13-Year-Old Makes Solar Power Breakthrough by Harnessing the Fibonacci Sequence

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 19, 2011, 6:01 AM UTC

rycs wrote: post #7

felipemnoa wrote: post #3

The comparison is against a flat row of cells that do not track the sun. I suspect that it will not do better compared to an array of cells that do track the sun. Basically the tree of cells are arranged in different angles so that as the sun moves some of them will always be receiving optimal sunlight when their normal is parallel with that of the incident light. Very nice insight, especially for a kid his age. I ce…

it makes a lot of sense, nature has been doing it for a lot of time :), I hope that other scientists elsewhere can also confirm that the improvements are so dramatic, I mean, having still/motionless cheap arrays that can perform 20%-50% better than the flat ones are great news!

Post by robryan » Fri, Aug 19, 2011, 6:03 AM UTC

jdelsman wrote: post #8

auston wrote: post #4

Question: Does his tree have nearly double the number of panels? If so, does that have anything to do with him getting more power? http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/201...

Probably not, but I would have to say, THIS is the kind of stuff we should be awarding US patents to...

Post by felipemnoa » Fri, Aug 19, 2011, 6:04 AM UTC

waterlesscloud wrote: post #12

pigbucket wrote: post #9

Inhabitat credits treehugger.com as its source. Treehugger's article is not breathless about biomimicry, not spread over two pages, and not interrupted by adsense and images. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/08/13-year-old-makes-so... Edit: The source of treehugger's article is Aidan's own article, which is better still, and addresses briefly some of the issues raised in comments here (e.g., about fixed vs. track…

Last paragraph sums up the possible advantages- Aidan wrote: "The tree design takes up less room than flat-panel arrays and works in spots that don't have a full southern view. It collects more sunlight in winter. Shade and bad weather like snow don't hurt it because the panels are not flat. It even looks nicer because it looks like a tree. A design like this may work better in urban areas where space and direct sunl…

Post by earbitscom » Fri, Aug 19, 2011, 6:06 AM UTC

Protagoras wrote: post #5

A couple of points: 1. Like others said this is in comparison to a flat non tracking solar panel, the tree configuration would lose out significantly against a tracking panel. 2. Fairly disingenuous graph on the second page, but then again professionals in business and science do this all the time as well. 3. With the current state of solar technology this patent is useless. But if someone invents solar cells who are…

Post by rycs » Fri, Aug 19, 2011, 6:08 AM UTC

ebzlo wrote: post #10

felipemnoa wrote: post #3

The comparison is against a flat row of cells that do not track the sun. I suspect that it will not do better compared to an array of cells that do track the sun. Basically the tree of cells are arranged in different angles so that as the sun moves some of them will always be receiving optimal sunlight when their normal is parallel with that of the incident light. Very nice insight, especially for a kid his age. I ce…

Now I don't disagree that an array of cells that track the sun would produce better results, but it would be fair to assume that this would cost energy. Keeping that in mind, do you think it would still provide better results?