They can better concentrate sun's rays
By Nicoles Arbor • June 2nd, 2008 in 22:41 · Category: Actuality
Reduce by a factor 10 the number of cells used in the photovoltaic concentrators (CPV), here is the small revolution offered by the engineers of IBM. Secret: link photovoltaic technology and computer technology. The principle of functioning of CPV is simple: the more light is concentrated on the cell, the more produced electrical power is important. By capturing 230 watts of energy by square centimetre, the team taken by the doctor Supratik Guha so succeeded in producing 70 watts of useful energy, that is about five times more than a classical photovoltaic cell. But the main problem of this technology domiciles in the incredible quantity of clear heat. The scientists then had the idea of using a system of very competitive cooling developed at origin for microprocessors: the liquid metal. The thermal properties of this fluid, a composite gallium-indium, allowed them to get the temperature of a photovoltaic cell of 1 600 °C in only 85 °C! The use of this technique should finally allow to reduce considerably the cost and the complexity of the next solar installations.
Picture: The device invented by Supratik Guha © IBM
Article read 754 times. Tags:énergie, solar energy
Comments in 