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Origami-Inspired Folded Solar Panels Could Increase Efficiency

by Caleb Johnson on February 26, 2010 at 08:28 AM

Up to this point, the design of solar panels has been primarily a 2-D affair. But now, some scientists say that "folding" these flat panels into a 3-D design, like origami, could provide more efficient solar power.

According to LiveScience, 3-D panels could absorb more light and create more energy because the light that's usually reflected off a flat panel would be caught and absorbed by another panel. To test this idea, MIT theoretical physicist Jeffrey Grossman and his team used a computer simulation that randomly generated triangular 3-D solar panels. As a virtual sun moved across the sky, the simulation adjusted and determined which shapes absorbed the most light. Eventually, the program came up with a cluster of 64 triangular panels.

In the test, researchers found that flat panels created about 50 kilowatts-per-hour of electricity in a day, while the 33-foot-tall 3-D panels could improve generation by over 100-percent. You might think the design specifications would limit the places these panels could be used. Grossman did, too, at first. "Lately, though, we have been exploring more and more directions for ideas that may make 3-D structures more appealing than flat panels even when area is not limited," he said. Another addition: multiple angles could absorb light from multiple sources, meaning sunlight doesn't need to be direct for the concept to work. [From: Live Science]

Tags: 3d, energy, green, mit, origami, research, solar, solar power, solarpanels, top

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