Solar Power Generator

Published on February 2017 | Categories: Documents | Downloads: 77 | Comments: 0 | Views: 520
of 3
Download PDF   Embed   Report

Comments

Content

 

GlobalSources.com   Solar Power Generator  - GlobalSources.com Find new products & quality manufacturers from China & Asia  Ads by Google 

Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic energy, and when they're picked up by traditional metallic antennas, the electrons that are generated can be converted into an electrical current. Given that optical waves are also a type of electromagnetic electromagnetic energy, a team of scientists from Tel Aviv University wondered if these could also be converted into electricity, via an antenna. It turns out that they can if the antenna is very, very short. These "nanoantennas" could replace the silicon semiconductors in special solar panels, which could harvest more energy from a wider spectrum of sunlight than is currently possible. The nanoantennas are constructed out of small amounts of aluminum and gold, and are each less than a micron in length - because light has such a short wavelength (as compared to radio waves), short antennas provide the optimal absorption. After being created, the nanoantennas were then exposed to light, to determine how well they could receive and transmit light energy. According to the initial tests, 95 percent of the wattage being absorbed by the antennas was passed along, with only 5 percent being wasted. Not only are the nanoantennas efficient, but when their length is varied, the wavelength that they can absorb changes. Therefore, the researchers believe that one panel containing a variety of lengths of otherwise-identical nanoantennas could harvest energy from a much broader solar spectrum than is presently allowed by semiconductor technology. To that end, the  the Tel Aviv  Aviv team is now in the process of creating experimental experimental plastic solar panels, nano-imprinted with varying lengths and shapes of nanoantennas. They are also looking into the electromagnetic-energy-to-electrical-current conversion process, with hopes of improving it.  Although silicon is not a particularly particularly expensive expensive material, the the scientists scientists believe that the superior efficiency of their panels could allow them to be smaller than present photovoltaic panels, and thus more cost-effectiv cost-effective. e. Similar research is also under way at the the  Idaho National Laboratory, Laboratory, where researchers have been developing plastic sheet solar panels stamped with nanoantennas.

 

 ALTA DEVICES DEVICES SOLAR SOLAR PANEL NREL-CER NREL-CERTIFIED TIFIED AT 23.5 23.5 PERCENT EFFICIENT BY  JEANNE ROBERTS  BY ROBERTS ON FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Thin-film solar array at Dimbach, Germany

For the second time in as many months, a solar manufacturer is  announcing announcingr  r ecord ecord conversion efficiencies for its solar energy-harvesting products. In this case, the company is  is   Alta Alta Devices  Devices of Santa Clara, California, and the efficiency rating  – of 23.5 percent – is for its solar panels made from gallium arsenide (GaAs) on thin-film. The previous honorable mention  The  mention  was in January, to First Solar. Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR), which announced record efficiencies of 14.4 percent for its solar module. For First Solar, the record was kind of ho-hum  – the company is a leader in the field and consistently  consistently breaks its own  own and other records. th

Not so Alta Devices, a relative startup (2007) whose GaAs technology was exhibited last June at the 37  IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference in Seattle. This is the same technology which achieved  – at the solar cell level  –  record efficiencies of 28.2 percent . Alta’s business focus is on improving the production economics of high -efficiency solar photovoltaic (PV) applications. The panel rating has been verified by the National the  National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or Laboratory, or NREL, one NREL, one of a dozen laboratories working under the wing of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) division to develop more efficient renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. NREL is the only one of the 12 to take technology from infancy to commercialization. Fortunately, Alta Devices didn’t have to go it alone, as did some early solar startups. In addition to  venture capital , the company is also thereductions DOE’s SunShot funding Initiative via Dow Solar, which last year received a $12.8 million, three-year grantengaged to study in cost in building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products.

Dow Solar chose Alta and several other companies to help make the production-cost breakthrough and drive down the cost of solar energy in thin-film BIPV, as developed for a solar roofing shingle under Dow's brand name Powerhouse. name  Powerhouse.   The ultimate goal is to put solar energy on the same cost-per-kilowatt- hour (kWh) footing with fossil fuel energy  – a paradigm known as grid parity. In the case of the SunShot Initiative, this goal has been expressed expressed as six cents per kWh by 2020. In 2009, Alta also received $3 million in DOE Solar DOE  Solar Incubator Program funding, which it used to create a dual-contact cell with antireflective coating, optimized polyhedron cell geometry (via a resolution of the Euler equation?), and interconnection methods which capture the inherent efficiency of gallium arsenide.  Alta, which is in the process of expanding its initial manufacturing run, building strategic production partnerships, and selecting its first large, commercial manufacturing site, says it can afford to use even expensive GaAs because its deposition process produces a 1-micron thick cell which can easily be lifted off the substrate and reused multiple times.

 

is  Semprius of Durham, North Carolina, which announced a  Another big winner in the solar efficiency department is Semprius high concentrating photovoltaic (HCPV) (HCPV) efficiency  efficiency of 33.9 percent on January 31, also using GaAs.

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close