Get the latest tech news

Thermoelectric Solar Panel

Of all available sources of energy on earth, the light of the sun is the most ubiquitous; however, as a source of heat it is somewhat difficult to utilize due to its diffuse nature. Direct sunlight provides roughly a kilowatt of power to every square meter of an illuminated surface, but without some method of containing this energy, the vast majority of it is either reflected, carried away by convection, or re-emitted as infrared radiation.

Direct sunlight provides roughly a kilowatt of power to every square meter of an illuminated surface, but without some method of containing this energy, the vast majority of it is either reflected, carried away by convection, or re-emitted as infrared radiation. Fundamentally, this consists of a blackened plate of metal centered inside of a sealed enclosure (to limit conduction and convection losses) with a pane of glass on the sun-facing side (to admit visible light and contain infrared re-emission). Overall I am happy with the results of this project, as it serves to decouple solar electricity from the necessity of semiconductors; however, since the limitations of thermoelectric materials have now become fairly apparent, I plan to move on to other fields of experimentation for the time being.

Get the Android app