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Polymer based flexible solar panels

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steveB

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I've recently started looking at flexible polymer based photovoltaic solar cells. I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with these devices, or has any ideas of how they compare to silicon based cells.

I find these to be very interesting because flexible plastic can be installed in places that would be impractical with rigid materials. They would also seem to be a good choice for a portable system since the light plastic can be rolled up easily for storage or transport.

Any thoughts are appreciated.
 
IIRC the ones I looked at had a substantially lower power per sq ft than normal cells.

Actually, non-flat panels are problematic since series strings of solar cells can only put out as much current as the weakest cell. So, if you have a curved surface of series cells with the panel over +/-45 deg around a cylinder, and ONE part of the panel is normal to the light source, you've still lost 29% of the output for the entire string due to the output of the cells at +45deg or -45deg not facing the sun directly and getting less output.

Only the flat panel can be tilted to face the sun and thus maximize the output. But you may misunderstand and think "OK, but a fixed panel won't always be facing the sun, one facing straight up gets the disadvantage of +45 deg/-45 deg sunlight angle early and late in the day too, whereas a curved panel has a better chance of something facing the sun". But no, because when any ONE part of series string isn't facing the sun, the whole series string is penalized- and the curvature only assures that there will always be a part of the panel not facing the sun.
 
I would be more interested in extremely high efficiency small panels, they you could create small grids of cells, not as good as being flexible but much more practical. I think you over rate the usefulness of flexible panels.
 
.... I think you over rate the usefulness of flexible panels.

I haven't really rated them, so I'm not sure how I could over-rate them. I just said they are interesting and seem to have some potential advantages. I'm mostly looking for feedback from others, and I haven't really formed any clear opinions yet.

I take your comments to mean that you don't see them as being useful in any practical application. I appreciate your feedback.
 
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Flexibility does have advantages for durability, but how well defined is that flexibility? I severely doubt it's something that could be rolled up and out multiple times and still function perfectly fine.
 
Actually, non-flat panels are problematic since series strings of solar cells can only put out as much current as the weakest cell...

Very good point! Perhaps even parallel connected cells are also limited because the less-exposed cells act as a load to the sun-exposed cells? The currents would still add, but the voltage will be more limited?
 
Flexibility does have advantages for durability, but how well defined is that flexibility? I severely doubt it's something that could be rolled up and out multiple times and still function perfectly fine.

My understanding is that these are polymers/plastics that are able to do just that, but I'm still learning about this, so I could be mistaken. These are the exact types of questions I'm trying to get the answers for. Whenever new technology like this comes out, the manufacturers tend to promote the strengths and hide the weaknesses. Often the best way to answer these types of questions is to do your own tests, but I'm not at that stage yet. I'm just trying to educate myself right now.
 
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steve, many polymers can't tolerate being flexed repeatedly. Unless you have some specific application you have in mind I would try to stick to more traditional solar panels, the higher efficiency ones are still both expensive. Exploring ideas isn't a bad idea, the most useful one I can think of is the rollable one, but that would require some pretty advanced knolwedge of the detailed construction of the cells.
 
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Different plastics have different characteristics. Depends on how the carbon chains are lined up, how long and short they are. I've got a framed 14 watt, flexible panel on my roof. Works pretty well, figure it'll survive hurricanes better than glass. Definitely much lighter than a similar sized glass panel (have 8 to install). Always thought it would be nice if they made some sort of roofing material, like shingles, out of flexible panels. Seems like it could serve a duel purposes, and be more cost effective.
 
Amorphous cells are affected by heat much less than crystalline. Plus the do not have such a sharp falloff for shadows and such due to the higher bandgap than crystalline silicon cells. The higher bandgap catches more visible light, whereas crystalline is almost completely dependent on IR light.
 
I used one of these panels on a canoe trip last May. It was very expensive for the amount of watts produced and it shorted out (or became non-current producing for whatever reason) half way through the trip. This was despite being very careful with it. So I returned it.
 
I don't like the idea of plastics in the sun, especially clear plastic that needs to remain clear. Even "UV stabilised" or whatever claim they make for plastics rarely holds true once it's in full sun at high-ish temperatures (like a solar panel!). They yellow, crack, craze, go milky or whatever other deterioration plastics go through.

Give me a good old glass pane over actual silicon anyday.
 
It truly depends on what surface you want to put on.
Polymer applications:
A back pack
A rounded surface
Any flexible surface that will not be in the sun 100% of the time or fixed to give the best performance.

Standard Panel
Any where you want have 100% rigidity on the surface.
These are best on top of houses, fields etc
 
chatting to a guy who works for BP solar and he said their flexible panels are flexible in that you can "glue" them to curved surfaces like decks or van roofs but they break if you keep flexing them
 
Yeah, it's not like it's made out of cloth, it's just a material that has elastic properties, so for a backpack it'd be useless, you'd be better off with a small fixed rectangular rigid panel mounted to the top of the pack which is the only part that will get any large degree of sun.

They'll form to cylindrical surfaces but not round, you could make a solar panel out of polymer round, but you couldn't bend a flat sheet of it, and I fail to see how a domed solar panel would be useful, you'd be better off with a fixed panel and a simple tracking system to orient the panel to the sun, little bit more expensive for the aiming system, but the sun doesn't move very fast so it would use very little power, the same square footage of solar panel would provide more power.

I honestly don't see polymer solar cells being useful in general situations, unless they can be made cloth like and absolutely dirt cheap.
 
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