Spherical Solar Cells Soak Up Scattered Sunlight - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: cdonges
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 11, 2020, 01:34:25 am
content: https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/renewables/spherical-solar-cells-soak-up-scattered-sunlightQuote

author: dropkick
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2020, 02:32:32 am
content: If you put it next to a disco ball, does it create free energy??Or cause a rift in the universe?

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2020, 04:21:08 am
content: This is one of those cases where numbers have probably been used to lie creatively.The spherical cell can be placed at totally random orientations and will achieve an output that is constant and probably somewhat over half of what a flat solar cell of similar area would provide when oriented ideally toward the sun (assuming that the surrounding surfaces are not a superior non-reflective dead black.If the flat cell is placed at random orientations in almost half the cases the output will be nearly zero because the cell would be facing the ground in half of the random angles. So the average over angles would be lower than for the spherical cell.Of course no one would every install a flat cell at complete random. At a minimum they would be face up on a surface, usually tilted slightly south. I really doubt these spherical cells compare well with that non-random orientation. Another defect of this concept is that the spherical cells cannot achieve best performance when tightly spaced. Space and support structure requirements are high, shipping costs are high because of that and the much larger z axis dimension and on and on. Not to mention the manufacturing cost of these complex little thingies.

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2020, 04:33:23 am
content: Did they not realise that half of the cells are facing directlyawayfrom the sun??? Even two half-spheres would be better than this.

author: Domagoj T
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2020, 05:20:59 am
content: Aren't shadows bad for power production?

author: Raj
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2020, 07:59:51 am
content: Only if people would start investing in existing technology that actually works instead of trying to find a "fix" or "improve" them, we would have had surplus energy by now. But no...Not even I, hypocritically, investing enough in solar. Though i did invest just a tiny bit in solar for DIY IOT devices.I've been thinking of getting a solar array to get my electricity bill down, since 7 years without action :p

author: Haenk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2020, 10:30:10 am
content: Of course this is better than a flat surface.But: Is this a great idea, in the "real world" (i.e. "non-lab conditions")? No.Too much wasted silicon, way too complex to build, too difficult to mount in large quantities etc. pp.

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2020, 02:18:33 pm
content: Probably designed to work on a flat earth.

author: Gregg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2020, 07:11:02 pm
content: This is a special design to fill potholes in solar roads.

author: Syntax Error
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2020, 08:44:49 pm
content: At first I thought that was a really cool high-school built microsat.I have a solar AA battery charger with a grid of plastic bumps on the surface which refract sunlight from 90 degrees into the PV cell. It also has a flip-up mirror to boost the sun gathering. And it works! It's over 30 years old.Makes one wonder what the Saudis might pack inside that 'sun grenade'?