Seems we won’t need sun to run next gen solar panels… really?

[Carpmart]

Can see us all applying this film all over our MH roofs in a few years… maybe??

Revolutionary new solar panels don’t need sunlight to generate energy

New solar panels that don't need sunlight have been invented and could revolutionize the green energy initiative.

bgr.com

Discuss…

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

They could replace the tinted windows around a M/Home ,but you would have to like the colour.

 

[pappajohn]

Prototype is a 3ft X 2ft panel capable of charging two mobile phone in one day...... They need a lot of work yet

 

[busbuddy]

On my last van when I pulled in a petrol station for fuel the solar controller showed charging

 

[autorouter]

I can see the possibility of a fluorescent film applied over an existing solar panel. It would convert UV light (which a standard solar panel hardly uses) into visible light which is much more effective for the panel. The question is whether the boost from the UV fluorescence is greater than the loss from applying a film. There are parts of the world where it's cloudy most of the time (rainforests, my home town, etc).

Something doesn't add up in the reporting though. The fluorescent film is just an add-on to a solar panel, it doesn't generate electricity itself. I notice there is no picture of the 3 x 2 panel in action.

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[Minxy]

Could be a game changer for the MH of the future

Some clever guys have invented a solar panel that doesn't need Sun ....Happy days possibly lol... https://bgr.com/science/revolutionary-new-solar-panels-dont-need-sunlight-to-generate-energy/

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[autorouter]

The article in Minxy's link states that UV solar panels are a con, and goes on to detail exactly why. His main point is that in standard sunlight, UV is only 4% of the energy, so there's no way capturing the UV can boost the energy by more than that amount. Exactly right, for standard sunlight.

However the OP's link is about cloudy conditions, where the sunlight is shaded by clouds and so is drastically reduced. If the UV is not reduced so drastically, it could become a much larger percentage of the incoming energy. Then a fluorescent film transforms the UV into visible light, to which the solar panel is more sensitive. It's possible that this boost is enough to be useful, given the prevailing cloudy conditions.

If that's what happens, and is the reason it got a Dyson award, then the reporter clearly doesn't understand it and is probably making an honest mistake rather than being being deliberately misleading.

 

[Bradone]

Regular solar panels at a 3 by five size produce 380-400 watts of power now, double that of a decade ago, with efficiency of 18-22 percent. Any other wavelength of the sun's rays will only increase the wattage of a panel. I have a rooftop 11 kw array of 30 five year old panels and 4 two year old panels. In those two years the wattage increased from 315 to 380 watt. They are going ahead in leaps and bounds.