Researchers Create Organic Photovoltaic Panels From Graphene

Despite the fact that graphene has been known to exist for decades, only recently have researchers begun to study graphene in earnest. The reason for the relatively late start into research using grapheme is that the material was difficult to make in quantities needed for research.

Once that hurdle was overcome, researchers quickly started to use graphene in all manner of study for a variety of uses. Graphene is being studied for use in semiconductors as a multiplier able to make processors many times faster than what we have access to today. Researchers are still studying better and cheaper methods of making grapheme and one important method was discovered in October of 2009 for growing graphene.

A team of researchers at the University of Southern California has discovered a way to use graphene to produce a flexible, printable sheet only four or less atoms thick. These graphene sheets can then be bound to a flexible polymer sheet to create a new type of organic photovoltaic cell or solar panel.

The resulting solar panel is thin and very flexible and the team believes that the material may one day be used for creating clothing that can generate power when worn in the sun. The big advantage of the graphene solar panel is that it is very flexible, much more so than existing solar panel materials.

“Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells have been proposed as a means to achieve low cost energy due to their ease of manufacture, light weight, and compatibility with flexible substrates,” wrote Chongwu Zhou, a professor of electrical engineering in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, in a paper recently published in the journal ACS Nano.

The team creates the flexible graphene sheets needed for the solar panels by chemical vapor deposition. Carbon atoms are deposited in the form of graphene films onto a nickel plate from a methane gas. After the molecules are deposited, a thin protective layer of thermo plastic covers them. After the protective layer is deposited, the nickel plate is dissolved in an acid bath.

The left over film is very flexible and can be incorporated into an OPV. The downside to an OPV compared to a traditional solar panel made of silicon is that the OPV is able to convert less solar radiation into electricity.

“For every 1000 watts of sunlight that hits a one square meter area of the standard silicon solar cell, 14 watts of electricity will be generated,” says Lewis Gomez De Arco, a doctoral student and a member of the team that built the graphene OPVs. “Organic solar cells are less efficient; their conversion rate for that same one thousand watts of sunlight in the graphene-based solar cell would be only 1.3 watts.”

The team thinks that in the future these OPV sheets could be made into a fabric that could be hung like curtains or worn as clothing that can generate power. Another interesting use would be to cover the seats in an electric car or hybrid with the material to help capture power for the vehicles battery systems.

www.dailytech.com

World’s First Solar Soccer Ball Released In Wake Of 2010 World Cup

Following the last release of world’s first leaf-shape solarcell (GDXPMLEF-12505A1) by Greendix on 14-May-2010,Greendix presents its first solar football in the world to every football fans in celebration of world cup 2010. We hope this solar football can make a breakthrough to the traditional thinking of the flat and square appearence of solar cells. By presenting this solar football we show our greatest love and passion to the football and our only earth.

Note: people were very shock with this statement: The Solar Football is designed to be used by the visually impaired, and the built in audio and motion detectors are designed to alert visually impaired players that the ball is near them.

www.greendix.com

Solar Panels Taking on New and Creative Shapes

Greendix has released five innovative shapes of solar panels following the successful launch of the leaf-shaped solar panel last month. Sonelis Technologies handles supply and distribution in the Americas (N. and S. America) for this new exciting product line.

Greendix’s debuts these five different shapes to showcase the potential of its proprietary technology to create custom-shaped solar panels. These panels are also available in a variety of colors, so designers are not longer restricted by the usual rectangular shapes and dark colors. These panels are as efficient as the regular square shaped panels (over 13%).

Joseph Lin, President of Greendix commented, “We hope that these different shapes can help designers and users think outside the box and not limit themselves to the conventional square-shaped solar panels.”

Michael Yu, Director of Technology at Sonelis Technologies added, “These new shapes will allow designers to come up with original designs that will make solar panels the must have design element in a variety of products.”

www.sonelis.com

New Solar Panels Are Built Specifically For Slanted Rooftops

Scheuten Solar recently presented its Multisol Integra; an integrated PV-solution suited for almost any sloped roof. This PV in-roof installation system replaces the conventional tile covering; whether as a part of the roof or as covering of the entire roof.

This new solution seamlessly fits into contemporary market demands which ask for relatively small and flexible integration of PV modules. Multisol Integra will be first introduced in France, where the system qualifies for the feed-in tariff available for building integrated PV solutions.

Multisol Integra is based on the Solrif system by Ernst Schweizer AG consisting of an aluminum construction designed for simple and fast installation. Since the market launch of the Solrif™ system in 1999, it has been used extensively in a variety of installations in tens of MWp.

www.scheuten.com

SolarMagic Chipset Creates Opportunity For Solar “Smart Panels”

National Semiconductor Corp.  introduced the solar industry’s first in-panel SolarMagic™ chipset, marking the advent of a new category of solar systems: “smart panels.”

Whereas solar panels today are prone to underperform due to conditions such as age, mismatch and shade, smart panels incorporate advanced electronics to harvest the maximum energy from a solar system. National and its partners will demonstrate SolarMagic smart panels at Intersolar Europe in Munich, Germany, June 9-11, 2010. Visit National Semiconductor in Hall B5, Booth #429.

The SM3320 SolarMagic smart panel chipset is the most recent addition to National’s SolarMagic product line and provides junction box and module manufacturers with the “smarts” to ensure the highest efficiency and return on investment for solar system owners. By coupling more energy production with a lower balance of systems cost, the SM3320 provides solar system owners a high-performance solution at the lowest cost per kilowatt-hour.

Technical Features of National’s SM3320 SolarMagic Smart Panel Chipset

National’s SM3320 is the first analog-intensive power management chipset in a new category of in-panel electronics that improves power output, reliability and cost-effectiveness of solar systems.

SolarMagic provides an innovative solution to long standing problems with solar arrays and their design. Real-world problems lead to mismatch in solar systems, significantly reducing the power output of an array. SolarMagic can recoup up to 71 percent of power lost to mismatch – regardless of cell technology – giving installation owners more predictable power output and increased return on investment.

For the first time, National reveals the “magic” inside SolarMagic. Launched into the market in May 2009, National’s original SolarMagic power optimizer was a standalone system, which can be attached to existing or new solar installations. Now, National is also embedding SolarMagic power optimizer benefits as a chipset directly into junction boxes, which already reside on all solar panels. Packaged as a complete board-level system or available as a chipset, National’s SM3320 incorporates ten proprietary analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits, providing highly reliable digital-control combined with analog sensing and communication. Proprietary algorithms apply localized maximum power point tracking (MPPT), extracting the maximum energy available by translating the input voltage and current to the best output voltage and current pair to maximize energy flow. The SM3320 is cognitive: the system senses input voltage and current throughout the array and adjusts to achieve optimum string levels.

The SM3320 includes a highly integrated, 99.5 percent efficient, 350 Watt tri-mode power converter. To achieve maximum energy harvest, the SM3320 can either boost, pass-through or lower the voltage of each panel. Options include fire safety panel shut-off and a set of sophisticated safety mechanisms. The SM3320 is released to market with UL and CE component-level certification and is in volume production.

The board-level system, measuring 5 inches by 3.5 inches by 0.5 inches and weighing approximately 6.4 ounces, easily fits into a solar panel junction box. It is currently being integrated into junction box and module-level partners with their product releases starting at Intersolar Europe and continuing through the rest of the year.

www.national.com

Faster Connection of Junction Boxes to Solar Panels

The SolarSpec™ Junction Box and Cable Assemblies are designed for installation on the back of mono- and polycrystalline photovoltaic (PV) solar modules. These products provide the interface between the conductor ribbons on the panel and the dc I/O cables.  Molex SolarSpec products are  for applications in the solar and renewable energy industry.

“Tremendous growth within the solar-power market is fueling competition in the manufacture of PV solar panels,” Peter Commane, product manager of Molex Inc. says. “By using automated production lines, assembly time of a junction box to a PV panel can be considerably reduced. The SolarSpec Junction Box from Molex is specially designed for pick-and-place panel assembly.”

The product features spring terminals connecting the base directly to the PV ribbon conductors without the need for retention clamps or clips. Optional  Solder Charge Technology™ facilitates high-speed assembly and eliminates the need for hand-soldering of the ribbon, significantly reducing any process variation. Optional double-sided tape eliminates the need for curing time on silicone when attaching the connector base to a module.

The product assembly is supplied with two removable dc cables available in dual-qualified (TÜV and UL) or single-qualified (TÜV) formats. The junction box contains bypass diodes to protect the PV panel from reverse current during hours of darkness, shade or when covered by leaves or other debris. The junction box assembly houses the diodes and dc cable in the “removable” top cover of the housing to facilitate repair or replacement. The top cover and base module are secured together with a locking mechanism to prevent accidental exposure of high-voltage contacts.

Molex Inc.

www.molex.com

Hybrid Photovoltaic Solar-Thermal Collector Does Both Jobs

The Turkish company, Solimpeks Corp., has launched its Volther hybrid photovoltaic-solar thermal collector, which produces electricity and hot water simultaneously. The hybrid system allows extra module heat to be absorbed to produce hot water while optimising efficiency, the company says.

Historically, the main drawback of many conventional photovoltaic (PV) systems has been the high initial cost and limited amount of electrical output compared to the solar input. This new system allows excess heat to be recaptured and boosts the system’s return on investment (ROI), announces Solimpeks.

Any PV cell is negatively affected by heat, with output dropping by around 0.5 % for every Kelvin degree. A 10-degree rising in temperature, for example, would mean a loss in power output of about 5%. Scientists at Solimpeks have turned this problem into a solution by developing its “PV-T”: a hybrid PV and solar thermal collector, which enables the PV cells to be cooled using water circulating around them. The result, greater electrical output from the cells and the production of hot water.

As well as increasing PV module performance, the PV-T hybrid collectors mean that less roof space is required for the same output of electricity and hot water, since only one system is needed as opposed to a solar thermal array and PV array side-by-side. Furthermore, Solimpeks reports that the hybrid PV-T system’s ROI is shorter than the PV systems, and because PV cell temperature is reduced, the lifetime of cells is lengthened.

According to the Turkish company, calculations by several scientific organisation and universities show that an average family house in northern Europe would require only 25 square-metres of PV-T collectors to meet its hot water and electricity demands.

Solimpeks’ R&D Manager, Joop Hoek, also explains that excess electricity from the system could be stored in normal batteries or hydrogen fuel cells, while heat could be stored underground; giving the example of the Drake Lake solar project, where 52 homes were heated through the winter by Solimpeks using solar thermal energy collected during the summer.

www.solimpeks.com

Researcher Claims A More Effient Way To Connect Solar Panels

Solar arrays of the future may be more energy efficient and reliable, thanks to one researcher’s efforts to reconfigure the way panels are connected. The conventional method of connecting solar panels is in a series, one after the other.

But just as one bad bulb in a string of Christmas lights can black out the entire set, so can a single solar panel disrupt the flow of electrical current through the other panels in a series. If one of the panels is shaded, dirty or damaged, it affects them all.  The conventional approach to solar arrays inherently limits the amount of power they produce if there’s any variation in the panels.

Jonathan Kimball, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Missouri S&T

Rather than connecting solar panels in a series – where the electrical current must flow from one panel to get to the next – Kimball, a professor at Missouri S&T, suggests parallel wiring for the panels. The parallel approach would connect each panel to its own power converter instead of sending the electrical current through a series of panels to a single converter.

Kimball is working on two different projects in this area. Through one project, funded by the U.S. Army’s Leonard Wood Institute, based in nearby Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., he is developing a system that could be used for a forward operating base. The other project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is focused on developing a system that could be used for residential power.

While Kimball’s research is focused on creating a more efficient system to get the most power from solar panels, he points out that cost is still a major factor preventing many people from investing in solar technology.

A member of the Missouri S&T faculty since January 2008, Kimball co-founded a company, SmartSpark Energy Systems, in 2004 while he was a student and researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The company is developing a microinverter architecture to improve reliability of solar power. Kimball retains a small interest in the company, which is now known as SolarBridge Technologies and is based in Austin, Texas.

www.mst.edu

Aaron’s, Inc., Donates Solar Panels To Haiti Relief

Arriving in Haiti and valued at $100,000, Aaron’s, Inc., will donate two solar-powered electric systems in support of Haiti relief efforts through ACORP, Aaron’s Community Outreach Program.  These two solar-powered electric systems will provide enough power to sustain two medical centers and 34 treatment tents.

The lack of fuel to run generators in Haiti already has created a significant issue for medical professionals trying to administer treatment accoring to Aaron’s.

Sundance Solar Designs, who has teamed up with ACORP,  will donate their time, expertise, and purchase of the equipment as well as personally deliver and install the systems in Haiti.  In addition to the solar panels that power the invertors and battery banks, Sundance Solar will bring the lighting fixtures and refrigeration units.

www.aaronsinc.com

Solar Panels Still Work In the Rain

Some think that PV panels are useless in climates that have high overcast or where it rains and snows often. This video shows that PV panels can still generate electricity, even when the sun is not shining.