Table of Contents
History.
French physicist Edmond Becquerel discovered a solar cell in 1839. While experimenting, he noticed that when this cell was exposed to solar produces more electricity. With time many of the scientists developed solar cells. American inventor Charles Fritz who created the first working model with selenium solar cell. Instead of selenium, today we are using silicon in the cell of a modern solar panel. In 1905, Albert Einstein published one paper & gave information to the world regarding solar energy & its potential. Conventional solar & solar windows are the latest technologies in the 21st century.
What is conventional solar panel technology?
A conventional solar panel system is widely used because of its low cost & good efficiency. A conventional solar system having a high efficiency of 12% because all sun rays falling on them are getting absorbed. Today in most of the homes, farms, buildings, stadiums use conventional solar panels for electricity generation.
It is divided into monocrystalline, Polycrystalline & Thin-film solar panels.
| Monocrystalline | Polycrystalline | Thin-film | |
| Efficiency | High | Low | Lowest |
| Cost | Very Expensive | Cheap | Average |
What are partially transparent solar panels?
A partially transparent solar panel first developed by a German company, Heliatek GmbH which can absorb 60% of the sunrays it receives. Partial transparent solar panel system having lower efficiency at 7.2% as compared to the conventional solar system having 12%. In the conventional solar panel system, almost all the sun rays falling on the panel are getting absorbed. But in the partial solar panel system, only 60% of the sun rays are absorbed by the panel & the remaining 40% are getting transmitted. In the south-facing glass buildings, partial transparent solar windows work more efficiently as compared to the other system.
What are fully transparent solar panels?
After reading the above heading, it looks like I am watching a dream & generating electricity with a transparent window. But it is not a dream, it’s a reality. Now technology is developed where sun rays falling on the window get transpired & electricity gets generated.
Name suggesting that, these solar panels generate electricity from windows of homes, offices, sunroof of cars, etc. In 2014, scientists of Michigan State University invented the first fully transparent solar concentrator. Because of this technology, any window or glass can be turned into the solar cell.
Also, the researcher used organic salt to get absorbed specific wavelengths of rays like Ultraviolet rays. These rays are getting transferred to the edge of the glass due to glass material where photovoltaic solar cell strips convert these rays into electricity.
The efficiency of the fully transparent solar panel is 1%, which is quite low as compared to the efficiencies of the partial & conventional solar panels. But it is in ongoing research on fully transparent solar panels. Solar vision window tinting can improve the efficiency of solar windows used for cars, homes, commercial & industries.
In upcoming years, these transparent solar panels will achieve good efficiency & can replace conventional large windows or facades of the building into the transparent solar power windows.
Top solar window company & solar tinting.
What are solar blinds?
SolarGaps introduced this innovative idea of Solar Blinds. For 10 square feet of the window, solar-blind can generate 100 watts of electricity and can charge 3 laptops. The company has developed an application where you can adjust the angle of the panels, or it can optimize the desired angle as per the position of the sun. Solar blinds give you the advantage of electricity generation with sunrays coming inside your house.