- 4391
- SOLAR CELLS
- in space? -
Solar cell technology could ditch batteries in gadgets for good by
harvesting ambient room light. Solar
cells that can be recharged using indoor low-light could be used to power
devices like TV remotes and computer mice.
-
----------------------------------------- 4391
- SOLAR CELLS
- in space?
-
- A new solar cell technology designed to
recharge devices such as remote controls by harvesting ambient indoor light was
just unveiled. The technology was
showcased by California-based Ambient Photonics at CES 2024, with the startup
also partnering with Google to incorporate the technology into a new consumer
product, which it hasn't yet revealed. They plan to launch it at some point in
2024.
-
- The company is also working on a
solar-powered computer mouse. None of these devices will require disposable
batteries or need to be consciously recharged.
-
- The technology in the new cells is
“bifacial”, which means it can harvest and generate energy from both sides,
which lets it generate enough energy to power home electronics. Its previous
cells were only single-sided, with the rear side providing 50% additional
energy on top of the 100% efficiency of the front-facing side.
-
- Inspired by photosynthesis, the process by
which plants convert sunlight into energy, these photovoltaic cells contain
light-sensitive dye molecules that turn photons, small particles of
electromagnetic radiation, into electrons, negative subatomic particles.
-
- This creates a charge differential that, in
turn, allows electricity to flow. They work similarly to how chlorophyll, which
makes plants green, creates power from photons in photosynthesis.
-
- Engineers have achieved “superior dye
chemistry” for producing “unmatched power density”. Dyes are based on over 40 “organic
sensitizer molecules”, the active component of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC)
technology, which absorb light across the entire visible electromagnetic
spectrum, like those in other solar panels.
-
- Reducing the need for batteries could cut
electronic waste, as TK billions of batteries go to landfills every year. Although solar power technology has existed
for decades, generating enough power for devices at low lighting levels has
been a vexing problem.
-
- Previous attempts to create low-lighting
solar cells haven't been sufficient.
Photovoltaic innovations such as amorphous silicon cells don’t yield
sufficient power in the real-world, low-light operations conditions. This new technology harvests three times more
light than comparable solutions.
-
- Also, the large price tag on high
performance, low-light photovoltaic technologies like “gallium arsenide' cells
has made them suitable only for space satellite and research applications, not
mass-market electronics.
-
- It sounds like science fiction: giant solar
power stations floating in space that beam down enormous amounts of energy to
Earth. And for a long time, the concept first developed by the Russian
scientist, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, in the 1920s was mainly an inspiration for
writers.
-
- Climate change is the greatest challenge of
our time, so there’s a lot at stake. From rising global temperatures to
shifting weather patterns, the impacts of climate change are already being felt
around the globe. Overcoming this challenge will require radical changes to how
we generate and consume energy.
-
- Renewable energy technologies have
developed drastically in recent years, with improved efficiency and lower cost.
But one major barrier to their uptake is the fact that they don’t provide a
constant supply of energy. Wind and solar farms only produce energy when the
wind is blowing or the sun is shining, but we need electricity around the
clock, every day. Ultimately, we need a way to store energy on a large scale
before we can make the switch to renewable sources.
-
- A possible way around this would be to
generate solar energy in space. There are many advantages to this. A
space-based solar power station could orbit to face the Sun 24 hours a day. The
Earth’s atmosphere also absorbs and reflects some of the Sun’s light, so solar
cells above the atmosphere will receive more sunlight and produce more energy.
-
- But one of the key challenges to overcome is
how to assemble, launch and deploy such large structures. A single solar power
station may have to be as much as 10 kilometers square in area, equivalent to
1,400 football fields. Using lightweight materials will also be critical, as
the biggest expense will be the cost of launching the station into space on a
rocket.
-
- One proposed solution is to develop a swarm
of thousands of smaller satellites that will come together and configure to
form a single, large solar generator. In 2017, researchers at the California
Institute of Technology outlined designs for a modular power station,
consisting of thousands of ultralight solar cell tiles. They also demonstrated
a prototype tile weighing just 280 grams per square meter, similar to the
weight of poker card.
-
- Recently, developments in manufacturing,
such as 3D printing, are also being looked at for this application. They are exploring new manufacturing
techniques for printing ultralight solar cells on to solar sails. A solar sail
is a foldable, lightweight and highly reflective membrane capable of harnessing
the effect of the Sun’s radiation pressure to propel a spacecraft forward
without fuel. They are exploring how to embed solar cells on solar sail
structures to create large, fuel-free solar power stations.
-
- These methods would enable construction of
the power stations in space. Indeed, it could one day be possible to
manufacture and deploy units in space from the International Space Station or
the future lunar gateway station that will orbit the Moon. Such devices could
in fact help provide power on the Moon.
-
- The possibilities don’t end there. While we
are currently reliant on materials from Earth to build power stations,
scientists are also considering using resources from space for manufacturing,
such as materials found on the Moon.
-
- Another major challenge will be getting the
power transmitted back to Earth. The plan is to convert electricity from the
solar cells into energy waves and use electromagnetic fields to transfer them
down to an antenna on the Earth’s surface. The antenna would then convert the
waves back into electricity.
-
- Solar power stations in space will become a
reality in the coming decades. Researchers in China have designed a system
called Omega, which they aim to have operational by 2050. This system should be
capable of supplying 2GigaWatts of power into Earth’s grid at peak performance,
which is a huge amount. To produce that much power with solar panels on Earth,
you would need more than six million of them.
-
- Smaller solar power satellites, like those
designed to power lunar rovers, could be operational even sooner. Across the globe, the scientific community is
committing time and effort to the development of solar power stations in space.
-
-
March 17, 2024 SOLAR
CELLS - in space? 4391
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Pass it on to whomever is interested. --------
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------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
--------------------- --- Monday, March 18, 2024
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