Seventh Grader Makes Solar Power Breakthrough

[offline]

OK gang... we just learned alot from a 7th grader who went walking in the woods. He's developed a way to draw 20-50% more power from solar cells.

The Secret of the Fibonacci Sequence in Trees


Now I wonder how many solar trees I can put on my transom?

[DeniseO30]

Just fricking amazing!

[S/V Antares]

Brilliant, Perhaps a solar "Tree" aray on the mast

[David M]

Cool...I bet we won't be seeing solar cell arrays lined up like a row of dominos for much longer.

[Dutch]

Amazing! Give the kid a medal.
The trouble is somebody will run with this and make a fortune.

[Unicorn Dreams]

You gotta love kids.

No matter what some people say about today's youth..

[Starbuck]

Impressive. I foresee windage problems to overcome. This could result in a radically redesigned Solar-Stick II.

[Tempest245]

He's probably getting scholarship offers now..from Cal Poly, Georgia Tech, and MIT..

Amazing

[daddle]

Yeah. Right. It's a bogus attempt to extract money from investors. One candidate "born every minute."

[spostamento nobile]

It's great when people haven't learned what can't be done.

[Capt. lulz]

Originally Posted by Unicorn Dreams

You gotta love kids.

No matter what some people say about today's youth..

Only the idiots get the attention.

[T1 Terry]

Rather impressive till you get to this bit

I needed to compare the tree design pattern's performance. I made a second model that was based on how man-made solar panel arrays are designed. The second model was a flat-panel array that was mounted at 45 degrees. It had the same type and number of PV solar panels as the tree design, and the same peak voltage. My idea was to track how much sunlight each model collected under the same conditions by watching how much voltage each model made.
I measured the performance of each model with a data logger. This recorded the voltage that each model made over a period of time. The data logger could download the measurements to a computer, and I could see the results in graphs.

solar output isn't measured by voltage but rather current, voltage is meaningless. Solar irradiance for the purpose of measuring solar input is best done by reading the short circuit output from the different test models. Two of each type would need to be tested and a single panel equal to one "leaf" of the designs being tested and that result multiplied by the number of "leaves" in each test rig. The results could be then be averaged between the 2 units in each test design and compared to each other and to the single cell multiplied number.

My guess is the order of branch and leaf design is for balance and airflow, many plants move their leaves to follow the sun, others use their leaves to collect and channel water to the roots. It only takes a quick glance to see that leaves only grow where they are likely to get sun, none in the middle of a tightly packed tree or bush.

T1 Terry

[pauliebear]

Yeah the trees are upto something there.Norfolk pines also point thier branches up to catch more rain and drop them to catch more sun.

[callmecrazy]

I dunno about tree cells, but I've always thought we should be using solar cooker tech with solar energy collection. Seems like it could be done on a per-cell basis without increasing the size of cells.

Anyway, yeah, trees move their leaves, and they function on more than solar... Not to discredit this kids work, but 'we' already have solar cells in the works that are about 3 times more efficient than current tech. Unfotunately, for us, and the kid, new tech doesnt reach market for atleast 10 years or so...

[Capt. lulz]

Originally Posted by callmecrazy

'we' already have solar cells in the works that are about 3 times more efficient than current tech. Unfotunately, for us, and the kid, new tech doesnt reach market for atleast 10 years or so...

Where is there evidence of this?