Engineer’s solar panel collects more energy
Efficiency is a problem with today’s solar panels; they only collect about 20 percent of available light.
Now a University of Missouri engineer has developed a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of available light, and he plans to make prototypes available to consumers within the next five years.
Patrick Pinhero, associate professor in the Chemical Engineering Department, said energy generated using traditional photovoltaic methods of solar collection is inefficient and neglects much of the available solar electromagnetic (sunlight) spectrum.
The device his team has developed — essentially a thin, moldable sheet of small antennas called nantenna — can harvest the heat from industrial processes and convert it into usable electricity. Their ambition is to extend this concept to a direct solar-facing nantenna device capable of collecting solar irradiation in the near infrared and optical regions of the solar spectrum.
Pinhero said he and his team members have developed a way to extract electricity from the collected heat and sunlight using special high-speed electrical circuitry.
Also working on the project are an electrical engineering professor at the University of Colorado and a partner with MicroContinuum Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.
Their goal is to convert laboratory bench-scale technologies into devices that can be inexpensively mass-produced.
“Our overall goal is to collect and utilize as much solar energy as is theoretically possible and bring it to the commercial market in an inexpensive package that is accessible to everyone,” Pinhero said. “If successful, this product will put us orders of magnitudes ahead of the current solar energy technologies we have available to us today.”
As part of a rollout plan, the team is securing funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and private investors. The second phase features an energy-harvesting device for existing industrial infrastructure, including heat-process factories and solar farms.
Within five years, the research team believes it will have a product that complements conventional PV solar panels. Because it’s a flexible film, Pinhero believes it could be incorporated into roof shingle products or be custom-made to power vehicles.
Once the funding is secure, Pinhero envisions several commercial product spin-offs, including infrared detection. These include improved contraband-identifying products for airports and the military, optical computing and infrared line-of-sight telecommunications.
A study on the design and manufacturing process was published in the Journal of Solar Energy Engineering.
Now a University of Missouri engineer has developed a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of available light, and he plans to make prototypes available to consumers within the next five years.
Patrick Pinhero, associate professor in the Chemical Engineering Department, said energy generated using traditional photovoltaic methods of solar collection is inefficient and neglects much of the available solar electromagnetic (sunlight) spectrum.
The device his team has developed — essentially a thin, moldable sheet of small antennas called nantenna — can harvest the heat from industrial processes and convert it into usable electricity. Their ambition is to extend this concept to a direct solar-facing nantenna device capable of collecting solar irradiation in the near infrared and optical regions of the solar spectrum.
Pinhero said he and his team members have developed a way to extract electricity from the collected heat and sunlight using special high-speed electrical circuitry.
Also working on the project are an electrical engineering professor at the University of Colorado and a partner with MicroContinuum Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.
Their goal is to convert laboratory bench-scale technologies into devices that can be inexpensively mass-produced.
“Our overall goal is to collect and utilize as much solar energy as is theoretically possible and bring it to the commercial market in an inexpensive package that is accessible to everyone,” Pinhero said. “If successful, this product will put us orders of magnitudes ahead of the current solar energy technologies we have available to us today.”
As part of a rollout plan, the team is securing funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and private investors. The second phase features an energy-harvesting device for existing industrial infrastructure, including heat-process factories and solar farms.
Within five years, the research team believes it will have a product that complements conventional PV solar panels. Because it’s a flexible film, Pinhero believes it could be incorporated into roof shingle products or be custom-made to power vehicles.
Once the funding is secure, Pinhero envisions several commercial product spin-offs, including infrared detection. These include improved contraband-identifying products for airports and the military, optical computing and infrared line-of-sight telecommunications.
A study on the design and manufacturing process was published in the Journal of Solar Energy Engineering.