A different solar panel design: developing more power in the same footprint area.
The panel was designed in three dimensions to increase the amount of photon to electricity conversion per square foot area covered by the panel. Commercial panels as seen in stores and other advertisements are flat and leave the conversion to photovoltaic cell qualities and qualities used in the manufacture of the panel. Moving to three dimensions has borne fruit; if efficiency is power per area then builds in three dimensions have run from 70% to over 100%. The wattage outputs are dependent upon temperature and foot candles of light. Higher temperatures reduce voltage output. Higher footcandles means more amperage per cell; commercial panels have their cells wired in parallel to boost voltage which makes them subject to shading. This design overcame shading by wiring cells in series then in parallel so making amperage first and then voltage. Shading does not affect this panel.
The structure of the panel requires maintenance of alignment with the light source. The panel is connected to a solar tracking assembly. Additionally the configuration of cells within the panel requires an alignment to be maintained with respect to geodetic coordinates and the tracking system operates within those coordinates. The tracking system and alignment with geodetic ordinance will greatly increase the panel’s output throughout its time in service.
Efficiency stated in Watts per area is problematic given the panel is three-dimensional. A search for photon density at the surface of the earth has yielded no results. Therefore efficiency is given to me wattage per area or wattage over an area. The cells used in this project are polycrystalline and are keyed to greenlight. The wattage of solar output on the Earth’s surface is in excess of 1000 Watts but the green portion of the Sun spectrum in wattage on the Earth’s surface is about 120 Watts per square meter. 0.0254 meters times 36 inches and square the quantity times 120 watts yields 100.3 Watts appx per square yard. A square yard panel that develops over 100 W would have to be at least 100% efficient. The panel had that output and achieved an objective of the design. Digesting collected data indicates approximately 130 foot-candles are required for one watt.