1647 A Way To Improve Solar PV by 50%

[@ACloud27]

We are getting very close to energy independence on a micro level. Very exciting times.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

absolutely mate

[@unicornadrian1358]

Many of us are already energy independent.

[@shazzz_land]

@@unicornadrian1358 can you carry it in ur backpack and provide 3kw of power without weighing more then 3 kg, and without being solar, wind or mechanical dependant for it to work, and exclude the ideea of an actual battery being involved in the system? you can include a battery in the system if the battery is of unlimited supply and with no need of recharge (like in the case of the so called "diamond" nuclear batteries)

[@unicornadrian1358]

@@shazzz_land not sure what your point is mate. What you described doesn’t exist.

[@cavelvlan25]

As exciting as this is I don't feel like they will ever let us live free. We could materialize water put power in the grid and property tax would go uo 400%

[@alpaykasal2902]

This relies on FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection), I've been using a product called Endlighten for years for exactly this purpose. The product is intended for side-lit acrylic exit signs. No dimples, but the acrylic is impregnated with tiny metal particulates to cause FTIR internal reflections.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

thank you very much for that information mate - it is truly priceless - I will look it up - cheers

[@alpaykasal2902]

@@ThinkingandTinkering My pleasure, thanks for all your thought provoking content and effort. I'll add this bit, Endlighten is distributed throughout Europe by Evonik under the name Acrylite (from Germany), if I recall. It's fine to etch the Acrylite/endlighten with a standard laser cutter to create diffuse faces, less reflective for better light 'capture'.

[@rohanmowatt3725]

great input! what thickness acrylic did you use?

[@buddyguy4723]

A few creative youtubers have made their own solar tracking systems that work really well.

[@TimeSurfer206]

If you only need one axis, it's as easy as cornbread are squared, pie are round. This is why I'm thinking some kind of linear arrangement, like a parabolic trough with a water pipe at the focal point. But now I think I may not need the parabolic trough.

[@davemillan3360]

Acrylic degrades over time when exposed to UV. Portholes on boats are often acrylic and you see them crazing as they age. In some hot and sunny places it can happen in a few years.

[@russellzauner]

transparent aluminum is real

[@reeferbeleafer9912]

@@russellzauner Very real also very expensive and not available to common folk afaik

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

true enough

[@jw6982]

@@russellzauner Yup ,sapphire is mostly aluminium oxide used as watch crystals on better watches for a long while, still expensive though.

[@joohop]

Great Stuff Rob , Shared With Our HAM Radio Group Bless Up

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

awesome mate and thanks for the share - I think you will like the next id in this series

[@atomicsmith]

Love this channel and your content.

[@AG-yb1lm]

Another Great Conversation! What you have presented is actually a Mathematical Ratio between the Solar Constant at your Latitude , the Efficiency of your Solar Cell , and the Efficiency of your Light Guide. 3D Solar Cell configurations have been researched for decades. Several Patents have achieved complete conversion of the Solar Constant at the Solar Cell rated spectrum ... you referred to it as "Efficiency" that is not accurate. For argument sake , Solar Cell efficiency does not change ... The direction , quantity per given area , and time/age of light delivered does change. Love your conversations , brings back a lot of memories of decades lost. Keep up the good work - Regards.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

thank you mate and thank you for posting that - very interesting stuff you said

[@MacsMachines]

I did my dissertation years back now on how we could use the low grade heat from say water cooling solar panels and using this heat in a heat pump say (or how about just a heat sink store that then cools down at night) to then improve overall efficiency of a system. Also let’s have light guides that mimic grass so we can have solar lawns no working at height issues! 👍 great videos 👌

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

nice ideas mate - thanks for posting

[@GEOsustainable]

Tell me more about the mimic grass? I'm not picturing it.

[@MacsMachines]

@@GEOsustainable Astro turf has lots of green plastic shoots. Could someone produce a version that in effect each blade works like a fibre optic (remember those plastic fibre optic lamps from the 70s) to take sun light from the surface into a PV cell below? Or could we have a Astro turf like layer, that OK reflects green wavelength light, but is translucent to all other wavelengths? ok some energy would be lost but it would still, if that was possible, I assume still be able to then use most of light for solar panel below. Lots of houses and indeed spaces have some form of lawn, it would be great to use that space but in a sympathetic way (eg still looks green and kids etc can still can run on it). Roofs are great but working on roofs means working at height issues and hence costs. Sadly I don’t have a solution, but I think someone said there is some people working on it possibly? 👍 was just a thought 💭

[@danchadwick1495]

Something your demonstration of the waveguide from a laptop screen reminded me of is a diffraction grating to split out the color bands from the incoming light rejecting all but the band to which the cell is attuned. Concentrating the light from that band serves to improve efficiency,my guess would be 7:1 -- plus magnification. Using only the tuned band also rejects IR, keeping the cell cooler.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@JoeyBlogs007]

The primary type of light reflected from mirrors, especially standard mirrors designed for everyday use, is visible light. Much of the infrared thermal energy is absorbed by the mirror. Remainder of the infrared and UV is reflected, however most would dissipate before it hits the solar panels. Solar PV uses the visible light spectrum for electrical energy production, so overall it's more than likely there would be a net gain in performance and this has been demonstrated in trials. Some suggest a significant performance boost. It comes down to the incremental cost / benefit of the mirrors and payback time.

[@BradLemaster-cv9pj]

I appreciate your help in making the common man energy independent. Combining light gathering technology with Pv cells seems to have great promise love your work

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

Much appreciated

[@williamjames5321]

Genius! Of course the symmetry of nature would allow the conversion of electricity to light to be mirrored entirely! An excellent illustration of the mechanic, well done!

[@HansHartman]

Robert! WOW! I’ve thought about the use of the light guides, from seeing the acrylic signs that people write on. I wonder if taking a simple sheet of acrylic, and having that as the guide, would do the same thing? Also, a thicker piece of acrylic as a skylight, and attaching the PV Cells on the sides of that… You are certainly the type of person that changes the world for the better. One project at a time. You instill curiosity in people and give cause to have viewers improve their world, just a little. But it is like rain drops. One is not enough to change anything. But add them all together, you have an ocean. Cheers!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

wow - that is an awesome thing to say mate - cheers - I am going to do a video on making your own light guide for this I think

[@travismoore7849]

If you have a light channel that uses a fluorescent material that converts UV rays into white light or the spectrum best converted by the solar cell a doped light guide may work double duty at increasing efficiency as it converts high energy UV to lower energy light or act as a light amplifier. Though this would mean doping the light light guide with something like a halo phosphor or coating part of it in said material to increase light output by conversion. I think you mention something along those lines in a past video.

[@roadblok6713]

Just can't get enough of your videos. Amazing stuff again cheers

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

wow - cheers mate

[@C-M-E]

Simple solutions are the best! I knew I was hanging on to that 32" dead monitor for good reason! 👍

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

nice lol

[@bacilluscereus1299]

Thank you for the consise, clear breakdown.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@7Cherubim]

Please keep up with these superb videos. So informative!

[@Berkana]

Robert, you mentioned that solar tracking is expensive, but a significantly cheaper way of tracking the sun has been developed. A company called Sunfolding makes these UV-resistant blow-molded bellows which are really inexpensive to make (the process is the same as how PET bottles are made) which they use to steer PV panels by pumping different amounts of compressed air into opposing bellows that rock the PV panel on a hinged mount. The entire actuation system consists of these bellows and tubing for compressed air, a controller, and an air compressor. The benefits of this system are: • one air compressor can actuate vast numbers of PV panels via air tubing • all the moving parts that could suffer any wear are in the compressor and the valve controller, and these are mounted at ground-level for easy maintenance. I would go so far as to say that this is positively a breakthrough in the simplification of solar tracking. A PV panel that tracks the sun can have up to 40% higher output compared to a stationary PV panel.

[@vihreelinja4743]

and you can reliably do the same with ardruido and a stepper motor. just use a timer on ardruido or attach a camera sensor and dl a program for sun tracking. ~50 bucks + mounting harware that one can easily diy.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I didn't know about that mate - thanks for the heads up - you can guarantee I will look into it - nice mate - cheers

[@Berkana]

@@vihreelinja4743 I'm specifically talking about the tracking hardware, not the method of tracking. When you use a stepper motor, the actuation is roughly limited to using a motor per unit of load per degree of freedom that it actuates. If you have many panels, you need many motors. For Sunfolding's method, a single air compressor can actuate a huge number of solar panels. An air compressor may be more expensive than a stepper motor, but scaling their method only involves getting more bellows and tubes. You would need to be actuating entire fields of panels to need to add a second compressor. And maintenance is far easier because nearly all of it is done at ground level, whereas maintenance of stepper motors mounted on a roof or canopy or where ever the PV panel is mounted involves climbing structures and lifting tools up there and all sorts of complications. For hard to reach PV systems which need to scale cheaply, Sunfolding's method is far superior.

[@rexbarron4873]

Interesting set up in France I came across. The guy had put his panels on a hydraulic tilt arrangement and attached an electro compass, possibly from a smart phone, to the head of a sun flower. Sunflower tracks the sun, PV.s track the sunflower.....brilliant

[@williamchamberlain2263]

Linear trough focusing on the PV works and is easy to form from cheap materials - guy at Uni Reading was doing it for solar heating in the mid 1990s aimed at cheap wood forms + mylar. Easy to mount , only needs to track around the north-south axis (azimuth) if you can manually change the elevation once or twice a month.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I agree mate - but I thought that was mostly for solar thermal rather than solar pv

[@williamchamberlain2263]

@@ThinkingandTinkering I think it depends on how large the PV panels and then the reflector is; for most portable/caravan/home sizes 5-7/4-5/3 in a line would be feasible, though manual elevation would get heavy on the larger sizes so might only be practical if there's a tree or hefty structure to put a pulley or cranked track on. Having just one powered tracking axis is still a big bonus for maintenance and reliability. Plus with a PV panel is you don't need a tight focus - you might not even want one or you might burn out the panel there - so the reflector doesn't need to be parabolic; somewhere between flat and arc-of-circle would be fine.

[@grantmidd]

Just got solar PV, it's an interesting concept. Would definitely help in lower light conditions such as a small amount of cloud cover. I hope someone invents an add on kit.

[@jasonhaymanonthedrawingboard]

Bicycle refection technology. Awesome! 50% can’t be sniffed at.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

no indeed

[@GEOsustainable]

This, along with lots of ideas are getting a tiny bit closer to mimicking nature's perfect light harvester...the Algae. This could certainly improve winter solar loses. Perhaps you could use fishing line, cut on edge and produce a light guide similar to those old optic fiber lamps.

[@sreenathc]

Your channel is the best to get real practical information on a whole range things which are super interesting!!! I came for the simple NASA Stirling engine, and became a fan and subscribed right away!! Keep up the great work. I now need to see if I can get me some of those light guides to attach to my solar panels on the roof!

[@angelusmendez5084]

Really, really interesting 👏 I can also be used for indoor farms, thanks for sharing! 🎉

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

good point mate - like it

[@georgemckenzie2525]

33 years off grid My tracking system is a leaving the rack loose enough on the mast to turn the arrays (2) by hand a couple of times a day.

[@PaulChapman1bz]

50% is hugely significant and other possible ways of utilising the acrylic will also substantially improve overall energy efficiency. Another important video ⚡👌

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@keithking1985]

this is such a simple but awesome idea. its something i will 1000% use very soon... thanks a mill Robert, you a start my friend..😁⭐

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I think you will love todays vid mate

[@williamarmstrong7199]

Nice idea for producing solar that is compatible with listed buildings though and for extending roof space or see through car port roofing.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

Good point mate - cheers

[@jasonstclair1329]

More on this project please !!

[@Vibe77Guy]

Glowpaint came out with 'LitroEnergy' several years ago. They found a way to encapsulate tritium gas, and a phosphor coating into micro spheres. The result was a glow in the dark pigment that had a half life of 11 years. They then painted the surface of a photo voltaic cell with this pigment and had a constant power source. The phosphor pigments would also absorb external light and 'store' it for a period of time, even without the tritium exitation. I think I have seen other sources lately that are using frequency shifting materials to make better use of the normally wasted off band frequencies.

[@joohop]

Very Interesting Have You Got A Link To That Product Please ?

[@gene4390]

Tritium gas is VERY VERY low light output. The power would be almost non existent on scale.

[@disposabull]

@@gene4390 People build low powered batteries from tritium keyrings all the time, lots of hackaday projects do it. Commercially if you have $2000 to spare there are tritium batteries for low power circuits, they have been around for decades.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@patrickmcginnis7]

I bought some tritium jewelry from a maker in Greece, very happy with it. My GF wears it out on the town all the time. Expected lifespan is 40 yrs, but it will be glowing long after we are dead tho. But, we can't legally get these items in the USA. We can buy trit vials and then buy like keyfobs and put them together ourselves...but it's not ideal. The govt. doesn't trust the DIY or commercial industries with it. The excitation of the phosphor inside the vials via the radiation is fascinating. Larger units could easily give ambient light in areas like porches that actually give off light freq. that bugs are NOT attracted to(don't repel tho). Quite an issue here in Fl. They are still attracted by our CO² breathing and beer, but a porch nightlight that doesn't suck up elec. or attract them would be nice. And painting ceilings in exposed porches with the right color can deter some from making little homes there as well. So a bug paint with a 10 year refresh is quite marketable, but if it is capable of exhausting trit. at all it is bad.

[@scantrain5007]

Great Video! Hope some manufactors in Europe pick up this and bring it on the market! Any PV is better than fossile energy carrier.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

Great point!

[@seanmcardle]

We used something similar to act as a light shelf to bounce light further into a building. Building T, Deakin university Burwood campus, Melbourne Australia. ~20 yrs ago.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

research is still ongoing mate

[@rajnishs9857]

This one is really good, Robert. Would be testing it soon & revert.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

awesome mate - look up Morgan solar and see what they have been doing

[@rajnishs9857]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Sure Robert will check them too.

[@kumadogjack]

I can see potential for sure, maybe have the solar panels positioned up at say a 45 degree angle and have the acrylic with some kind of refraction on the sides in the middle between the solar panels to maximize total area of light collected... But alas is it better than just laying another panel in place of the acrylic?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

it might well be mate - to a degree this is about rethinking it a bit

[@georgemckenzie2525]

I find putting the arrays to ninety degrees from november through February uses the reflective energy from the snow cover while keeping the panels free of snow. The rest of the year its 36 degrees

[@tectalabyss]

Thank you for the information. It's gotten very cloudy and cool here in the southeast Tennessee,the last couple of months, which are normally our Hottest and driest . if this keeps up or gets worse, Solar will be of no use. It's been windier than normal but not enough to use. Maybe hydro, if it stays wet. Crazy times indeed. Thank you Sir.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

they are indeed crazy mate

[@Buzzhumma]

So we combine the light guide with the optical fibre you could have solar panels independently placed. They could be 20m away etc!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I like that idea mate

[@Buzzhumma]

@@ThinkingandTinkering and guess what I just happen to have sitting around ? 👍🏻

[@Buzzhumma]

@@Tensquaremetreworkshop ok

[@551moley]

I don't understand why people are so obsessed with solar panel efficiency, the Sun is 100% free and just recently we've had rather a lot, I'm a 100% off grid for electricity and for a 100% of the many hours my air conditioner has run in last few weeks it's been 100% free. I would rather "suffer" with panels that are 20% "efficient" than pay 100% of a power bill, the UK average consumption is 6 to 10kwh a day, my consumption in around 6kwh a day on average (not including air conditioning) so a low average user, my diesel bill for last years power from November to March was around £120 (Red diesel @avg 90p a ltr) that's roughly the same as the normal standing charge per year, my full system 10kva genny, 15kwh battery, 6kva inverter and 4kw panels cost slightly less than the cost to connect mains power (£12k). With power prices going up like they are even a 20% efficient panel is going to save you a small fortune.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I don't understand it either - the point here is that this can bring down the instal and purchase cost and that is far more important

[@mikejones-vd3fg]

Great stuff, just got an 80w panel to play around with and surprised it can actually keep my latpop going indefinately (so far) but dont think i coudld do it without the solar efficiency boosting. I use reflective bubblewrap used for insulation and its works well, not as good as glass but its easily manipulated to the shape you want. It seems to be the difference maker keeping my battery topped up while im using the laptop instead of draining it. I have a fan blowing on the back which i think overcomes any extra overheating if not adding more cooling then it would expect, even without cooling if the panels arent reaching maximum spec i think its stafe to get them there with some focusing and definatley with cooling. But cooling is expensive and may not be worth the extra energy(or it might?), anyhow this is really cool to know theres other options. This could let you setup panels like you were saying without any tracking, say a solar dome, and the panels that arnet in the sun most of the time can be boosted with things like this. And I just passed up another TV screen this morning that i thought was definatly broken, not any longer!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

nice job mate and it never ceases to amaze me what folks throw out!

[@Kangsteri]

Mylar reflectors glued on cardboard work well with small panels and they are very light weight. I think it's possible to make some kind of collector with water too, cause it can bend the light very well.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

nice idea mate - but they might be a bit flimsy in a wind

[@Kangsteri]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Yeah, but they are good cheap booster for portable panels. I have made few just by adding them on all four sides in 45 degree angle, and taped the sides together. It can be folded when not in use. Works best the panels are rectangles, then you can make them in 4 sets that make larger rectangle. Hard to explain without pictures..

[@burtybasset4486]

I watched something recently which mentioned possibly using Fresnel lenses, but went on to use mirrors for experimenting with his panels. Don't know if they would cause the cells to burn or overheat though? "Tech Ingredients" was the channel I believe. The host was a smart chap and did another great video where he made a fridge and a freezer using Peltier plates.

[@guytech7310]

What would probably make more sense is a reflector that has a surface filter that blocks infrared light and other wavelengths that the PV panel cannot use to generate electricity. This would reduce the heat load dumped into the array. Not really sure if optical guides would make a significant difference for real world applications. Issue I see is that to make it cost effective, the output area is going to small (limited to to the thickness of the material). That said, the PV arrays are only part of the cost of a solar system: You still need an inverter & possibly batteries to convert the DC output of PVs into usable power. The other issue is that it does not solve the intermittent problems of PV (Does not work in night, Does not work in overcast, does not work if the PV are covered by snow) and the problem of generating sufficient power during the winter months when the weather is not ideal, and the daylight hours are shorter. Realistically its not going to be practical or economical to transition to PV & Wind to replace fossil fuel plants. You probably need at least 6 times nameplate capacity of PV & wind so there is sufficient supply at night & for periods (overcast) when PV or Wind output is too low to meet demand. Then there is the storage problem, Chemical batteries are not a viable option due to cost & degradation. At this time only Pumped hydro is a practical power storage system, but unfortunately there is a limited number of spots that Pumped Hydro can be set up since you need a storage area that has a significant height & is close to a nearby water source to access & dumping water back isn't going to cause a flooding problem. A lot of land is already developed which makes it a problem. When China built its 3 gorges dam I believe it displaced over 1 million residents that lived in the area that became flooded as the dam filled up. Another issue with PV & Wind is that a lot of the low cost panels do no last very long and create a recycling problem. I believe Austriala is battling a mountain amount of waste from broken PV & Fiberglass Wind that is basically impossible to recycle.

[@MrBrew4321]

Wonder if you could have some kinda acrylic array on the roof surface, connect that to tubes going through pipes, kinda like optical fiber, pump a bunch of photons into an attic space onto protected solar panels. Why? -> never have to worry about snow and dust storms and bird poop and hail etc. and if you can improve efficiency that's obv benefit, and perhaps people would like the looks on the roof top if it just looks like a sky light, but personally I've never really cared about the asthetics.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

there is work being done on exactly that with light guides - or so I believe - it is an interesting subject for sure

[@Berkana]

There is one big weakness for acrylic based light guides: acrylic photo-degrades. It can turn yellow and develop fine cracks all over its surface. Acrylic isn't recyclable as far as I understand, and if it is, I doubt the photo-degraded material is recyclable.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

nicepoints mate - cheers

[@EZEMPIRE_LABORLINKED]

I want to start by saying thank you I’ve learn so much from you I wanted to see if you have ever worked with Z-Sourse Inverter I wanted to apply it to my project and I’m running out of time and that would mean losing our Family Home I Grew up in, and the one I’m trying to raise my son and daughter in as well!! Please let me know if you can help, And thank you again for always Sharing your knowledge, I feel in my heart that that’s the only way humanity can evolve equally!!

[@screen-protector]

That's exactly why I'm getting all cracked TV locally what I can get. Not only for spare parts for my electronics repair, but as well for those acrylic panels and everything what comes with it. There's one more which you've shown as well, to focus the ray and not mentioned here. I think it's called a polarizing film if I'm correct.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

fresnel lens mate - and yep old tv's are full of really useful stuff that just gets thrown away - madness!!

[@screen-protector]

@@ThinkingandTinkering thank you! You're right! :D I'm wrong. Yes, it's a fresnel lens. Thank you, Robert. Will even write it down this time ;).

[@mikegLXIVMM]

What if a Peltier module was glued to the back of a solar cell on one side and a sheet of aluminum on the other? The Peltier module would convert the heat gathered by the solar cell into electricity. The glue would be a thermally conductive silicone or epoxy. Add in the magnifying lens you described and there could be a lot of power generated.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

yep = that would do but the cost would be high

[@patrickmcginnis7]

The TEGs won't produce much unless the temp diff. is super high, and they aren't made to withstand high heat. I'm trying to combine my cold A/C water runoff with direct sun thermopile (stone) to increase the power, but it's not much. MicroAmps for a $8 TEG isn't cost effective. Passive solar water heating saves more $ depending on usage imho. My house breaker panel is full otherwise I would have a PV. My neighbor has one ... and he still pays 50% of his old elec. bill because they are stationary and at wrong angles. My roof is better suited, but to get to the desired kwh, it's still not efficient enough. I think a better sealed airgap under the PV with a few low scfm fans could help the entire system maintain temp better, but what you are spending is in essence what you are losing ... so no net carbon neutral benefit. But with the reflective and concentrated SPV ... maybe.

[@conflict_monitor]

Non imaging optical reflectors and light guides are awesome

[@settlece]

thanks for the knowledge

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

glad you found it useful mate

[@settlece]

@@ThinkingandTinkering just an idea could you stack the solar panels like playing cards, so use one panel then light guide and so on to reduce the foot print? and stand the whole deck up

[@richardteychenne3950]

Initial market might well be portable devices maybe even on electric vehicles, RVs etc. The future is rushing towards us and there is every reason to be positive about practical solutions to helping solve the climate problem and decrease dependence on big oil 👌

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

that is a clever idea mate - thanks for sharing

[@harleydavo1099]

OK Rob, as much as I really enjoy your vids. I'm going to call this next to useless. Just put a solar panel the size of your acrylic, and hook up a voltmeter and compare the two results. Waftam!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lol - fair enough mate - but before you completely condemn it have a look what Morgan solar are up to lol

[@harleydavo1099]

@@ThinkingandTinkering still like your vids.

[@MichaelAckerman]

The U of Rochester video shows that it would need a tracking mechanism, at least with the "dimpled surface" type lens. I don't understand why they didn't use linear lenses. Then you'd only need to adjust the angle of the collector every few days, as the angle of the sun changed. (This assumes it is mounted in an east-west orientation, as with a mirrored parabolic trough.)

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

About to increase my Solar by 100%, 18 panels going up on roof soon. So I'll be able to spend all day on KZbin for free. 🙂

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lol - well that works

[@dremaboy777]

Good info. 👍🏾

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@brymstoner]

Does it only improve panel output by collecting the light along the outside edges - have I understood that correctly?

[@wayne975]

I have wanted to concentrate (parabolic mirror) light onto end of fibber optic cable (thick one) and see light output results inside a house.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

that's a clever idea mate

[@wayne975]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Will look into it been wanting to diy a PB mirror for ages.

[@BlueJeebs]

I was just looking at that 50" LCD tv I have laying around still...Guess I got a project for it now

[@chrisgriffiths2533]

Thanks!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

wow - thank you mate - it is well appreciated

[@Milkybar3320011]

Marvellous, give yourself a well earned pat on the back

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lol - cheers mate

[@3in1Machining]

Had mine seven years and its so far developed 25MW/Hrs. On 50/50 tariff, that means the government pay 16p per Kw whether i us the electricity or not. So in reality I get 25,000 x 16p this is doubled because I get 25MW of free electricity.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I am sorry mate - I just get a huge sense of - I am alright jack - the government gets it's money from taxes - so basically you are ok because everyone else is footing your bill - is that really something to be proud of?

[@3in1Machining]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Nope you are wrong, I privately funded the build and I'm pumping surplus free energy back to the grid. Whereas my electricity bill last month was £4.68p excluding hook up tariff . It about planning ahead. I looked ahead and its now paying dividends. I've never experienced such low energy bills. Nobody footed the bill but me, now I'm getting paid back. Energy is only going to get more expensive over the years. Hence expressing / portraying a success and sharing in the public domain. What is wrong with that. ?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

@@3in1Machining nothing at all - I take it all back

[@quartamile]

What're the details on the 36% efficient panels, who makes em, why are the better, and where to buy them? Thank you!

[@redshift3]

PV efficiency is similar to internal combustion engine efficiency

[@Xonikz]

Depends on your measure. Internal combustion is like 30-40% efficient.

[@TimeSurfer206]

I have, for some time now, been pondering a parabolic trough focusing the sunlight onto a water pipe for steam generation. It's looking like I might not need a parabolic trough.

[@antoniopacelli]

We are Getting Very Close to the Solution here... Now tink about Laser.. But another thing... Think that Energy Reselling is the Most Efficient way of Getting The Public Debt Under Control.. With And Without Bad Healthcare

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

for sure mate

[@benrasmussen9878]

did you know cesium is used on photoelectric tubes because it works in most of the visible light frequency. Maybe it should be applied to solar panels?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I didn't know that - maybe it should

[@benrasmussen9878]

I found this information in a book about vacuum tubes from 1958

[@spikeccx]

Be great for lighting in buildings!!!!! , a sun tube replacment , may be with fiber optic cable !!!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

there is work being done on exactly that mate

[@spikeccx]

@@ThinkingandTinkering sun tubes, horrid to fit as well

[@winstonsmith935]

20% efficiency, Hydro Electric Power, Over 90% efficient and renewable energy. Get the solar panels to at least 70% efficient and it becomes worthwhile.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

in practice it seems a lot of folks disagree - there are an awful lot of solar panels

[@winstonsmith935]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Advertising Hype. As an Engineer if I designed anything that was only 20% efficient, I would be fired. The battery technology is improving faster than the Panel technology. I have a cabin by a year round stream, I use a small Hydroelectric Power generator ( Stream Engine, Canada) which generates 1 kilowatt at 90% efficiency, the stream runs 24/7 360 days a year. When the Panel efficiencies improve to 65% to 70% I will use the Panels as a backup. Sun is not constant.

[@cyberlizardcouk]

one of the biggest problems I see now is that the Government has scrapped the feed in tariffs which were previously available.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

it is really about cost

[@alfredharrison597]

So 12 MCa (base) to 18 MCa, pretty nice tbh. What would you say are the chances of lightguide being adopted and implemented into next gen solar cells?

[@aronbraswell1589]

Could you use a light guide and solar cells to harvest enough light that you could generate during a full moon? Could you test this loony idea?

[@Free-dv2vm]

Could you use somthing like diamond dust

[@daverichardson9413]

Bet you could make an awesome solar tracker. Saw one online. Looked kinda easy

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

it is - it's just a motor and solar cell that moves until it is in the shade

[@stevemapley686]

Sand battery in a lazyboy jacuzzi. Now there's an idea !

[@adamkaczor4181]

Hi Robert. What about foil diffusing light would it be great to put on the panel or better pmma plate diffusing light with fluorescent paint coating on the edges of the plate?

[@maxkennedy5073]

Think I've seen something along those lines before, very interesting. Combine with a thermocell on the solar panel backs and do you get enhanced generation during the day and a degree of generation at night?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I like that thinking mate

[@Theaveragenerd2000]

Do these panels have a risk of degrading in UV light?

[@chrisbraid2907]

These acrylic Light guide sheets are also found in many LCD TVs and monitors aren’t they ?

[@ozb2006]

hi Robert i love your videos! i am in need of making a battery array for my solar system, buying battery's is very expensive, so i was thinking about making battery's but i don't know much about chemistry, and i would like to make some kind of cell that does not need maintenance every few months, is there a chance you can point me in the right direction?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I have done quite a few videos on battery making and guides on what to think about when thinking about batteries mate - you might want to review a couple

[@ozb2006]

@@ThinkingandTinkering o hi, i know i have seen a lot of your video's, but i have seen so many for the past few years and i am at a point where i need to build a battery's, and i am aware that there are a lot of different chemistry's, but i don't remember all of them, and now i need a battery that i can easily duplicate, now i have no problem "getting off my keister" and messing around with it until i'll get something working, now i am just trying to "pick your brain" if you were try build a solar array to produce reliable power, (my pv system is 3.6 kilowatts, and i am in the process of putting together my own charge controller that is going to be managed with a raspberry PI micro computer, now space would not be a factor (we just got 13 acres in sunny Florida), the only factor i am after is, not to add water or electrolyte every few months, i don't mind maintaining it once a year, maybe once every two years... maybe take it all apart and clean the plates every few years, so any pointer what kind of battery chemistry lives a long time and doesn't need a lot of maintenance?

[@trevorvanzuydam8115]

This would work well with fibre optic lighting system. Which allows you to transfered light around the house. Think it's called nova something

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@eopoep]

Hi Robert. Have you ever tried replacing the petrol engine in a cheap generator with a clockwork style spring. Any idea of size and weight. Could I hang one off the house outside wall

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I haven't mate - springs don't store a huge amount of energy unless they are huge and that makes the engineering challenging

[@eopoep]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Yep I was kinda thinking huge, perhaps 6 to 8ft dia 90 to 100kg. Tensioned up from spare solar during the day. One of those twin coil CV types like the original windup radios.. Probably need a reduction gearbox as well perhaps from a bike frame, that way I could tinker with the hub ratios..Anyway thanks for replying

[@julienduvoyage]

Very interesting thanks a lot. But I’m not sure I understood everything (english not my native language). Can I find these light guide and use it by myself in a DIY project ? Where to find them ? How to ?

[@KevinSmith-os5yz]

For large panels outside in the sun, focusing more sun on them will heat the panel too high, and digrade the panel faster. Works fine for small panels inside maybe. But, in the hot desert say, you will end up cooking your panels. Heat is a problem.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I don't think you would do this with large panels mate - it's really about rethinking the design a bit that adapting existing panels

[@sceptic33]

would be nice if they could texture window sized sheets of glass or dope them with reflective nanoparticles to get the same effect... nice diffuse light filling the house thru blurry windows that produce power...

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

there are efforts to do exactly that mate - if you look lip light guides it is quite a fascinating subject

[@sceptic33]

@@ThinkingandTinkering hey I made an array of those TENG raindrop generators a few months back.. 6 parallel strings each with 12 in series.. Still haven't gotten around to hooking up a meter to see how it works..useless.. Always amazes me how much you get done..

[@RootsEcho]

Sir, you're using both LCD and LED as the technologies one can use for light guide. LCD and LED obviously are different types of screens, doesn't that matter regarding the light guiding properties of the acrylic layers used as light guides?

[@adamkaczor4181]

Is IT normal acrylic plate or special one? That's IT matters which side light comes through?

[@Hermaphroditolog]

MIM diodes and HYDROGEN ADIABATIC EXPLOSION can provide 98% electrolysis efficiency. |P1V1-P2V2|>0 The same applies to the transformation and absorption of solar radiation!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers

[@romeoquintero6628]

Do you know what is the name for the white coating applied to it. Thank you

[@CppObjectOrientedProgrammer]

I have roughly 3'x5' solar panels - would I just gather a few screens worth to cover it, or is there.a place I could get a single sheet to cover it completely cheaply? Does the edges of putting a few together affect the output enough to even justify purchasing a single sheet solution? Thanks! Love your videos!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

it's really about rethinking it mate - if you have an installation it's probably going to be a real issue to overhaul it and cheers

[@CppObjectOrientedProgrammer]

@@ThinkingandTinkering I'm actually building a ground mount right now for a pallet of used ones I picked up off ebay - super behind in the build hah, but if I can do it simple I wouldn't mind - especially since they're used - I'm not sure how great they are going to be - supposed to be 240watt - but people report 80% of that wattage and higher from the review I saw of the seller

[@fsbukhariify]

Would u suggest any companies who do these panels

[@captainnemo6655]

Thank you Rob!! Your videos are the right thing we need to fix the world!!.... I have a question. These types of solar panels work with a light guide... so my question is can ALED Self-Illuminating Glass or some similar type of glass be used to achieve the same effect? and if there is such a thing as a light guiding glass that also happens to be see through, can they be constructed to be regular windows for a building at the same time they function as solar panels?

[@c567591]

I see how this can work for a single cell of the panel, how do we improve the gathering of a full PV panel?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

well it is going to be a balance - spend more on the cells and put them round the edge then the overall cost per unit generated has been calculated to be less

[@c567591]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Gotcha... I was seeing this, looking for a boost for existing rooftop panels. This would be great for new designs though.

[@mrgomelonsolaris]

This can only help to reduce the cost of the cells in a module. But modules already are only 10% of the cost of the installation. Economically this won't do much.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I read 20% in a 2022 survey with design and instal being 35% - so I am not sure I agree

[@FringanSthlm]

Interesting. Does it actually increase efficiency over 24 hours though? What happens in different light levels and angles over the course of a full day?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

it's all relative mate - a solar panel produces nothing in the dark - so if there is no light there is nothing to guide!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

@@Tensquaremetreworkshop it's the same answer mate - it will respond less in lower light levels - just like a solar cell - it is a concentrator it will only concentrate what there is and the resultant will be less if there is less light to concentrate - I just took it to the extreme but it is a line from full illumination to no illumination - just like any solar cell

[@FringanSthlm]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Thanks for the reply Robert! Let me clarify! What I was wondering is if the concentrator will degrade the performance of the solar panel when the light comes from a sharp angle or the sun are behind clouds. Basically, are there light conditions where the concentrator will _lower_ the efficiency such that the net energy profit after a full day of light is +/- 0 mAh?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

@@FringanSthlm thank you mate for clarifying - I haven't read anything reporting that - but I have only read 20 or so papers on this so I can't categorically say there aren't any. Myself I have just run a few experiments and wouldn't say my experience of it was comprehensive - so, I am sorry as I don't feel this is a good answer - but it is the most I know about it - cheers

[@Xonikz]

I would be curious to see surface area for PV compared in production references. If this was to be ramped up to industrial solar field levels, could square area produce more power using this, or is a larger area for accumulators needed with smaller cells (cost efficiency focused) being the benefit?

[@Rohanraghu]

🛠️How much torque generally 2megawatt 3 blades wind turbine generates. Torque value at the input shaft of gear box ⁉️ I want rough value of torque?

[@MushookieMan]

If they spin at 20 Rpm or 2.09 rad/s, then there is about 1 mega N*m of torque.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

look it up - there are plenty of calculators - www.omnicalculator.com/ecology/wind-turbine - this one will give you torque values

[@Rohanraghu]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Thnx sir

[@Rohanraghu]

@@MushookieMan Thnx

[@CUBETechie]

What do you think about the Fluorescent panel over PV panels?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I don't understand mate can you expand a bit for me?

[@CUBETechie]

@@ThinkingandTinkering There was this student from the Philippines who used agrarcultural waste and extract fluorescent enzymes or something like that and with some resin he Made plastic windows and it was inspired by the sunglasses. The panel is a window and on the Frame on the cutting edge you find the solar panels. It can use diffuse Light also when it's cloudy too.

[@roblim1767]

Do you think that Perovskite Solar Cells are the future?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

no - I think they might be good in some applications

[@tenij000]

why not place a pool heater mat bihind the panel so heats the water mat