Saurea the 'Autonomous Solar Motor' backed by french energy giant EDF - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: berniebernie
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 22, 2020, 11:26:01 am
content: Hello !I'm brand new to the forums but I've been watching Dave's videos for a long time even though I know very little about electronics (I like his swear words!)I've recently been spammed by a video on my social medias about this french company Saurea:https://www.saurea.fr/le-moteur?lang=enI have no idea if the actual object is good but in the videos it seems to work, the idea is that solar cells are being lit via an obturated piece of plastic, which makes the plastic turn, hide and show new cells which in turn make the plastic turn etc.. No moving parts, no electronics, provide low power etc...The claims aren't too outlandish (I think?) and it says it may provide "130 watts" of power / as much as healthy human (isn't there a notion of watt-hours ?)Here's a few videos I could find, pardon for the french but it might give you a sense of the object:https://www.facebook.com/saurea.motorWhat do you think of it ? The website seems like a lot of work for a product that doesn't seem to provide a lot of energy. It says in french it's wear-proof ('inusable' but is it unusable ?)Could you draw usable power from it ? In the videos they seem to be able to activate water pumps.

author: chris_leyson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2020, 12:06:32 pm
content: Interesting idea, the spinning disk becomes a contactless commutator, I like it. Patent here:https://patents.google.com/patent/FR2941336A1/enAlsohttps://patents.google.com/patent/WO2010082007A2/enAndhttps://patents.google.com/patent/WO2012069447A1/en

author: Domagoj T
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2020, 12:45:23 pm
content: Wasting 75% of your solar panel power, just to be able to claim no brushes and no electronics.

author: newbrain
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2020, 02:49:56 pm
content: No way those puny slots can provide 130W, even at equatorial latitudes.Approx calculation:20% efficiency, 1000W/m2, 130W -> about 0.7 m2If (gross overestimation) half of the disc surface is removed:Sqrt(1.4m2/ PI ) ~= 67cm radius to have 130W.So, there's the need of additional panels for any reasonable amount of power, and hence of integrated electronics (according to their patent).Then, i can't see the real advantages against a solar panel + inverter solution...

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2020, 05:15:38 pm
content: No idea how practical or useful this is, but I like the lateral thinking

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2020, 05:33:43 pm
content: Quote from: Domagoj T on March 22, 2020, 12:45:23 pmThis over and over again. And not exactly NO electronics.

author: Koen
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2020, 06:48:10 pm
content: Quote from: newbrain on March 22, 2020, 02:49:56 pmYeah that's kind of exactly what is shown.

author: Haenk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2020, 07:50:59 pm
content: Interesting idea, but wouldn't a smaller panel plus a simple 12V pump be a much more reliable and way cheaper method to pump water?

author: berniebernie
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 24, 2020, 09:38:27 am
content: Their claim is that it's a lot more resilient if you were to put it 'in africa'.To me it looks like a greenwashing opportunity for french company EDF which is giving away crumbs to please the greens (anti nuclear).