How the Solar Panel System Can Be Improved on the Spartan Superway

Last week the solar team and I decided to improve the design of the solar panel system on the Spartan Superway. The current design incorporates a tracking system, that tracks the position of the sun. The team and I realized that having a tracking system might be difficult to incorporate in the real world. We had to keep in mind the track would stretch for miles, and installing tracking systems would be too difficult. Also, we thought about the maintenance and other issues that might occur in the future.

Ron Swenson showed us a solar panel from last years solar team, that was flexible. We thought that if we are able to form a curve on the solar panel, we would not need a tracking system. All we had to do was design a mount that can support the panel as well as, easy to install. We learned that the flexible solar panel was not very efficient and further examination it looked that the flexible solar panel would be difficult to mount. The flexible solar panel had a protective layer, if the layer is breached water can destroy the solar panel.

I decided to consult Jaston Rivera, he was was a member of the solar team in the previous year. He told me to look into cylindrical solar panels. I researched a few cylindrical solar panels and the way they work is that instead of collecting sunlight in one direction, it collects light from all directions and even diffuse light. Tests show that cylindrical solar panels collect twenty percent more light, compared to a traditional flat panel. If we could find a way to incorporate cylindrical solar panels it will solve our tracking problem, as well as our efficiency problem. I still need to do more research on pricing between the two panels. The image to the right shows an example of cylindrical solar panel. I will still need to do further research to see if the diameter and length can be changed. Also, to see how efficiency is affected by the change in its dimensions.