Solar battery “PlanarSun” - crowdfunding project from the Russian inventor
UPDT . After the publication of the post on Habré managed to collect the required amount. The author sincerely thanks everyone for their attention and help!
Dear friends! As you know, we recently raised money for the publication of the children's book “Simple Science” using the Bumstarter crowdfunding platform. Now the authors of many crowdfunding projects, to one degree or another associated with science, turn to us for help. Today we want to tell you about a project called PlanarSun Solar . At our request, the author of the project, Denis Afanasyev, prepared a short text presentation of his invention. And, of course, Denis asks to support the project, which ends on October 1 - he needs to have time to collect 150 thousand rubles. Who knows, maybe among the readers of Habra there are those who are ready to invest in solar energy or who support the initiatives of Russian inventors?
')
Compact super-efficient solar battery at an affordable price based on the patented technology "planar hub" from Russian developers for the complete autonomous operation of a netbook, iPhone and other electronic charging devices.
A true inventor is a pioneer, a pioneer of progress, and, of course, he has accurate self-esteem: “It's far from me to Tesla,” Denis Afanasyev grins. He's 37 years old. As a teenager, he dreamed of becoming an inventor. He graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Technology of the NSTU with a degree in laser systems. Since 2005, he worked in the laboratory of fiber optics. In 2008, having heard the statement of the Nobel laureate, Academician Jaures Alferov about the great future of optical concentrators, which collect rays of the sun from the surface into a beam, caught fire in the search for their compact and convenient solutions. Since September 2011, he is fully engaged in the development of his own innovative project, in August 2013 he received a Russian patent for his invention ( From a publication in the newspaper “Levoberezhny Navigator” in Novosibirsk).
The beginning of the work put the thought read in 2008 that "the use of concentrated solar radiation ... can dramatically reduce the cost of expensive semiconductor materials, improve the efficiency of semiconductor converters."
The use of concentrated solar radiation is well known. Despite the fact that the authenticity of the legend about Archimedes, who allegedly burned the Roman fleet during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, modern historians question, but the legend-THOUGHT was mathematically modeled and possibly realized in the 6th century AD. e. Byzantine scientist mathematician and architect Anfimy. And without any historical doubts, it can be argued that using a similar model, the helioconcentrator was built and successfully tested by a French naturalist Buffon in the middle of the 18th century.
It should be noted that, until recently, mirror solar concentrating systems are not fundamentally different from the Buffon design - a set of separate mirrors (or one large mirror), redirecting the “sunbeams” to one common point.
The second type of hub used is based on the principle of optical lenses. Concentrators in the form of Fresnel lenses have recently gained considerable popularity. Fresnel lenses are a quasi-flat relief structure made of transparent lightweight plastic materials. Functionally, the Fresnel lens performs the task of focusing in the same way as traditional glass lenses.
Having looked at such examples of these systems, any technically literate person can answer the question: WHY conventional solar concentrators for generating electrical energy are not used on a mass scale and are unable to compete economically with traditional solar batteries? (let's keep the intrigue - let the readers leave the opportunity to think and answer themselves, the answer from the author can be read a little later).
And now let us explain the THOUGHT of the Nobel laureate about the prospects of using concentrator systems from the standpoint of efficiency and economics. Both in 2007 and now, only two types of “solar material” are used in the world for highly efficient conversion (efficiency over 15%) of light energy into electrical energy: monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si) and gallium arsenide-based heterostructures (GaAs). It should be noted that it was in the field of creating new materials based on heterostructures that Alferov’s scientific group achieved outstanding results.
From the spectral diagrams it can be seen that the FEP based on heterostructures is almost 2 times more efficient than single-crystal silicon. The theoretical efficiency of silicon cells can be at the level of 26%. It is known that (the only one in the world), the American company SunPower produces commercial silicon cells with an efficiency of 23% with a 3-fold price compared to standard silicon cells (efficiency of 17.5%). The theoretical efficiency of cells on gallium arsenide can be at 49%. The Japanese company Sharp in the summer of 2013 announced a new experimental record efficiency of 44.4% based on heterostructures.
The economy of the issue is closely related to the unit cost of solar cells. The specific cost of GaAs cells is at the level of 3-15 $ / cm2, and that of crystalline silicon is 0.01-0.02 $ / cm2. It can be seen that the specific cost of super-efficient gallium arsenide per unit area is about 200-2000 times more. So it turns out that in order to achieve the price of a solar panel on gallium arsenide, comparable to conventional solar cells, it is necessary to reduce its effective area by 200-800 times. This is achieved with the help of optical concentrators.
DISADVANTAGES of the existing optical CONCENTRATORS were identified by the author within 1.5 months after reading the THOUGHT:
The result of the analysis of deficiencies was the formulated SOLUTION OF THE TASK in general:
A VOLUME concentrator must be replaced with a flat concentrator of minimal thickness, or PLANAR concentrator (translated from English, the term in the international literature is “planar concentrator”). The second condition - the degree of concentration should be sufficient for a serious economic effect (for example, more than 3-10 times).
PLANAR CONCENTRATOR. After 1.5 years of thinking and a multitude of numerical experiments, a specific solution was proposed. A PlanarSun solar cell with a planar concentrator is a sheet of Plexiglas (glass) with a special surface and internal structure with photoelectric transducers attached to the end.
HOW IT WORKS. The sunrays falling near the normal from the entire flat surface of the PC are directed to two opposite ends, due to a single reflection from the back surface and multiple total internal reflections from the outer and inner surfaces.
In the immediate vicinity of the outgoing-radiation ends of the PC, a photoelectric converter is located, which has a geometrical size corresponding to the end face. This design of the planar concentrator allows you to create devices with a thickness of 10-20 times smaller than its width of the surface from which solar energy is collected.
Optical efficiency of a planar concentrator 88-91%.
Why is it so important for the successful development of the project to design the "NATIONAL PATENTS" of other countries?
The presented innovative project is at the “seed” stage, i.e. is quite high-risk, with the prospect of a significant increase in capitalization by the time of completion. It also means that it takes 1-2 more years and about 2 million rubles for research and technological work to bring the project to the technological level of small-scale production. For the preparation of technology and the organization of large-scale production, another 100-300 million rubles is required.
To attract investors with such funds, it is necessary that the investments be legally protected in the market space of the products produced. In Russia, the solar energy market is in its infancy, while the markets of other countries have been growing quite actively lately. Obviously, without patent rights (at least in one of the countries with a growing solar energy market), obtaining the necessary investments will be unlikely. Thus, the “NATIONAL PATENT” in any country with an active growth of solar energy is a prerequisite for the successful implementation of products.
The patent of the Russian Federation “Planar fiber” No. 2488149 dated 07/20/2013, as well as the international PCT application: WO2012 / 150876A2 dated 04.24.2012. In October - November 2013 (the only law set by the deadline) is required up to 670 tr. to go to the "national phase" of various countries, major players in the market.
Patenting in the CIS countries: Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan.
Why UKRAINE? According to IBCentre experts, in the first half of 2013, total investments in the Ukrainian industry of solar energy amounted to more than 360 million euros. Also, according to the research organization , in the plans of participants of the Ukrainian market of solar energy to build up to the end of 2013, 7 stations with a total installed capacity of about 50 MW. Ukraine is vitally interested in reducing energy dependence on Russian gas, therefore, it is actively developing large-scale projects for the commissioning of alternative energy sources. In addition, Ukraine has a well-developed chemical industry for the production of basic material for planar plexiglass concentrators.
Why ARMENIA? There is an acute energy shortage in this country, there is not even Russian gas, as it is in natural, geographical and political isolation. It has only two possibilities to solve the problem with energy resources - it is to build a new NPP, and (or) to create a complex of energy based on alternative sources. The new NPP requires significant frozen capital investments for many years of construction. At the same time, Armenia has an excellent solar energy potential, which can be quickly launched into operation with relatively small one-time investments with an ever-increasing deficit .
Why KAZAKHSTAN? There are significantly more suns than in Novosibirsk to exploit solar batteries. Proximity to the developers makes this country a suitable place for testing and testing the technology of solar cells with a planar concentrator. Kazakhstan also buys significant amounts of electricity in neighboring countries to meet the needs of industry, which makes the development of solar energy a pressing task .
To provide autonomous power supply of a laptop, iphone or other devices on standard solar batteries, you need to have an area of these batteries 1.5-2 times more than the mobile devices themselves. In fact, you need to wear another rather dimensional device.
An example of a standard solar battery for a Sol laptop .
Existing global solutions allow reducing the battery to the required size only on the basis of a very expensive “solar material” (gallium arsenide). Its price is 100-200 times higher than standard solutions, therefore it is available only for military and space purposes. For example, a 10 ”solar battery for iPad using Alta Devices technology will cost more than $ 1,100 from the manufacturer. Our solution allows you to reduce the cost of the battery by almost 7 times while maintaining the compact size of the battery, comparable to the size of the mobile device, i.e. the price of the device during mass production will be at $ 160. Such a product becomes available to a wider range of consumers / market segment, and not just to narrowly specialized military-space consumers.
Since any type of highly efficient “solar material” can be used in conjunction with a planar concentrator, we offer to develop two types of solar cells designed for different sizes of mobile devices:
An additional increase in efficiency is achieved by introducing inside the "planar concentrator" luminescent material, making the UV spectrum (300-400 nm) of solar radiation available for conversion into electricity, which increases the efficiency by 1-2%.
Land, air, water transport: trains, cars, pleasure boats, ground robots, unmanned devices.
In India, they plan to install solar panels on trains to meet the needs of air-conditioning cars . For the same conditioning tasks can serve as a battery on the car. The accumulated energy from the PlanarSun solar panels for traveling motorists can be directed to night heating of sleeping places in a tent, a trailer, or cooking boiling water for tea (energy for a sunny day is enough for 7-9 liters of boiling water).
PlanarSun Super Big devices are distinguished by a larger area (more than 1 m2) and the formation of operating voltages at the customer’s choice. The power of 1 m2 of solar battery is 250 W under standard conditions (1000 W / m2, AM 1.5 spectrum)
PlanarSun Super solar battery, will reduce the windage and weight of the " SolarCopter ".
All robots need autonomous power supply. Nothing is more affordable than solar energy. Dimensions and area of robots is limited, so PlanarSun super-efficient batteries will be in demand .
Friends, what about development? How promising, does it deserve attention? What are the pros and cons?
Dear friends! As you know, we recently raised money for the publication of the children's book “Simple Science” using the Bumstarter crowdfunding platform. Now the authors of many crowdfunding projects, to one degree or another associated with science, turn to us for help. Today we want to tell you about a project called PlanarSun Solar . At our request, the author of the project, Denis Afanasyev, prepared a short text presentation of his invention. And, of course, Denis asks to support the project, which ends on October 1 - he needs to have time to collect 150 thousand rubles. Who knows, maybe among the readers of Habra there are those who are ready to invest in solar energy or who support the initiatives of Russian inventors?
')
Planar hub presents: “PlanarSun” solar battery
Compact super-efficient solar battery at an affordable price based on the patented technology "planar hub" from Russian developers for the complete autonomous operation of a netbook, iPhone and other electronic charging devices.
About the author:
A true inventor is a pioneer, a pioneer of progress, and, of course, he has accurate self-esteem: “It's far from me to Tesla,” Denis Afanasyev grins. He's 37 years old. As a teenager, he dreamed of becoming an inventor. He graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Technology of the NSTU with a degree in laser systems. Since 2005, he worked in the laboratory of fiber optics. In 2008, having heard the statement of the Nobel laureate, Academician Jaures Alferov about the great future of optical concentrators, which collect rays of the sun from the surface into a beam, caught fire in the search for their compact and convenient solutions. Since September 2011, he is fully engaged in the development of his own innovative project, in August 2013 he received a Russian patent for his invention ( From a publication in the newspaper “Levoberezhny Navigator” in Novosibirsk).
The beginning of the work put the thought read in 2008 that "the use of concentrated solar radiation ... can dramatically reduce the cost of expensive semiconductor materials, improve the efficiency of semiconductor converters."
The use of concentrated solar radiation is well known. Despite the fact that the authenticity of the legend about Archimedes, who allegedly burned the Roman fleet during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, modern historians question, but the legend-THOUGHT was mathematically modeled and possibly realized in the 6th century AD. e. Byzantine scientist mathematician and architect Anfimy. And without any historical doubts, it can be argued that using a similar model, the helioconcentrator was built and successfully tested by a French naturalist Buffon in the middle of the 18th century.
It should be noted that, until recently, mirror solar concentrating systems are not fundamentally different from the Buffon design - a set of separate mirrors (or one large mirror), redirecting the “sunbeams” to one common point.
The second type of hub used is based on the principle of optical lenses. Concentrators in the form of Fresnel lenses have recently gained considerable popularity. Fresnel lenses are a quasi-flat relief structure made of transparent lightweight plastic materials. Functionally, the Fresnel lens performs the task of focusing in the same way as traditional glass lenses.
Having looked at such examples of these systems, any technically literate person can answer the question: WHY conventional solar concentrators for generating electrical energy are not used on a mass scale and are unable to compete economically with traditional solar batteries? (let's keep the intrigue - let the readers leave the opportunity to think and answer themselves, the answer from the author can be read a little later).
And now let us explain the THOUGHT of the Nobel laureate about the prospects of using concentrator systems from the standpoint of efficiency and economics. Both in 2007 and now, only two types of “solar material” are used in the world for highly efficient conversion (efficiency over 15%) of light energy into electrical energy: monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si) and gallium arsenide-based heterostructures (GaAs). It should be noted that it was in the field of creating new materials based on heterostructures that Alferov’s scientific group achieved outstanding results.
From the spectral diagrams it can be seen that the FEP based on heterostructures is almost 2 times more efficient than single-crystal silicon. The theoretical efficiency of silicon cells can be at the level of 26%. It is known that (the only one in the world), the American company SunPower produces commercial silicon cells with an efficiency of 23% with a 3-fold price compared to standard silicon cells (efficiency of 17.5%). The theoretical efficiency of cells on gallium arsenide can be at 49%. The Japanese company Sharp in the summer of 2013 announced a new experimental record efficiency of 44.4% based on heterostructures.
The economy of the issue is closely related to the unit cost of solar cells. The specific cost of GaAs cells is at the level of 3-15 $ / cm2, and that of crystalline silicon is 0.01-0.02 $ / cm2. It can be seen that the specific cost of super-efficient gallium arsenide per unit area is about 200-2000 times more. So it turns out that in order to achieve the price of a solar panel on gallium arsenide, comparable to conventional solar cells, it is necessary to reduce its effective area by 200-800 times. This is achieved with the help of optical concentrators.
DISADVANTAGES of the existing optical CONCENTRATORS were identified by the author within 1.5 months after reading the THOUGHT:
- The significant dimensions of existing hubs are primarily in thickness (depth). That, in turn, increases the consumption of materials for the structure, which also increases the weight and cost.
- Reducing the reliability and service life of the module due to the presence of highly concentrated radiation inside the solar module (500-800 "Suns"), which leads to a rapid degradation of optical and structural materials.
- Significant heat release to the focusing points of radiation requires the use of a special (often forced) cooling system of the working FEP.
- A highly accurate tracking system for the sun is required at two coordinates (positioning accuracy 0.1 degrees), which leads to an increase in the specific cost by 30-40%, and also reduces reliability.
- The presence of an air gap between the surface of the concentrator and the phototransducer reduces the reliability of the system due to the appearance of natural disturbances (rain, dust, water condensate) on the optical path to the radiation between the concentrator and the FEP.
- Expensive technological assembly of a large solar module in the form of a two-dimensional array of many individual solar cells. This disadvantage is fundamentally due to the construction of solar modules based on VOLUME CONCENTRATORS.
The result of the analysis of deficiencies was the formulated SOLUTION OF THE TASK in general:
A VOLUME concentrator must be replaced with a flat concentrator of minimal thickness, or PLANAR concentrator (translated from English, the term in the international literature is “planar concentrator”). The second condition - the degree of concentration should be sufficient for a serious economic effect (for example, more than 3-10 times).
PLANAR CONCENTRATOR. After 1.5 years of thinking and a multitude of numerical experiments, a specific solution was proposed. A PlanarSun solar cell with a planar concentrator is a sheet of Plexiglas (glass) with a special surface and internal structure with photoelectric transducers attached to the end.
HOW IT WORKS. The sunrays falling near the normal from the entire flat surface of the PC are directed to two opposite ends, due to a single reflection from the back surface and multiple total internal reflections from the outer and inner surfaces.
In the immediate vicinity of the outgoing-radiation ends of the PC, a photoelectric converter is located, which has a geometrical size corresponding to the end face. This design of the planar concentrator allows you to create devices with a thickness of 10-20 times smaller than its width of the surface from which solar energy is collected.
Optical efficiency of a planar concentrator 88-91%.
Why is it so important for the successful development of the project to design the "NATIONAL PATENTS" of other countries?
The presented innovative project is at the “seed” stage, i.e. is quite high-risk, with the prospect of a significant increase in capitalization by the time of completion. It also means that it takes 1-2 more years and about 2 million rubles for research and technological work to bring the project to the technological level of small-scale production. For the preparation of technology and the organization of large-scale production, another 100-300 million rubles is required.
To attract investors with such funds, it is necessary that the investments be legally protected in the market space of the products produced. In Russia, the solar energy market is in its infancy, while the markets of other countries have been growing quite actively lately. Obviously, without patent rights (at least in one of the countries with a growing solar energy market), obtaining the necessary investments will be unlikely. Thus, the “NATIONAL PATENT” in any country with an active growth of solar energy is a prerequisite for the successful implementation of products.
The patent of the Russian Federation “Planar fiber” No. 2488149 dated 07/20/2013, as well as the international PCT application: WO2012 / 150876A2 dated 04.24.2012. In October - November 2013 (the only law set by the deadline) is required up to 670 tr. to go to the "national phase" of various countries, major players in the market.
Patenting in the CIS countries: Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan.
Why UKRAINE? According to IBCentre experts, in the first half of 2013, total investments in the Ukrainian industry of solar energy amounted to more than 360 million euros. Also, according to the research organization , in the plans of participants of the Ukrainian market of solar energy to build up to the end of 2013, 7 stations with a total installed capacity of about 50 MW. Ukraine is vitally interested in reducing energy dependence on Russian gas, therefore, it is actively developing large-scale projects for the commissioning of alternative energy sources. In addition, Ukraine has a well-developed chemical industry for the production of basic material for planar plexiglass concentrators.
Why ARMENIA? There is an acute energy shortage in this country, there is not even Russian gas, as it is in natural, geographical and political isolation. It has only two possibilities to solve the problem with energy resources - it is to build a new NPP, and (or) to create a complex of energy based on alternative sources. The new NPP requires significant frozen capital investments for many years of construction. At the same time, Armenia has an excellent solar energy potential, which can be quickly launched into operation with relatively small one-time investments with an ever-increasing deficit .
Why KAZAKHSTAN? There are significantly more suns than in Novosibirsk to exploit solar batteries. Proximity to the developers makes this country a suitable place for testing and testing the technology of solar cells with a planar concentrator. Kazakhstan also buys significant amounts of electricity in neighboring countries to meet the needs of industry, which makes the development of solar energy a pressing task .
Solar Battery Planar Sun, scope
To provide autonomous power supply of a laptop, iphone or other devices on standard solar batteries, you need to have an area of these batteries 1.5-2 times more than the mobile devices themselves. In fact, you need to wear another rather dimensional device.
An example of a standard solar battery for a Sol laptop .
Existing global solutions allow reducing the battery to the required size only on the basis of a very expensive “solar material” (gallium arsenide). Its price is 100-200 times higher than standard solutions, therefore it is available only for military and space purposes. For example, a 10 ”solar battery for iPad using Alta Devices technology will cost more than $ 1,100 from the manufacturer. Our solution allows you to reduce the cost of the battery by almost 7 times while maintaining the compact size of the battery, comparable to the size of the mobile device, i.e. the price of the device during mass production will be at $ 160. Such a product becomes available to a wider range of consumers / market segment, and not just to narrowly specialized military-space consumers.
Since any type of highly efficient “solar material” can be used in conjunction with a planar concentrator, we offer to develop two types of solar cells designed for different sizes of mobile devices:
- In the PlanarSun Super device, solar cells based on gallium arsenide are used (solar cells have a efficiency of 28%)
- In the PlanarSun device, cells of highly efficient silicon are used (solar cells have a efficiency of 23%)
An additional increase in efficiency is achieved by introducing inside the "planar concentrator" luminescent material, making the UV spectrum (300-400 nm) of solar radiation available for conversion into electricity, which increases the efficiency by 1-2%.
Land, air, water transport: trains, cars, pleasure boats, ground robots, unmanned devices.
In India, they plan to install solar panels on trains to meet the needs of air-conditioning cars . For the same conditioning tasks can serve as a battery on the car. The accumulated energy from the PlanarSun solar panels for traveling motorists can be directed to night heating of sleeping places in a tent, a trailer, or cooking boiling water for tea (energy for a sunny day is enough for 7-9 liters of boiling water).
PlanarSun Super Big devices are distinguished by a larger area (more than 1 m2) and the formation of operating voltages at the customer’s choice. The power of 1 m2 of solar battery is 250 W under standard conditions (1000 W / m2, AM 1.5 spectrum)
PlanarSun Super solar battery, will reduce the windage and weight of the " SolarCopter ".
All robots need autonomous power supply. Nothing is more affordable than solar energy. Dimensions and area of robots is limited, so PlanarSun super-efficient batteries will be in demand .
Friends, what about development? How promising, does it deserve attention? What are the pros and cons?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/195528/
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