View Single Post - New Technology Prevents Solar Panel Overheating

Doctor Feelgood · Administrator

Solar power has been one of the major achievements that promise humanity a sustainable future. But even at this stage of development of tools delivering vital data on thin-film temperature that allows fast and error free production, solar panels have some limitations.

One of the main faults was loss of efficacy - after a prolong exposure to the sun the panels overheat and their performance decrease significantly. Scientists from Stanford came up with a brilliant solution for solving this problem with overheating.

Inspired by the way our bodies cool, and lose body heat through our heads, the scientists have developed a similar pattern for solar panels by introducing a translucent layer made out of pattered silica that will cool the system the same way our bodies are cooled through our heads.

This functional layer will separate light from heat, decreasing the temperature of the incoming light. Thus, the heat will be radiated by this innovative layer but the energy, produced by the solar panel, will be increasing. This new coat will be something like a pair of sunglasses, the light will go through but the harmful UV-rays, in this case heat, is efficiently blocked.

According to the research and tests done by the team of scientist working on the project, this new coat will effectively decrease the temperature by over twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and promote solar panels' efficiency by one percent.