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Rectenna
(the rectenna approach to PV mentioned several times on this list)
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-solar-product-captures-percent-energy.html
New solar product captures up to 95 percent of light energy
May 16, 2011
Efficiency is a problem with today's solar panels; they only collect about 20
percent of available light. Now, a University of Missouri engineer has
developed a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of
available light, and he plans to make prototypes available to consumers
within the next five years.
Patrick Pinhero, an associate professor in the MU Chemical Engineering
Department, says energy generated using traditional photovoltaic (PV) methods
of solar collection is inefficient and neglects much of the available solar
electromagnetic (sunlight) spectrum. The device his team has developed –
essentially a thin, moldable sheet of small antennas called nantenna – can
harvest the heat from industrial processes and convert it into usable
electricity. Their ambition is to extend this concept to a direct solar
facing nantenna device capable of collecting solar irradiation in the near
infrared and optical regions of the solar spectrum.
Working with his former team at the Idaho National Laboratory and Garrett
Moddel, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Colorado,
Pinhero and his team have now developed a way to extract electricity from the
collected heat and sunlight using special high-speed electrical circuitry.
This team also partners with Dennis Slafer of MicroContinuum, Inc., of
Cambridge, Mass., to immediately port laboratory bench-scale technologies
into manufacturable devices that can be inexpensively mass-produced.
"Our overall goal is to collect and utilize as much solar energy as is
theoretically possible and bring it to the commercial market in an
inexpensive package that is accessible to everyone," Pinhero said. "If
successful, this product will put us orders of magnitudes ahead of the
current solar energy technologies we have available to us today."
As part of a rollout plan, the team is securing funding from the U.S.
Department of Energy and private investors. The second phase features an
energy-harvesting device for existing industrial infrastructure, including
heat-process factories and solar farms.
Within five years, the research team believes they will have a product that
complements conventional PV solar panels. Because it's a flexible film,
Pinhero believes it could be incorporated into roof shingle products, or be
custom-made to power vehicles.
Once the funding is secure, Pinhero envisions several commercial product
spin-offs, including infrared (IR) detection. These include improved
contraband-identifying products for airports and the military, optical
computing, and infrared line-of-sight telecommunications.
A study on the design and manufacturing process was published in the Journal
of Solar Energy Engineering.
More information: Theory and Manufacturing Processes of Solar Nanoantenna
Electromagnetic Collectors, J. Sol. Energy Eng. -- February 2010 -- Volume
132, Issue 1, 011014 (9 pages) doi:10.1115/1.4000577
Abstract
The research described in this paper explores a new and efficient approach
for producing electricity from the abundant energy of the sun, using
nanoantenna (nantenna) electromagnetic collectors (NECs). NEC devices target
midinfrared wavelengths, where conventional photovoltaic (PV) solar cells are
inefficient and where there is an abundance of solar energy. The initial
concept of designing NECs was based on scaling of radio frequency antenna
theory to the infrared and visible regions. This approach initially proved
unsuccessful because the optical behavior of materials in the terahertz (THz)
region was overlooked and, in addition, economical nanofabrication methods
were not previously available to produce the optical antenna elements. This
paper demonstrates progress in addressing significant technological barriers
including: (1) development of frequency-dependent modeling of
double-feedpoint square spiral nantenna elements, (2) selection of materials
with proper THz properties, and (3) development of novel manufacturing
methods that could potentially enable economical large-scale manufacturing.
We have shown that nantennas can collect infrared energy and induce THz
currents and we have also developed cost-effective proof-of-concept
fabrication techniques for the large-scale manufacture of simple square-loop
nantenna arrays. Future work is planned to embed rectifiers into the
double-feedpoint antenna structures. This work represents an important first
step toward the ultimate realization of a low-cost device that will collect
as well as convert this radiation into electricity. This could lead to a
broadband, high conversion efficiency low-cost solution to complement
conventional PV devices.
Provided by University of Missouri-Columbia
Next
(the rectenna approach to PV mentioned several times on this list)
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-solar-product-captures-percent-energy.html
New solar product captures up to 95 percent of light energy
May 16, 2011
Efficiency is a problem with today's solar panels; they only collect about 20
percent of available light. Now, a University of Missouri engineer has
developed a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of
available light, and he plans to make prototypes available to consumers
within the next five years.
Patrick Pinhero, an associate professor in the MU Chemical Engineering
Department, says energy generated using traditional photovoltaic (PV) methods
of solar collection is inefficient and neglects much of the available solar
electromagnetic (sunlight) spectrum. The device his team has developed –
essentially a thin, moldable sheet of small antennas called nantenna – can
harvest the heat from industrial processes and convert it into usable
electricity. Their ambition is to extend this concept to a direct solar
facing nantenna device capable of collecting solar irradiation in the near
infrared and optical regions of the solar spectrum.
Working with his former team at the Idaho National Laboratory and Garrett
Moddel, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Colorado,
Pinhero and his team have now developed a way to extract electricity from the
collected heat and sunlight using special high-speed electrical circuitry.
This team also partners with Dennis Slafer of MicroContinuum, Inc., of
Cambridge, Mass., to immediately port laboratory bench-scale technologies
into manufacturable devices that can be inexpensively mass-produced.
"Our overall goal is to collect and utilize as much solar energy as is
theoretically possible and bring it to the commercial market in an
inexpensive package that is accessible to everyone," Pinhero said. "If
successful, this product will put us orders of magnitudes ahead of the
current solar energy technologies we have available to us today."
As part of a rollout plan, the team is securing funding from the U.S.
Department of Energy and private investors. The second phase features an
energy-harvesting device for existing industrial infrastructure, including
heat-process factories and solar farms.
Within five years, the research team believes they will have a product that
complements conventional PV solar panels. Because it's a flexible film,
Pinhero believes it could be incorporated into roof shingle products, or be
custom-made to power vehicles.
Once the funding is secure, Pinhero envisions several commercial product
spin-offs, including infrared (IR) detection. These include improved
contraband-identifying products for airports and the military, optical
computing, and infrared line-of-sight telecommunications.
A study on the design and manufacturing process was published in the Journal
of Solar Energy Engineering.
More information: Theory and Manufacturing Processes of Solar Nanoantenna
Electromagnetic Collectors, J. Sol. Energy Eng. -- February 2010 -- Volume
132, Issue 1, 011014 (9 pages) doi:10.1115/1.4000577
Abstract
The research described in this paper explores a new and efficient approach
for producing electricity from the abundant energy of the sun, using
nanoantenna (nantenna) electromagnetic collectors (NECs). NEC devices target
midinfrared wavelengths, where conventional photovoltaic (PV) solar cells are
inefficient and where there is an abundance of solar energy. The initial
concept of designing NECs was based on scaling of radio frequency antenna
theory to the infrared and visible regions. This approach initially proved
unsuccessful because the optical behavior of materials in the terahertz (THz)
region was overlooked and, in addition, economical nanofabrication methods
were not previously available to produce the optical antenna elements. This
paper demonstrates progress in addressing significant technological barriers
including: (1) development of frequency-dependent modeling of
double-feedpoint square spiral nantenna elements, (2) selection of materials
with proper THz properties, and (3) development of novel manufacturing
methods that could potentially enable economical large-scale manufacturing.
We have shown that nantennas can collect infrared energy and induce THz
currents and we have also developed cost-effective proof-of-concept
fabrication techniques for the large-scale manufacture of simple square-loop
nantenna arrays. Future work is planned to embed rectifiers into the
double-feedpoint antenna structures. This work represents an important first
step toward the ultimate realization of a low-cost device that will collect
as well as convert this radiation into electricity. This could lead to a
broadband, high conversion efficiency low-cost solution to complement
conventional PV devices.
Provided by University of Missouri-Columbia
Next