Seventh Grader Makes Solar Power Breakthrough

[Dustymc]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

If that kid is not a middle aged retired Nigerian General, then he deserves top marks for the thought processes (and some backing - even if only an intro for later).....easy to sit back and say can't work / won't work, indeed the thing about technology is that to be commercial it does not need to be cutting edge or better than everything that has ever been.

The crazy tree-thing as reported by the media can't work/won't work/doesn't work. The thing about science is that it ain't magic. Arranging a single panel in some suboptimal orientation to the sun reduces efficiency. Doing this a bunch of times, then tying them all together somehow, does not sum to some greater efficiency than if each has just been oriented optimally in the first place. That is the story for solar panels, and electricity in general.

Beau's "engineer" could learn something here: magic just doesn't happen inside wires. If the missing amount of energy were disappearing due to wire size it could be doing so only in the form of heat - given the particular expectations and results, lots of really, really obvious heat.

The story for trees is much more interesting, and it's what the kid was looking at. The experiment partially explains why trees, particularly non-deciduous trees, are built as they are. It could only be applicable to solar panels in very sub-optimal conditions: well out of the tropics, unwilling to re-aim your panels every few months, and perhaps competing with other tree-panel-things for access to sunlight might do it, but a motorized controller (the obvious missing control from the original experiment) would still probably be a much better investment.

The actual writeup, undistorted by incompetent reporters, is here: The Secret of the Fibonacci Sequence in Trees

[Feral Cat]

Beau:

I suspect (without seeing your wire system) that you have your panels in series... Wired from one to another to ultimately the charge controller... I am thinking that this is effective until you get a shadow across a panel or two... Think boom shadow, shroud or the like... This will effectively cut the connection at the shadow, cutting the available power to the controller.

I would look at trying to wire each panel separately directly to the controller (as much as possible: connections on controller)... Like, one to two panels together directly to the controller. I am thinking you will get better output when you can work around any shadows in this manner...

Regarding this thread... I think the young warrior is on to something... Yes, a system like a tree will produce a greater amount of power extraction from the sun but perhaps on a pole system (Round) for windage issues but then again the cells will need to be wired independently (like leaves on a tree). A configuration will be able to pull rays of light from low on the horizon for the entire daytime period.

Now if we could only find a way of extracting energy off of the reflection of the sun on the moon... Then we will be 24 hours a day capable...

[David_Old_Jersey]

I defer to those who know about science stuff ......but my take is that even if less efficient than straight panels, that possibly more likely to be fitted for aesthetic reasons - so half solar power, instead of none.

Of course if he bred the Solar Tree with a Trifid, it might make all the difference............

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Feral Cat

Beau:

Now if we could only find a way of extracting energy off of the reflection of the sun on the moon... Then we will be 24 hours a day capable...

On our previous boat, we had 470 watts of solar (before MPPT controllers).
In Mexico, they gave us 22 amps all day long, and I was able to measure 100 milliamps from a full moon.

[T1 Terry]

Originally Posted by beau

I am disappointed by all the "BS" that surrounds the solar panel industry.

I have 5 x 200watt panels that the manufacturer says should give me 12 amps/hr per panel.
I have yet to see more than 5 amps/hr per panel and i am in the Tropics with cloudless skys.
Sure they are quiet and the price has come down, but I still think a generator, even a gasoline generator, is cheaper overall. $2,500 buys a lot of fuel? and they still work if it is cloudy and raining.
Trying to be green is a big con.

If you start another thread I can try to help you sort out what the problem is, I have 1000w of solar and I get 60 amps plus @ 12v.

T1 Terry