Solar power engineering is taking to new heights as
researchers around the world invent and reinvent methods to harness solar
energy to its best capacity. Traditional solar panels lay flat on a surface or
rooftop, facing the sun to collect energy. MIT researchers decided to change
the shape of solar panels, conducting experiments with a cube, tall cube, and
tower-shaped panels to see which design brought in more energy.
Now, researchers at the MIT are working on avant-garde
3D designs that would look beyond the traditional outlook of arranging cells on
a flat surface or motorized structures keeping them pointed towards the sun.
At MIT, researchers are building cubes or towers of
solar cells that extend upwards in 3-D configurations. Interestingly, this
experiment produced remarkable results compared to traditional panels as they
generated 20 times more power than traditional solar panels in the same base
area.
Researchers also say the tower style panel helps save
space by standing vertically, and the design will be easier to manufacture than
the cubes. However, they do anticipate the designs to be more expensive to
produce than flat panels, but the payoff could be worth the investment. Manufacturers
aim to use thin film technologies to help reduce cost but still have the panels
capable of harvesting energy in low light and cloudy conditions.
The highly visible differences were noticed in
situations and places that were far from equator, in winter months and on
cloudy days. The team at MIT worked on a variety of configurations, testing
them under a whole range of latitudes, seasons and weather. Every time, the
power generated by these models vastly differed than that of ordinary solar
panels. Even the cost of the 3D models was balanced by the output generated
over the course of a day as well as during days and seasons when traditional
panels are unable to perform their best. Since, the 3D models performed
consistently on given day, season and under any weather condition, they would
be easier to integrate with power grids than conventional systems.
The effectiveness of 3D models is because of the
vertical solar cell surfaces that can collect maximum sunlight even during
mornings, evenings, winters and when the sun is closer to the horizon.
While researchers are confident in the tower design,
they are still experimenting how to distribute the towers for the most
effective use. With the height of each towers possibly shading one another from
the sun, this solar array is currently designed for urban environments rather
an open space. Larger scale models, however, could prove to be useful in solar
farms in the near future.
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