Wouldn’t a solar tube be more suited to provide solar energy than a panel? As I understand it the panels must be pointed at the light source in order to harness energy from the sun, wouldn’t a tube always have a surface pointed towards the sun, thus eliminating the need to constantly rotate the panel?
what you want, is the most surface area, exposed to the most sun, possible.
the way to do that, in the northern hemisphere, is to have a flat panel, tilted south, sort of toward the equator.
but not all the way south.
around here, the energy is calculated over a year, so you want to optimize the generation in the summer, when more energy is available.
it’s not a good idea to make an accordion.
the materials to make the solar panels are expensive, so folding them wastes material.
panels don’t care much whether electricity strikes them vertically, or at an angle, other than, vertically concentrates the available energy more, and generates more electricity.
Sure. All those engineers who are working on that are stupid. Of course they should be round. Duh.
References :
Think of how large in diameter the tube would be in order to have the same surface area hitting the sun. If a flat square panel has 40 sq feet with 100% of the sun hitting it, you would need a tube with 80 sq ft in order to capture the same amount of sun because on the tube only half will be in the sun, the other half would be in the shade on the "dark side of the tube" (pun intended) So if your tube is made from a 40 sq ft of paneling in reality only 20 sq ft (half) would be in the sun at a time. I wouldn’t think that is very efficient. Maybe instead of a flat panel they can sort of make it like an accordion to increase the surface area while chrinking the size of the panel.
But hey what do I know I`m not a bio-engineer or being paid to solve the wolrds energy problem
To Linlyons- The price of solar panels have dropped significantly and have become almost twice as efficient in harnessing energy. You say tomatoe I say tomato…I think by increasing the surface area yes you will be using more materials obviously but you will be saving on space, fitting more panels with more surface area in a smaller space.
References :
what you want, is the most surface area, exposed to the most sun, possible.
the way to do that, in the northern hemisphere, is to have a flat panel, tilted south, sort of toward the equator.
but not all the way south.
around here, the energy is calculated over a year, so you want to optimize the generation in the summer, when more energy is available.
it’s not a good idea to make an accordion.
the materials to make the solar panels are expensive, so folding them wastes material.
panels don’t care much whether electricity strikes them vertically, or at an angle, other than, vertically concentrates the available energy more, and generates more electricity.
References :
thats smart you should work for whoever makes these solar panels
References :
can’t tell you the name… but a program on tv the other night actually ran something on a company doing just that.
They have tubes fitted INTO a panel, so the tube itself gathers the most energy,. The panel itself then is suitable for using on a roof.
the program was on either cnn or the weather channel.
References :
Round, yea…..Why didn’t someone ever think of that….Just like the sun
References :
the idea of a round solar panel wouldn’t work because you only get the maximum amount of energy based on the surface area directly perpendicular to the rays of the sun, So basically, getting and automatic rotator would be the best option to gain energy. Or you can just position it so that its faceing the azimuth of the sun at 12:00 noon because thats when the sun is most affective. A flat panel positioned at 12:00 noon would be harvesting a decent amount of energy between 10:00 – 2:00
References :
United States Green Building Council/ Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Wendy C, it was on CNN. Green Warriors had showcased some business that was created circular solar panels. I thought that episode of Green Warriors was great!
References :