William Atkins
Thursday, 25 September 2008 19:24
Science -
Energy
Page 1 of 2
A new type of solar panel, called SLIVER Cell photovoltaic technology, is much less costly than traditional solar panels, while still being able to maintain performance and efficiency when in the shadow of the Sun. It could someday provide cheap electrical power to households around the world.
Austalian engineers and researchers
Andrew Blakers ,
Klaus Weber, and their team from the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems (
CSES, pdf file) at the Australian National University (Canberra, Australia) have developed the new technology.
As the name suggests, wafer-thin cells ([trademarked]
Sliver cells) are the critical component of the system. The cells come about by taking a standard solar cell and cutting it into miniscule slices.
The thickness goes from about 1 millimeter (from a standard cell) down to only 120 micrometers (in the new Sliver cell). One millimeter is equal to one thousand micrometers, so the new Sliver cell has a thickness of only 0.12 millimeter, as compared to 1 millimeter for the old cell.
So, instead of one really thick solar cell, the new Sliver cell system has many more thin cells laid horizontally for a much larger area to collect solar energy.
The transparent (see-through) and parabolic-shaped mirrors are also able to track the motion of the Sun across the sky.
The system is able to reduce the size and cost of photovoltaic panels because less
silver silicon is needed in order to generate electrical energy from solar energy. And,
silver silicon is an expensive element.
The trademarked SLIVER Cell system uses only about 10% of the expensive silicon that is normally used in solar panels.
Page two continues the story.
