Xref: utzoo sci.energy:3721 sci.electronics:16716 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!mips!news.cs.indiana.edu!bronze!silver!amirza From: amirza@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (anmar mirza) Newsgroups: sci.energy,sci.electronics Subject: Re: solar cells Message-ID: <1991Jan5.220300.13054@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> Date: 5 Jan 91 22:03:00 GMT References: <11515@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <1991Jan4.173128.26484@cs.rochester.edu> <1991Jan5.011526.15425@midway.uchicago.edu> Sender: news@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (USENET News System) Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington Lines: 43 In article <1991Jan5.011526.15425@midway.uchicago.edu> chi9@quads.uchicago.edu (Lucius Chiaraviglio) writes: > > Uh -- won't the resulting overheating kill the solar cells, or at >least inactivate them for the duration of exposure to concentrated direct >sunlight? My information on this may be out of date, but I thought that even >a very hot day without concentration of sunlight was enough to lower the >efficiency of photovoltaic cells. Also, using concentrators takes away most >of the advantages that solar cells have in not absolutely requiring unclouded >sunlight in order to produce a significant amount of electrical energy. There is a good article on concentrator panels in the October/Novemeber 1990 Home Power Magazine. Seems that a new company, Midway Labs has come out with concentrator panels that require no active cooling. "The economic advantage of concentration is more effective use of expensive highly refined silicon. The PowerSource module uses about 20 times LESS PV material than a conventional unconcentrated module. It also makes about 50% MORE power. The combined area of all the silicon cells in a single PowerSource module is about 30 square inches and it generates 75 watts. The combined cell area in a conventional PV panel is about 575 square inches of hyperpure silicon to produce about 50 watts of power." ---Reprinted without permission from Home Power Magazine, Oct/Nov 1990 Article by Richard Perez A ten module system, including tracker is about $4,500. This produces about 750 Wh. 10 of my Arco M75's will run about $3000 and produce about 480 Wh. Trackers is about another $700 I would need about 16 M75's To compete power output wise with the Midway Labs units, at a cost of $4800, plus another $800 if I wanted trackers. Without the trackers on the Midway Labs modules, the cost is a little more than $5 a watt, with trackers is is around $6 a watt. I am probably going to stick with my Arco's to keep my system consistant, but I am going to mention it to customers when they ask me to put together a system for them. -- Anmar Mirza # If a product is good, # I speak only my # Space, humans next EMT-A # they will stop making # opinions on these # goal in the race N9ISY (tech) # it. Unless it is # subjects, IU has # for immortality. Networks Tech.# designed to kill. # it's own. # --- me