Many wireless devices currently work on solar energy (photovoltaic = PV). Often the choice for PV cells seems merely to be based on the green image. Yet this technology can be used far more effectively if the elements from the energy chain are energetically matched in a more intelligent manner. Energy matching is the key word here, says Dutch researcher Sioe Yao Kan.
Kan limited his research to the PV cells and the energy storage media. In other words: the batteries and condensers in which the solar energy is stored. He developed the so-called ‘Figure of Matching’ algorithm to analyse and quantify the matching between these elements from the 'energy chain' at the interfaces between the elements.
In an 'interface' it is, for example, possible to match the interaction between a light source and a PV cell. With Kan's algorithm the best combination can be sought between the light source and the solar cell or the solar cell and the battery. For example a device that is only used indoors needs a different type of PV cell than one that is used outdoors in bright sunlight. In addition with correct energy matching devices can store more energy and the stored energy can be used more efficiently.
Thanks to Kan's research, industrial designers who want to produce wireless consumer products with solar cells, now have a better insight into how they can match different components from the energy chain for the best energetic result. In his PhD thesis Kan has stated the conditions under which they can apply his newly-developed Energy Matching Model and the associated Figure of Matching when designing PV-powered products. With this he has provided the basis for design improvements of PV products and for design rules for sustainable PV-based product development. Consumers will benefit from this because the products they buy will work more efficiently and be better suited to their use.
Kan tested several PV-powered devices such as PV chargers and PDAs. His tests involved the use of simulations generated by the specially-developed computer program PowerQuest. The program calculates the PV capacity necessary for the use of specific devices. It can also do the opposite, namely, if the energy demand is known it can calculate the PV surface required. The program is now being made suitable for use by designers.
The doctoral research 'Energy Matching: Key towards the design of Sustainable PV powered products’ was part of the programme Syn-Energy funded by the NWO/SenterNovem Stimulation Programme Energy research.
Source: NWO
Related stories:
Promising new material that could improve gas mileage
With gasoline at high prices, it's disheartening to know that up to three-quarters of the potential energy you are paying for is wasted. A good deal of it goes right out the tailpipe instead of powering your car.
Researchers and students to develop small CubeSat satellites
A satellite about the size of a loaf of bread will be designed and built at the University of Michigan and deployed to study space weather, thanks to a new grant from the National Science Foundation.
New carbon nanomaterial shows promise of storing large quantities of renewable electrical energy
Engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have achieved a breakthrough in the use of a one-atom thick structure called "graphene" as a new carbon-based material for storing electrical charge in ultracapacitor devices, perhaps paving the way for the massive installation of renewable energies such as wind and solar power.
Butterfly wings may help scientists better understand photonic crystals
As technology moves forward, many scientists are looking to nature to find inspiration for the development of advanced materials that can have a variety of practical applications.
Scientists grow 'nanonets' able to snare added energy transfer
Using two abundant and relatively inexpensive elements, Boston College chemists have produced nanonets, a flexible webbing of nano-scale wires that multiplies surface area critical to improving the performance of the wires in electronics and energy applications.
Understanding the science of solar-based energy: more researchers are better than one
View a
video of MIT scientists explaining how they recently discovered a catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water.
Flexible nanoantenna arrays capture abundant solar energy
Researchers have devised an inexpensive way to produce plastic sheets containing billions of nanoantennas that collect heat energy generated by the sun and other sources. The technology, developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, is the first step toward a solar energy collector that could be mass-produced on flexible materials.
'Small' research at MSU leads to advances in energy, electronics
A Michigan State University researcher and his students have developed a nanomaterial that makes plastic stiffer, lighter and stronger and could result in more fuel-efficient airplanes and cars as well as more durable medical and sports equipment.