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Posted - Dec 03 2003 : 11:00:46 PM
I thought I would throw out a wacky idea for conversation. I wonder what the possibilities are of creating a solar window. That is, a window, that is translucent, yet provides power in a manner similar to traditional solar panels. I suppose the trick is in chemisty, and trying to get the silicon clear enough to be translucent. Any ideas?
Here's another thought: What are the possibilities of creating solar stips, say 1/4" wide or less, that can be integrated within, or on the window pane, thus providing for visibility, sunlight, yet providing power. I'm thinking of the rear window of automobiles, window panes on houses, etc.
I'm live in Arizona, USA at the moment. In case you don't know, it's sunny around here about 80% of the time.
Just thoughts...
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| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Brian |
Posted - Dec 14 2003 : 01:32:20 AM
This was discussed on Slashdot a while ago.
You can find an article about the idea at http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60301,00.html
It basically uses fresnel lenses to focus light onto small solar cells built into the windows.
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| Kale |
Posted - Dec 06 2003 : 3:48:20 PM
The problem is making an electrical contact between the spheres. Their orientation would be random in something like a paint, so figureing out a way to connect them would be a pain. For something pre-made like wall paper though it wouldn't be as much of a problem.
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| BEatonNo1 |
Posted - Dec 05 2003 : 3:20:34 PM
If you could make a paint that had the orbs in it. what you could do is give them a charge so that they would all align the same way. then you could make EVERYTHING generate electricity the entire house...at that point you could definantly cut the cords
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Posted - Dec 05 2003 : 2:50:19 PM
Now THAT is awesome! The possibilities! Maybe in twenty years or so, when they've perfected the process, price will come down enough to be conceivable? :) Still though, that's pretty neat. Solar paint, solar blinds, solar whever! Inspiration...
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| BEatonNo1 |
Posted - Dec 05 2003 : 2:07:02 PM
cool...wallpaper that gains some of that energy loss from lights back
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| Kale |
Posted - Dec 05 2003 : 11:01:44 AM
Hrm... solar panel curtains. I like the idea. I've read about a recent solar panel technology that uses semiconductor material to create microscopic spheres. The spheres act as individual solar cells and can be chained together to form more voltage or current. They are usually 'printed' into or onto a material. I suppose if you could design a process to imprint them into cloth you could have normal-ish curtains that would act as solar panels. The other advantage of the microspheres is that since they are round they always have the same exposure to the sun regardless of the angle, so they give constant power.
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| BEatonNo1 |
Posted - Dec 04 2003 : 10:19:28 PM
well if you could get your hands on one of those machines that seal the windows with the inert gas you could experament. We had some windows that had gotten moisture in them, the company hat fixed them had the whole setup in the back of a picup.
the problem with the convection thing is first you would be airconditioning the inside and outside, secondly you would get condensation on the inside of the gass
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Posted - Dec 04 2003 : 9:19:46 PM
Good point Kale. I appreciate the knowledge. Here is a twist for you. What if you could design a window that is paned normally on the outside, but the inside contained 1 inch stips of solar panel running about every 1.5 inches. AND the solar panels are on a rotation track above and below the window. Bam! you have window blinds and solar energy. heheheh. Here's another wacky idea. Take the above assembly, add a paned window to the inside. This will trap the solar panels in between two panes. Then make vent holes on the top and bottom of the paned windows in order to create a convection. Bam! You have a window pane cooling to reduce the amount of heat that is absorbed inside of the room, AND noise reduction. What do you think? Pretty wacky...and expensive!
Edited by - Johnson777717 on Dec 04 2003 9:20:45 PM |
| Kale |
Posted - Dec 04 2003 : 6:18:49 PM
It's not a chemical or material limitation: it's a fundamental physical limitation.
Every photon that reaches your eye is a photon that was not absorbed by the solar window.
This means that you would always have to trade-off between the light allowed to pass through the 'window' and the light absorbed by the panel to produce power. Even a 'translucent' window, allowing say 20% of the light to pass through to the room, would only be 80% efficient compared to a completely opaque normal solar panel that absorbed 100% of the incident radiation.
(By the way, in the real world solar panels are only about 10% efficient, but the other 90% is not allowed to pass through; it is actually lost in the semiconductor material (vibration, heat, etc) and I don't think that there is any way to allow it to keep going through without also impacting the amount of photons that get turned into electric current.)
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Posted - Dec 04 2003 : 2:38:05 PM
I agree with the analysis that the solar panel would take a huge effeciency dive with the traditional solar setup There has to be some way to engineer the panel to be translucent. If I had to challenge chemical and metallurgical engineers with a topic, this would be it.
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| Kale |
Posted - Dec 04 2003 : 2:17:36 PM
To create energy, a solar panel turns a photon into an electron. A window would allow photons to travel straight through it, so no electron would be created. That would create a useless solar panel. Even if it only allowed some of the light through and captured the rest, you're still going to take a big hit in efficiency. I like Aaron's idea of solar panel roofing.
Even simpler are solar THERMAL panels. Build a box. Make one side of the box regular glass. Run coils of black hose back and forth inside the box. Run water from your well or city supply or whatever through the tubes before going to your hot water heater/boiler. The extra heat from the sun will save you a bundle in oil/gas/electricity. Some people around here install systems like this on their rooves, and they're way cheaper then solar electric panels since you can build them yourself.
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| Aaron Cake |
Posted - Dec 04 2003 : 10:56:46 AM
Instead of shingles, why not use solar panels? Think of all the square footage on roofs that just sits idle...
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| BEatonNo1 |
Posted - Dec 03 2003 : 11:14:49 PM
well one thing that I see is that they would be more costly and provide less power than a normal solar panel of the same size.
they do make solar panels on super thin plastic films. they are flexable and thin, so they could be placed on all sorts of stuff
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