SOLAR PANEL

The last meeting on September 9th 2015, the topic of placement came up. Placement on the bogie is a huge issue because the lack efficiency in solar panels. Even with maximum exposure of the sun, the solar panels on the bogie are inefficient. From my last post, the highest efficiency a commercial grade solar panel can receive is up to 20%. A possible solution was brought up involving cylindrical solar panels that are able to save more space and absorb more. I find this solution more feasible towards placement but it does not solve the inefficiency of the solar panels. The problem is that the solar panel technology is not advance to provide enough efficiency without jeopardizing space allocated for placement.

You can interrelate this problem to the history of processors. In the semiconductor field for processors, engineers and physicist follow Moore's law. Moore's law is a guide to long term planning and target development. Intel executive David House, predicted the chip performance would double every 18 months due to the combination effect of more transistors. Currently, the rise of transistors and speed of processors have grown exponentially and will continue to grow. I believe the same can be achieved in solar panel technology.

Having to be part of the 1/12th power team, I believe an alternate solution for solar harvesting is from a electrical charge station for the bogie. On the 1/12 scale, there will be a charging block at a station and it will be connected to multiple solar panels. The solar panels will be able to charge the battery pack that is already implemented on the current design.

The drawing is just a simple ideal sketch of how the charging block will be connected.