision markets. Sunovia is the exclusive marketer of all products, technologies and intellectual properties that are developed at the facility, and currently owns a significant equity interest in EPIR.
The Phase I facility completion is a significant step in the companies’ work to manufacture cadmium telluride (CdTe)-based advanced solar cells and CdTe and mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) infrared detectors and components. More than $25 million has been invested into R&D and the state-of-the-art facility, which includes a 2,000 sq. ft. clean-room for the manufacture of advanced Electro-Optic products. The world-class products manufactured at the facility require both extreme material purity and air filtration/cleanliness. The companies also have access to over $30 million of related facilities at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Md. and the Army’s Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate at Belvoir, Va.
The infrared expertise and the solid relationships that the companies have built with top military institutions and universities over the past 20 years are key advantages for them in the development of efficient CdTe solar cells. The primary difference between infrared and solar technologies is simply that their respective infrared devices absorb “non-visible” light, convert it to electricity and then pixelize the electricity to create an image; while solar devices absorb “visible” light, convert it to electricity and then store (or spend) the electricity. Sunovia’s and EPIR’s infrared expertise is allowing them to transfer infrared technologies directly into advanced next generation solar cells that they believe will achieve maximum light absorption from the different light intensities and different light spectra.
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