Full Spectrum sloar panels

[Wahoo Sails]

Several years ago, I overheard 2 customers talking about an amazing breakthrough in solar technology .... 3 to 5 times as efficient as silicon technology, capable of generating electricity even in the black of night (because it converted not only the visible spectrum, but also ulta violet & infrared light) ... and cheaper to produce to boot!
Being the red blooded American that I am ... I wanted in on the ground floor of this! Figuring to buy some stock and make a fortune. I researched it to the best of my ability (at the time) and turned up nothing. I wrote it off to another "fish carbuerator" story .. and forgot about it. BUT .... it does exist!!!
It seem's a couple of fella's were looking for ways to color LED's, and they combined Galium & Arsenide gases ... to their amazement .. they formed a crystal .. which was unexpected. When the properties of this crystal were examined .. it turned out to be photovoltaic.
Read about it at www.nrel.gov or http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar/tf_...ystalline.html ... now ... as for why I listed this thread under "piracy" ... this technology is being tied up by the U. S. government .. and being witheld from a world that could vastly benefit from it .... I will let the forum members speculate as to why .....

Bob & Lynn

L S/V Sew Good

[BC Mike]

About a month ago it was reported that two folks at an Eastern Canadian university had figured out how to make the solar panels about 3 to 5 times more efficient. This should make it to market. But sometimes it does take a while.
Michael

[Wahoo Sails]

Mike,
Uh ... this is a little different ... our government has known about this for years, and made sure that it wouldn't "make it to market".

Bob & lynn

L S/V Sew Good

Well, you have seen my rants on things like this. Nice to know I am not paranoid. We cn only hope that some real money gets interested in this project.

[GordMay]

The government “cover-up” of the efficacy of GaAS photovoltaics must have been remarkably inept.

Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) is a compound semiconductor, a mixture of two elements, gallium (Ga) and arsenic (As). Solar cells based on AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure were at first suggested and fabricated at the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in 1969, and were installed on the Russian MIR space station.

Single junction and multi-junction photovoltaics based on GaAs technology have a number of advantages over silicon-based devices, such as: higher efficiency, less sensitivity to atmospheric perturbations and ionizingradiation, and a lower temperature sensitivity coefficient. GaAs photovoltaic use in space programs will increase because it can offer both higher power density and area power density. However, GaAs is not likely to supplant silicon as the mainstay of flat panel photovoltaics, building material photovoltaics, or other cost-driven applications. GaAs cell costs are an order of magnitude higher than silicon, and will continue to be higher. In addition, there is considerable difficulty in producing cell sizes larger than several cm2.

While costs are on a downward trend, and cell sizes are increasing, the most likely niche application for GaAs-based cells for terrestrial applications is in concentrator arrays for peak load systems. Analysis shows that a module cost of $500/m2 can make a photovoltaic technology competitive for peak load systems. Concentrator modules transfer the costs from high-priced cells to low-priced optics. At cell efficiencies of 25%, concentrator module costs can be brought into the $500/m2 range. GaAs-based photovoltaic cells have efficiencies that are high enough to offer a concentrator system cost advantage over silicon photovoltaics and viability as a terrestrial power source.

Although the gallium indium phosphide (GaInP)/GaAs tandem cell has achieved an efficiency of 30% and is now commercially available for space applications, the cells have not yet been integrated into a concentrator system.

Fundamentals of Photovoltaic Materials:
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~ciotola/solar/pv.pdf

[Alan Wheeler]

I think you guys are all caught up in Conspiray theory. I could have many arguments based on, Why would a Government hide stuff like this and I am sure you all could reply with as many arguments as to why. But I shall simply say, this technology is available on the market. It is expensive, doens't work at night as well as suggested and has advantages AND disadvantages, like all the devices. It is a wide spectrum solar array and is very difficult and extremelyexpensive product to produce. Due to two main points of costs being, one, Gallium is rediculousely hard to manufacture in any quantity and is expensive, due to it's rarity. Secondly, the panel technology is triple junction and expensive to produce. The plus sides are that it uses less materials than other more conventional panels. They are NOT very efficient. Only about 8%, BUT, because of the light spectrum and that they will work in shadows and cloudy days etc, they exceed the other panels by 30%, thus making them seem very efficient.
One company producing a panel at an affordable price to us average people, is Unisolar. There 32W panel retails ruffly around the US$1000.00 mark.
The panels Gord has told us about are even wider spectrum and many times that in price and mostly out of reach to us average blokes.

Greetings Alan Wheeler
My boat is total power independent.. wind and solar including two unisolar 32 watt "soft" panels that I assume are what you mean. They are the "amorphus" type and do work better in shadow than conventional and can take the impact of a way ward boom... which is why I got them. But i don't think they are anything to do with the Galium thingo. The unisolar are also less effecient than conventional. I get 2 amps out of them when I'm getting 3 out of my hard panels of similar size. By the way... I paid $500 AUD each for mine about 7 years ago.

My array of panels = cold beer!! I do love em.

Cheers

[CaptainK]

Good to see your post Bob. I have been reading your online magazine.

Hopefully my future boat will be power sufficent. Only using for what I need. For certain electrical appliances. But, nothing like a house or anything.

Diffinately need cold beer, for those hot and humid days.

Hey cpn K.. thanks for the greet.

Yeah.. I'm getting ready to take on a new boat and it will be total independent as well. I detest running an engine to generate juice. And since I am in the tropics... cold beer is the main goal. But I will also need in the new boat, enough juice to run computors and big printers for proofing the paper. So yeah.. any discussion of new tech in solar gets my attention.

Cheers

[CaptainK]

Yeah. Gotta have a cold one on those very hot and humid days!!

They didn't call beer the elixer of life?

[Alan Wheeler]

Hi Bob, I see youare from the Whitsundays. Stunning place. One area I have on my to visit list one day.

Hey Alan

Yeah the whits are pretty good cruising. Makes it so easy you get lazy! NZ is a goal for me... we'll have to wave as we pass in the Tasman!

Hey K

yeah and it is summer here. While you knock the frost off your windscreen there, I got about a cool change here with the most rain we've had in two or three years. I hate rain! I'm no stinking farmer. The boat has to stay buttoned up and it isn't that cool. Cyclone jim has formed off Townsville a few miles north of here and is meant to be heading to New calodonia but I trust not... spent yesterday on the boat buttoning down everything from the gale... damaged one solar panel.. maybe I can fix. hope.

Can't complain though... haven't worn long pants in years except to weld.

Cheers

[geoffgroves]

Hi Michael,

I looked but can find your post. Could you provide some more details, website etc.

Regards

Geoff

BC Mike C once whispered in the wind:
About a month ago it was reported that two folks at an Eastern Canadian university had figured out how to make the solar panels about 3 to 5 times more efficient. This should make it to market. But sometimes it does take a while.
Michael

[CaptainK]

Hey geoffgroves

I believe Micheal forgot to post the weblink thread, about that news article.

I'm sure after he sees these newer posts. It'll jog his memory?

[mudnut]

Bob Norson,Someone was asking how to make money cruising,ya should send him a copy of ya mag.Lots of adds,should make for a few bucks.So how do ya find Tittie city"thats Airlie beach for people that dont know"Tell me about the rain!!Summers wet winters dry,Yep thats QLD for ya.Wasn"t ya boat for sale or was that the old one?Any tips for cruising the passage up and out to the outter Torres Islands,or havent ya been there yet?Most of the people I met up that way with boats"locals that is "dont seem to go far,not that they have to it"s pretty well nice to just sail the sundies round and round and round.I bet ya been pissed at Magnums a few times!!I like ya mag!It's about time someone got off their arse here in Oz and put something like that out.I wished someone would even set up a forum for cruisers in Oz,Give ya any Idears.