paint on, self repairing solar panels

[Sleddgracer]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-...ells-1.5141820

[HazMatt]

That is too cool!
Thanx for sharing.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by haz.matt.1960

That is too cool!
Thanx for sharing.

needs work, but I was picturing painting my bus with a solar panel and being able to pick up power from any direction at any time of the day, and save a bunch of installation and labour costs - you have to paint your bus and add solar panels now - in the future, solar panel paint will the the thing in vogue

[o1marc]

Except for the fact they can't handle air or rain kind of makes them useless for our app until they figure that out.

[HazMatt]

So long as you boondock in an arid vacuum, it should ought work just fine!

Originally Posted by o1marc

Except for the fact they can't handle air or rain kind of makes them useless for our app until they figure that out.

Work in progress. The limitations have been delineated, all's left is finding the work-around.
Time was when a computer was larger than your bus. Now we have more processing power in the palm of our hands...

[Iceni John]

When I see the word "Vision" and phrases like "she aims to perfect the molecular recipe of her hybrid material over the next few years", that makes me think this is little more than pie in the sky. Maybe it will eventually happen, but in the meanwhile there's good ol' tried-and-trusted PV technology right now that works. Besides, why would anyone want to be the guineapig for some untrusted new invention - at the least, wait until the bugs are ironed out and it actually works. I have 2kW of PV on my bus roof now, so I'm not hugely impressed by claims such as in the article.

John

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by Iceni John

When I see the word "Vision" and phrases like "she aims to perfect the molecular recipe of her hybrid material over the next few years", that makes me think this is little more than pie in the sky. Maybe it will eventually happen, but in the meanwhile there's good ol' tried-and-trusted PV technology right now that works. Besides, why would anyone want to be the guineapig for some untrusted new invention - at the least, wait until the bugs are ironed out and it actually works. I have 2kW of PV on my bus roof now, so I'm not hugely impressed by claims such as in the article.

John

once it's perfected it will be like the comparison of the micro chip to the vacuum tube when compared to today's solar panels - the application could be used anywhere - I picture it will be priced so anyone can afford to buy it - I'm not ready to buy it, but I hope it fulfills it's promise

[gs1949]

That is extremely interesting, but I still plan on buying regular PV panels soon. In part because I have difficulty believing this will ever be allowed to hit the market.

In the early 1980s, there was a vocational school student, Canadian if I remember correctly but I'm not sure, who came up with a very interesting idea. Plastic is as weak as it is because the molecules are not aligned, just a jumbled mess. So, with the help of his instructor, this student designed a machine to align the molecules using vibration and magnetism as the warm plastic was extruded.

They were granted a patent after demonstrating they could make beams from recycled plastic that had the strength of steel and the flexibility of wood. They thought their product would change the world, so they wanted it developed properly. This meant doing lots of research to find a way to fireproof the beams without losing strength, research which the two partners could not afford. So they sold the patent to a corporation with large investments in the forest industry, and that was the end of that.

I have never read a single thing about plastic beams after that. I figure this paint on solar stuff will suffer the same fate.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by gs1949

That is extremely interesting, but I still plan on buying regular PV panels soon. In part because I have difficulty believing this will ever be allowed to hit the market.

In the early 1980s, there was a vocational school student, Canadian if I remember correctly but I'm not sure, who came up with a very interesting idea. Plastic is as weak as it is because the molecules are not aligned, just a jumbled mess. So, with the help of his instructor, this student designed a machine to align the molecules using vibration and magnetism as the warm plastic was extruded.

They were granted a patent after demonstrating they could make beams from recycled plastic that had the strength of steel and the flexibility of wood. They thought their product would change the world, so they wanted it developed properly. This meant doing lots of research to find a way to fireproof the beams without losing strength, research which the two partners could not afford. So they sold the patent to a corporation with large investments in the forest industry, and that was the end of that.

I have never read a single thing about plastic beams after that. I figure this paint on solar stuff will suffer the same fate.

lets hope not - people are becoming so aware that they can 'save the planet' and don't need Big Brother controlling their lives to survive, that interest in items like this generate immense interest - a corporation that killed it might killed off in the aftermath of angry people boycotting their products

[gs1949]

You're right, and I am a little more hopeful than I used to be, but still using the case of the plastic extrusion machine patents as an example, the inventors signed a non-disclosure agreement so they could not even identify the buyer. The article I read simply referred to the corporation in general terms, and then as far as I can tell the topic disappeared from the public consciousness.

Even today, I think most corporations can always be counted on to do what is in their best interest rather than in the interests of society at large. That's not as easy for them as it used to be, but they still try. Just look at Farcebook, Goofle, and all that sort.

I'm aware I'm off-topic. I will try to quit now.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by gs1949

You're right, and I am a little more hopeful than I used to be, but still using the case of the plastic extrusion machine patents as an example, the inventors signed a non-disclosure agreement so they could not even identify the buyer. The article I read simply referred to the corporation in general terms, and then as far as I can tell the topic disappeared from the public consciousness.

Even today, I think most corporations can always be counted on to do what is in their best interest rather than in the interests of society at large. That's not as easy for them as it used to be, but they still try. Just look at Farcebook, Goofle, and all that sort.

I'm aware I'm off-topic. I will try to quit now.

on topic enough - always room for comments that make think or laugh