Specifications

As you can see from the picture it is a very thin material so we can bend it and in some

cases cut it to the desired shape needed to put on the box. We will be adding this

material to every possible area such that it can be optimizing the sunlight.

Finally the last type of material used for solar energy that we can discuss is the CIGS.

This material is still in its developmental stages but it is a very good prospect of a PV

array. The material is sprayed on a surface and it is then used to conduct electricity.

This form can take many shapes and fit in almost any area but as of right now we had to

rule it out of our design. The reason is it is still in the experimental area and we think

that it is far out of reach of our design project. It would be a good idea to use this

material but since it is in developmental stages we went with something more concrete.

Thin Film Array is very widely used in projects all over the world. It is used in many

electronics including solar powered calculators. Since it is very flexible it would make a

great design idea to implement in our design. It will be placed on the exterior of our case

and will be used to optimize sunlight. There are many things that would affect the

performance of the solar panels. One of the main things that will affect our project will

be temperature because the hotter the panel gets the less energy is produced.

Figure 23 - Current vs. Voltage at Different Temperatures

Permission Pending

As ou can see in the graph above you can see that at higher temperatures the voltage

starts dropping rapidly and at lower temperatures it gets to a higher voltage. Because of

this, we will have to try to keep the panels as cool as possible. This will be a task

because for the panel to work it needs to be in direct sunlight. We will explore ways to

keep the panel cool as well as absorbing the sunlight such that we can maintain a very

high and cost effective system. We will be using mirrors to direct more sunlight at the

solar panels since it depends on where the sun is in the sky it can cast a shadow on

part of the solar panel. Since this might be a issue we will also be adding mirrors to

direct the lost light back into the solar panel. They are many different types of panels,