Specifications
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As you can see from the picture it is a very thin material so we can bend it and in some
cases cut it to the desired shape needed to put on the box. We will be adding this
material to every possible area such that it can be optimizing the sunlight.
Finally the last type of material used for solar energy that we can discuss is the CIGS.
This material is still in its developmental stages but it is a very good prospect of a PV
array. The material is sprayed on a surface and it is then used to conduct electricity.
This form can take many shapes and fit in almost any area but as of right now we had to
rule it out of our design. The reason is it is still in the experimental area and we think
that it is far out of reach of our design project. It would be a good idea to use this
material but since it is in developmental stages we went with something more concrete.
Thin Film Array is very widely used in projects all over the world. It is used in many
electronics including solar powered calculators. Since it is very flexible it would make a
great design idea to implement in our design. It will be placed on the exterior of our case
and will be used to optimize sunlight. There are many things that would affect the
performance of the solar panels. One of the main things that will affect our project will
be temperature because the hotter the panel gets the less energy is produced.
Figure 23 - Current vs. Voltage at Different Temperatures
Permission Pending
As ou can see in the graph above you can see that at higher temperatures the voltage
starts dropping rapidly and at lower temperatures it gets to a higher voltage. Because of
this, we will have to try to keep the panels as cool as possible. This will be a task
because for the panel to work it needs to be in direct sunlight. We will explore ways to
keep the panel cool as well as absorbing the sunlight such that we can maintain a very
high and cost effective system. We will be using mirrors to direct more sunlight at the
solar panels since it depends on where the sun is in the sky it can cast a shadow on
part of the solar panel. Since this might be a issue we will also be adding mirrors to
direct the lost light back into the solar panel. They are many different types of panels,