Hey, question for some solar panel expert.
Would it be possible to create a solar panel in the form of foil? I know flexible panels exists but I’ve only seen ones embedded in plastic like this:
Is the plastic somehow necessary for power generation or could the solar panel layer be sprayed directly on some sort of foil?
Or to put it another way: how densely could we pack a solar panel if we didn’t care that much about durability?
Let’s say I just want something that will last a month and maybe 100 unfolding-folding cycles. Would it be possible to fit it a box like this:
If strength and weight wasn’t an issue then compact folding is entirely possible, considering how they’ve been using foldable solar panels on satellites since the early days of spaceflight
A rolled panel however would have to use very thin and small cells, which would be less efficient
I think they do make what you’re asking for, but they’re not great.
Printed solar panels exist, and are super light weight, but they’re only 10% as efficient as regular panels so you need 10x surface area to produce the same amount of electricity
Thanks, I haven’t checked printed panels. I will take a look.
That’s very close but I wonder if we can go even farther. Basically I saw people doing this:
but obviously if you look at the numbers you have to stop for hours to charge your bike and even with flexible panels you need some sort of a cart to carry them. This is because we need some durability but what if I’m only interested in single trip? Couple weeks, maybe a month. Would it be possible to make an ultra light panel that can charge my bike in let’s say an hour?
They have different size on the website, but it really depends on how large your bicycle battery is. The largest one is 60W and ways 1.7kg. A small bicycle like that might have 300Wh or so. Since you probably just lay them on the ground and they are not 100% efficent anyway with charging you need 10 solar panels or so to charge your bicycle up within an hour.
If you want it for a cycle trip, then you are probably better of having a fixed panel on a trailer. That way you can charge during the trip and non flexible panels are much more efficent. You end up with something like these.
I’m not looking for existing product. I don’t think anything like this exists. I’m just wondering if it’s possible to make with existing solar panel tech. Something like rescue foil solar panel. Or does it need some plastic casing?
With silicon based cells this seems unlikely, but with Perovskite based cells it exists already.
You’re right, looking for Perovskite I see publications about foil based solar panels. Thanks, I will dig some more.
I have a tiny one that rolls up, and that tech is from 15-20 years back. Got it from funding a Kickstarter. Don’t know how those guys made out.
