Prototype solar-powered military uniforms, skyscrapers built from energy-harvesting glass and waterways covered with floating panels are all being developed as innovators seek to match photovoltaics and industrial demand.
Common to all solar industry innovations are attempts to mould cells to new materials or environments.
The usual conception of a solar farm, which consists of rows of panels lined towards the sun on the landscape, is being challenged by a number of companies seeking to float panels on water.
Solaris Synergy, a Jerusalem-based company, is currently floating a solar 'array' on a reservoir in the south of France in a joint trial with French utility EDF. The idea is to overcome the need for vast land areas needed for traditional solar cell systems.
The pilot project at Cadarache experiments with stream technology by placing floating panels on moving currents. The pilot has begun on reservoirs where there is less shift in the water flow, but a second stage of the research will see greater flow released under the panels.
Elyakim Kassel, business development manager at Solaris, said: "If panels could be successfully used over moving streams, this would enable their application to a range of specific purposes. These include Mediterranean countries, where there is water scarcity and where reservoirs of industrial water and waste water could be adapted as solar farms."
Solar entrepreneurs including Solaris are also trying to persuade Californian authorities to cover the 400-mile Californian Aqueduct with photovoltaic panels.
Ray guns
Weaving solar cells into materials that can actually be worn is the challenge facing the so-called 'Solar Soldier' project, a two-year research venture funded by the UK's Ministry of Defence which comes to an end later this year.
It is the first time that energy generating materials have been woven directly into a soldier's battle dress, according to project leader Duncan Gregory of the University of Glasgow.
The project team is trying to build a prototype uniform where solar photovoltaic cells and thermoelectric devices are combined to harness natural sunlight and the temperature change between the outside and inside of a soldier's clothes.
Gregory said that the reduced weight of the material – compared with battery packs, which are currently used to charge up military equipment in the field – will lead to improved troop mobility, and make soldiers less visible to night vision equipment using infra-red technology.
Gregory is not aware if the search to allow soldiers to harness the power of light – akin to superhuman Captain Marvel – is under way in rival defence ministries.
Solar building blocks
Of most interest to the construction industry is research under way at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute, where a method of coating a special solar-sensitive dye onto glass panes has reached prototype stage.
Project leader Andreas Hinsch said: "The important aim is to upscale such a dye-coating technique so that the glass panels can be incorporated into architectural construction. With the current size we have already reached a stage at which prototype construction can begin, but we are also aiming to get the panels even bigger."
This would pave the way for skyscrapers – as well as smaller houses – to harvest power as they reflect the sun.
The usual conception of a solar farm, which consists of rows of panels lined towards the sun on the landscape, is being challenged by a number of companies seeking to float panels on water.
Solaris Synergy, a Jerusalem-based company, is currently floating a solar 'array' on a reservoir in the south of France in a joint trial with French utility EDF. The idea is to overcome the need for vast land areas needed for traditional solar cell systems.
The pilot project at Cadarache experiments with stream technology by placing floating panels on moving currents. The pilot has begun on reservoirs where there is less shift in the water flow, but a second stage of the research will see greater flow released under the panels.
Elyakim Kassel, business development manager at Solaris, said: "If panels could be successfully used over moving streams, this would enable their application to a range of specific purposes. These include Mediterranean countries, where there is water scarcity and where reservoirs of industrial water and waste water could be adapted as solar farms."
Solar entrepreneurs including Solaris are also trying to persuade Californian authorities to cover the 400-mile Californian Aqueduct with photovoltaic panels.
Ray guns
Weaving solar cells into materials that can actually be worn is the challenge facing the so-called 'Solar Soldier' project, a two-year research venture funded by the UK's Ministry of Defence which comes to an end later this year.
It is the first time that energy generating materials have been woven directly into a soldier's battle dress, according to project leader Duncan Gregory of the University of Glasgow.
The project team is trying to build a prototype uniform where solar photovoltaic cells and thermoelectric devices are combined to harness natural sunlight and the temperature change between the outside and inside of a soldier's clothes.
Gregory said that the reduced weight of the material – compared with battery packs, which are currently used to charge up military equipment in the field – will lead to improved troop mobility, and make soldiers less visible to night vision equipment using infra-red technology.
Gregory is not aware if the search to allow soldiers to harness the power of light – akin to superhuman Captain Marvel – is under way in rival defence ministries.
Solar building blocks
Of most interest to the construction industry is research under way at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute, where a method of coating a special solar-sensitive dye onto glass panes has reached prototype stage.
Project leader Andreas Hinsch said: "The important aim is to upscale such a dye-coating technique so that the glass panels can be incorporated into architectural construction. With the current size we have already reached a stage at which prototype construction can begin, but we are also aiming to get the panels even bigger."
This would pave the way for skyscrapers – as well as smaller houses – to harvest power as they reflect the sun.
Positions:
"We are currently trying to build a prototype where solar photovoltaic cells and thermoelectric devices are combined to harness natural sunlight and the temperature change between the outside and inside of the soldier's clothes," said Professor Duncan Gregory of the University of Glasgow. He added: "At first it is likely to take the form of a sensitised patch on the uniform itself but in later generations we will look to maximise the surface area of the uniform that is solar active.""We are thinking ahead and if we can get a device to harness light and heat then this will have other applications, for example. One possibility is in niche space applications for powering satellites. Another is in use for packaging medicines and foods for disaster relief, enabling the packaging to keep the contents at a stable temperature," concluded Gregory.
"We have started talks in California and our idea is to use the Californian aqueduct as a vehicle for floating panels," said Elyakim Kassel, business development manager at Jerusalem-based Solaris Synergy.
He added: "The significance of our pilot project in France at Cadarache is that we are experimenting with stream technology, that is, placing floating panels on moving currents. We are starting out on reservoirs where the shift in the water flow is less but gives us an indication of how to develop the technology further; the second stage [to begin in 2012] will see us using greater flow current under the panels."
"The southern Mediterranean is the area of greatest focus for us, both in European and North African states, where the sun is intense and where water shortage is an issue," said Kassel.
"We have been in touch with a number of countries and there is strong interest in the idea. We believe that inland water solar generation has very big potential and that there is a substantial market for growth," he concluded.
Researchers at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute have produced the first dye solar cell module on material of more than 60cm by 100cm. "We have managed to do it using a type of very precise screen printing technology," said project leader Andreas Hinsch.
He explained: "The important aim is to upscale such a dye-coating technique so that the glass panels can be incorporated into the architectural process. With the current size we have already reached a stage at which prototype construction can begin, but we are also aiming to get the panels even bigger."
Hinsch added: "Glass constitutes an increasingly percentage of newly built domestic houses and small-scale office building, and it is in that market that dyed panes could play a large role."
No comments:
Post a Comment