Table of Contents



Executive Summary

With the demand for solar power on the rise, more companies are feeling the heat to provide a product to meet consumer’s needs. For individual consumers, the main product is crystalline silicon solar panels. However, for commercial needs, thin film solar panels are used.

Crystalline solar panels have decent efficiency, up to twenty percent. They are not too expensive. But they are large and usually have to be installed on the roof in a fixed position. The efficiency degrades at higher temperatures, which will not due in Florida’s high temperature climate. Now thin film solar films would do well in higher temperatures. They are thinner than crystalline solar panels and can be flexible. With the price equivocating to be less than crystalline panels, these appear to be the clear winner for consumers. But with an efficiency of around half of crystalline panels, consumers are staying with the crystalline panels for now.

Our proposal is simple: to increase the efficiency of thin films by using the ideas of solar tracking and optics reflection. A cost analysis will be done to make sure that the cost justifies the increase in efficiency. The design will be light and portable, so it is easy to move by the consumer.

We want to have the cost of our design compare to that of a standard crystalline solar panel install of the same wattage. We believe that thin film technology is the key for renewable energy in hotter climates. If we can create a design that is cost comparative to other solar technologies, we hypothesize that thin film solar panels can be made for individual applications, and not just for large scale commercial applications.

Extra features in this design will allow the consumer to be more involved in this solar power device. The solar panel will have a user-friendly display that will display the instantaneous power, voltage, current, and temperature output of the solar panel. It will also be connected to a wireless router so the owner can access information inside on their PC. The user will be able to see a plot of the power generated over a set period of time. This way the user can assess how much power they are using over how much is being generated by the thin film panel.

Experimentation with increasing the efficiency of thin films is not common. Our goal for efficiency and what we create are not guaranteed to be equal. We hope to overshoot our goal and help push the solar thin film technology into the spotlight as a contender for a viable power generation source.

By keeping the project cost low, we hope that price-wise that our thin film solar design will be comparable to the typical crystalline products on the market today. Solar energy does not need to be cornered with crystalline panels.

Project Definition

2.1 Motivation

A majority of today’s solar solutions are targeted towards large scale commercial applications, in which a large amount of space is available for large solar arrays. In this project, the goal is to adapt a high efficiency small scale array such that it occupies a relatively small space and outputs power greater than would be expected for the space used if that area were filled with static panels. In doing so, the range of applications for high power solar solutions can be extended to residential and limited space applications, while still remaining cost-effective for the consumer. The long-term effects of implementing this design philosophy on a large scale include a reduction of the strain on the current power-grid, a reduction in emissions resulting from power generation for residential areas, and lower cost energy for the consumer.

This will be achieved by implementing thin film solar cells into a design to increase the efficiency output with the use of solar tracking and optics. This will be done as accurately as possible while keeping costs to a minimum. The cost of the improvements to the design must be low for the consumer. The design will be light-weight and easy to setup. The project will explore single and dual axis solar tracking, and reflection using solar collectors of multiple shapes and materials. With keeping costs versus output in mind, a design will be made that will have the highest efficiency for the price. With the successful testing of the design, the hope is that more consumers will look into the different types of solar, and with a little bit of engineering, come up with a design like the one in this project to suit their power needs.

Solar energy is a constant source to fulfill a consumer’s needs. By introducing another viable product to choose from for a consumer’s solar energy needs, product competition will take over, and the price for these power producers will fall. Solar energy is abundant, and with the increases in technology, harnessing that energy is should be at a low cost. Power plants are not in the position to decrease their cost of power with the cost of materials they burn to produce power not decreasing in price. With more interest in renewable energy, the idea of paying less for energy is possible. With multiple options, the group foresees the cost of energy per kilowatt hour will be a great deal less than what the power companies can provide by using solar energy.

With more customers opting for supplementing their power usage with a renewable energy source, such as solar, the carbon emissions from the power plants will decrease.

2.2 Objective Overview

This project will be designed with the following objectives in mind:

● High Power - Must generate enough power to run large appliances or several

small appliances continuously.

● Low Area - The space this device occupies must be minimized. Anytime the device is made larger, there must be the promise of a net gain larger than filling that area with additional modules.

● Self-Sustaining - Should draw no additional power from external sources, including but not limited to the power grid.

● Low Maintenance - Should be weather proofed such that there is little degradation of the components that would result in frequent replacement.

● Low Cost - Must be affordable for residential applications.

● Return On Investment - Must pay for itself in energy savings based on local residential power rates in a reasonable time ( ................
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