Abstract:
A geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system is presented which provides a number of major advantages over more conventional systems. The system recovers and recycles energy from the sunlight, standard AC lighting, and batteries as well. The system provides electrical service whether or not sunlight is available. The system provides a way of returning some used energy back into the system for reuse. The system also provides a way of sending light to rooms below the geodesic dome shape of the system. The system gathers significantly more sunlight than conventional solar flat layouts. The system includes a plurality of trigonal light guides interconnected together that have a plurality of tapered mirrored walls and has an internal solar cell; and a battery. The system can also include optional components such as a plurality of hexagonal light guides, a transformer, a base, an antireflection layer, a plurality of external solar cells, and a plurality of external mirrors.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates solar energy conversion. More particularly to a geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system configured to provide a number of advantages such as converting efficiently solar energy into electrical energy and configured to convey a portion of the sunlight through the device for purposes of illumination. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Presently, fossil fuels provide at least three fourths of all of our energy demands. It is well known that supplies of fossil fuel are finite and limited. Unfortunately when fossil fuels are consumed for energy production then large numbers of environmental pollutants are also produced. Some of these environmental pollutants are thought to be harmful to human health and some are even thought to threaten the global climate itself. In contrast to fossil fuels, sunlight is the most plentiful energy resource on earth. Further, solar energy conversion does not produce pollutants. The problem with solar energy conversion is that there is a need to increase the energy transfer efficiency. 
         [0003]    A wide variety of solar energy conversion devices is currently available on the commercial market and an even larger number of these types of devices are known in the art of solar energy conversion devices. While these solar energy conversion devices may fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, no known solar energy conversion device is known to provide a means for recovering and recycling energy from the sunlight, standard AC lighting, and batteries as well. Also no known solar energy conversion device is known to provide a means for providing electrical service whether or not sunlight is available. Further no known solar energy conversion device is known to provide a means for providing a power system that returns some used energy to the system for reuse. Still yet no known solar energy conversion device is known to provide a means for sending light to rooms below the geodesic dome shape of the system. Even yet further no known solar energy conversion device is known to provide a means for gathering significantly more exposure to the sunlight than conventional solar flat layouts. 
         [0004]    Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system that can provide (1) a means for recovering and recycling energy from the sunlight, standard AC lighting, and batteries as well; (2) a means for providing electrical service whether or not sunlight is available; (3) a means for providing a power system that returns some used energy to the system for reuse; (4) a means for sending light to rooms below the geodesic dome shape of the system; (5) a means for gathering significantly more exposure to the sunlight than conventional solar flat layouts; and (6) a means for providing a photovoltaic cell power system that takes up less space than conventional solar flat layouts. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The present geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system, according to the principles of the present invention, overcomes a number of the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a novel geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system for use in providing (1) a means for recovering and recycling energy from the sunlight, standard AC lighting, and batteries as well; (2) a means for providing electrical service whether or not sunlight is available; (3) a means for providing a power system that returns some used energy to the system for reuse; (4) a means for sending light to rooms below the geodesic dome shape of the system; (5) a means for gathering significantly more exposure to the sunlight than conventional solar flat layouts; and (6) a means for providing a photovoltaic cell power system that takes up less space than conventional solar flat layouts. 
         [0006]    In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known type solar energy conversion devices now present in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system, which will be described subsequently in great detail, is to provide a new and improved geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by the prior art, either alone or in any combination thereof. 
         [0007]    To attain this the geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system includes a plurality of trigonal light guides interconnected together that have a plurality of tapered mirrored walls and has an internal solar cell; and a battery. The system can also include optional components such as a plurality of hexagonal light guides, a transformer, a base, an antireflection layer, a plurality of external solar cells, and a plurality of external mirrors. There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution of the art may be better appreciated. 
         [0008]    Numerous aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings. In this respect, before explaining the current embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
         [0009]    As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
         [0010]    It is therefore an aspect of the present invention to provide a new and improved geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system that has many of the advantages of the prior geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power systems and minimizing a number of their disadvantages. 
         [0011]    It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a new and improved geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system that may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed. 
         [0012]    An even further aspect of the present invention is to provide a new and improved geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system that has a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making solar energy conversion economically feasible and available to the buying public. 
         [0013]    Another aspect of the the present invention is to provide a means for recovering and recycling energy from the sunlight, standard AC lighting, and batteries as well. 
         [0014]    Still another aspect of the the present invention is to provide a means for providing electrical service whether or not sunlight is available. 
         [0015]    Yet another aspect of the the present invention is to provide a means for providing a power system that returns some used energy to the system for reuse. 
         [0016]    Even still yet another aspect of the the present invention is to provide a means for sending light to rooms below the geodesic dome shape of the system. 
         [0017]    Still another aspect of the the present invention is to provide a means for gathering significantly more exposure to the sunlight than conventional solar flat layouts. 
         [0018]    Yet another aspect of the present invention is to provide a means for providing a photovoltaic cell power system that takes up less space than conventional solar flat layouts. 
         [0019]    Even still another aspect of the present invention is to provide a geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system having a plurality of trigonal light guides, an internal solar cell, and a battery. 
         [0020]    There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution of the art may be better appreciated. 
         [0021]    Numerous other features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings. In this respect, before explaining the current embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
         [0022]    Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way. 
         [0023]    These together with other aspects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty that characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific aspects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and description matter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0024]    The invention will be better understood and aspects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
           [0025]      FIG. 1  is a side view of an embodiment of the geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; 
           [0026]      FIG. 2  is a top view of another embodiment of the geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system of the present invention; 
           [0027]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an embodiment of the trigonal light guide of the present invention; 
           [0028]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of an embodiment of an optional hexagonal light guide of the present invention; and 
           [0029]      FIG. 5  is a top view of an embodiment of the solar energy conversion system of the present invention. 
       
    
    
       [0030]    The same reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the various figures. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0031]    The following detailed embodiments presented herein are for illustrative purposes. That is, the detailed discussion herein of one or more embodiments is not intended, nor is to be construed, to limit the metes and bounds of the patent protection afforded the present invention, in which the scope of patent protection is intended to be defined by the claims and their equivalents thereof. Therefore, embodiments not specifically addressed herein, such as adaptations, variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements, should be and are considered to be implicitly disclosed by the illustrative embodiments and claims described herein and therefore fall within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0032]    Further, it should be understood that, although steps of various the claimed method may be shown and described as being in a sequence or temporal order, the steps of any such method are not limited to being carried out in any particular sequence or order, absent an indication otherwise. That is, the claimed method steps are to be considered to be capable of being carried out in any sequential combination or permutation order while still falling within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0033]    Referring now to the drawings, and in particular  FIGS. 1 to 5  thereof, one preferred embodiment of the geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system  10  comprises: a plurality of trigonal light guides  20  interconnected together, each trigonal light guide  20  comprising: a front triangular surface  30 , a rear triangular surface  40 , and a plurality of tapered mirrored walls  50  extending between the front triangular surface  30  and the rear triangular surface  40 ; a plurality of internal solar cells  70 , each trigonal light guide  20  having one internal solar cell  70 ; and a battery  130  electrically connected to each internal solar cell  70 . 
         [0034]    The battery  130  of the system  10  can be any commercially available battery  130  such as those selected from the group consisting of a nickel-cadmium battery  130 , a lead-zinc battery  130 , a lithium ion battery  130 , a nickel metal hydride battery  130 , a zinc-carbon battery  130 , a zinc-chloride battery  130 , an alkaline/manganese battery  130 , and a silver-oxide battery  130  and a metal oxyhydroxide battery  130 . 
         [0035]    The internal solar cell  70  of the system  10  can be any commercially available internal solar cell  70  such as those selected from the group consisting of monocrystalline silicon (Si) internal solar cell  70 , polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) internal solar cell  70 , amorphous silicon (amorp-Si) internal solar cell  70 , germanium (Ge) internal solar cell  70 , gallium arsenide (GaAs) internal solar cell  70 , gallium indium phosphide (GaInP 2 ) internal solar cell  70 , cadmium sulfide (CdS) internal solar cell  70 , cadmium selenide (CdSe) internal solar cell  70 , cadmium telluride (CdTe) internal solar cell  70  and copper indium selenide (CuInSe 2 ) internal solar cell  70 , titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) internal solar cell  70 , zinc oxide (ZnO) internal solar cell  70 , tin oxide (SnO 2 ) internal solar cell  70 , tungsten oxide (WO 2 ) internal solar cell  70 , indium oxide internal solar cell  70 , molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) internal solar cell  70 , molybdenum diselenide (MoSe 2 ) internal solar cell  70 , and molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe 2 ) internal solar cell  70 . 
         [0036]    An optional plurality of hexagonal light guides  80  may be added to the system  10  in which the plurality of hexagonal light guides  80  are interconnected to the plurality of trigonal light guides  20 . Each hexagonal light guide comprising: a front hexangular surface  90 , a rear hexangular surface  100 , and an untapered body  110  extending between the front hexangular surface  90  and the rear hexangular surface  100 . The optional hexagonal light guide is substantially transparent to sunlight  190  and can be composed of any known type of material such as borosilicate glass, quartz, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose propionate, polyacrylate, polyarylate, amorphous polyamide, polycarbonate, polyetherimide, sulfonated polyether, polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer, polysulfone, polyvinyl chloride and admixtures thereof. 
         [0037]    An optional transformer  120  may be added to the system  10  in which the transformer  120  is electrically coupled to the battery  130  in which the transformer  120  is configured to convert direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC). 
         [0038]    An optional base  140  may be added to the system  10  in which the base  140  can be a fresnel lens base  140   
         [0039]    An optional antireflection layer  150  may be added to the system  10  in which the antireflection layer  150  is attached to the plurality of trigonal light guides  20  and attached to the plurality of hexagonal light guides  80 . 
         [0040]    An optional plurality of external solar cells  130  may be added to the system  10  in which the external solar cells  130  are electrically connected to the battery  130 . The external solar cell  170  can be selected from the group consisting of monocrystalline silicon (Si) external solar cell  170 , polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) external solar cell  170 , amorphous silicon (amorp-Si) external solar cell  170 , germanium (Ge) external solar cell  170 , gallium arsenide (GaAs) external solar cell  170 , gallium indium phosphide (GaInP 2 ) external solar cell  170 , cadmium sulfide (CdS) external solar cell  170 , cadmium selenide (CdSe) external solar cell  170 , cadmium telluride (CdTe) external solar cell  170  and copper indium selenide (CuInSe 2 ) external solar cell  170 , titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) external solar cell  170 , zinc oxide (ZnO) external solar cell  170 , tin oxide (SnO 2 ) external solar cell  170 , tungsten oxide (WO 2 ) external solar cell  170 , indium oxide external solar cell  170 , molybdenum disulfide (MOS 2 ) external solar cell  170 , molybdenum diselenide (MoSe 2 ) external solar cell  170 , and molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe 2 ) external solar cell  170 . 
         [0041]    An optional plurality of external mirrors  160  may be added to the system  10  in which it is preferrable that the external mirrors  160  are curved. 
         [0042]    Another embodiment of the geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system  10  comprises: a plurality of trigonal light guides  20  interconnected together, each trigonal light guide  20  comprising: a front triangular surface  30 , a rear triangular surface  40 , and a plurality of tapered mirrored walls  50  extending between the front triangular surface  30  and the rear triangular surface  40 ; a plurality of internal solar cells  70 , each trigonal light guide  20  having one internal solar cell  70 ; a battery  130  electrically connected to each internal solar cell  70 ; a plurality of hexagonal light guides  80  interconnected to the plurality of trigonal light guides  20 , each hexagonal light guide comprising: a front hexangular surface  90 , a rear hexangular surface  100 , and an untapered body  110  extending between the front hexangular surface  90  and the rear hexangular surface  100 ; a transformer  120  electrically coupled to the battery  130  wherein the transformer  120  is configured to convert direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC); a plurality of external solar cells  130  electrically connected to the battery  130 ; and a plurality of external mirrors  160 . 
         [0043]    Referring now to  FIG. 1  which depicts a side view of an geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system  10  which shows a plurality of trigonal light guides  20  interconnected together, the optional plurality of hexagonal light guides  80  interconnected to the plurality of trigonal light guides  20  and a base  140 . 
         [0044]    Referring now to  FIG. 2  which depicts a top view of another embodiment of the geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system  10  which shows a plurality of trigonal light guides  20  interconnected together; shows a plurality of the optional hexagonal light guides  80  interconnected to the plurality of trigonal light guides  20 ; and shows a base  140 . 
         [0045]    Referring now to  FIG. 3  which depicts a perspective side view of one trigonal light guide  20 . The trigonal light guide  20  is shown having a front triangular surface  30 , a rear triangular surface  40 , a plurality of tapered mirrored walls  50  extending between the front triangular surface  30  and the rear triangular surface  40 . Also shown is an internal solar cell  70  internally mounted within the trigonal light guide  20 . Also shown is a portion of an optional antireflection layer  150  attached to trigonal light guide  20 . 
         [0046]    Referring now to  FIG. 4  which depicts a perspective side one of the optional hexagonal light guides  80 . The optional hexagonal light guide is shown comprising: a front hexangular surface  90 , a rear hexangular surface  100 , and an untapered body  110  extending between the front hexangular surface  90  and the rear hexangular surface  100 . Also shown is a portion of an optional antireflection layer  150  attached to hexagonal light guide. 
         [0047]    Referring now to  FIG. 5  which depicts a view of an embodiment of the geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system  10  of the present invention. The geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system  10  is shown comprising: a plurality of external mirrors  160 , a transformer  120 , and a battery  130 . The geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system  10  is shown comprising a plurality of trigonal light guides  20 , a plurality of hexagonal light guides  80  and a base  140 . The external mirrors  160  are shown reflecting sunlight  190  onto geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system  10 . 
         [0048]    While a number of preferred embodiments of the geodesic dome photovoltaic cell power system, system and method of using same have been described in detail, it should be apparent that modifications and variations thereto are possible, all of which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention. 
         [0049]    Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention described herein is susceptible to variations and modifications other than those specifically described. It is to be understood that the invention includes all such variations and modification which fall within its spirit and scope. The invention also includes all of the steps, features, compositions and compounds referred to or indicated in this specification, individually or collectively, and any and all combinations of any two or more of said steps or features. 
         [0050]    Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.