13-Year-Old Boy Improves Solar Panel Efficiency 50%

[Diverse]

Was proven false. Step your game up Tomshardware, you're coming late to a lot of shows. No doubt that the kid is still pretty damn smart though.

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]amk-aka-phantom[/nom]If this really works, this is great. I'm not a fan of solar panels since they're expensive, inefficient and ugly (I'm for nuclear energy), but this is one observant kid. We just talked about Fibonacci sequence with a friend a week ago and it's amazing how nature uses it everywhere. Looks like we can, too.Somehow thought the same, too Still, Fibonacci sequence is amazing.[/citation]

i dont support current nuclear technology , nuclear fission is dnagerous , expensive , and generally a bad ideal in many ares (don't have to look further than japan for an example).

not to forget nuclear fission reactors do create radioactive waste products , spent fuel rods , and irradiated cooling lquid (usualy water).

now if we ever got Cold Fussion working that i'd support that. since it produces no waste , and ther is no danger of an atomic blast if it destabilizes. but currently cold fussion is out of our technological grasp , even hot fussion reactors can only be kept stable for about 4 seconds right now so hot fussion is not even an option at this time either.

 

[christop]

Good job!!!

 

[therogerwilco]

Ya, before even seeing the answers been proven wrong my first thought was "how can a static non-moving solar panel even come close to comparing the output and efficiency of a solar panel that moves to always keep the collective side facing the sun".
And that logic I didn't even have to look at anything.
😀 I deserve an award!! Hell, I deserve a grant for not even going to college!! Yay!

 

[shanky887614]

not really worth the extra cost, a 4kw system costs arround £15,000

that is with attaching to roof with brackets, if you use this then it would cost a lot more

besides it wont help a whole lot, just get your panels on a moving platform and you will get much higher eficency


epecially if you automate it to move at certain times

 

[therogerwilco]

[citation][nom]Diverse[/nom]Was proven false. Step your game up Tomshardware, you're coming late to a lot of shows. No doubt that the kid is still pretty damn smart though.[/citation]
If he was smart, he would have checked his math first...

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]DonnieK[/nom]Hey all, if you'd like to read more about why this clever boy's experiment was flawed in its setup and conclusion, read more here:http/www.smartplanet.com/blog/th [...] -work/8261Summary: he measure voltage rather than power, and used an open circuit with no load on it. An open circuit voltage increase doesn't actually mean more power produced. His design would have a slight advantage in the morning and in the evening, but in mid-day, a conventional point-at-the-sun solar panel setup would overtake any of the early day gains.[/citation]


perhaps so , but the power excess in the morning and evening could be shunted to a battery system . i watched some shows where several state university teams made conventional soloar panneled houses . each team used baterries to dump power into so the house could be powered at night. the booste to power output in morning and evening , woudl still provide a huge boost over a 14% cosntant efficency (which isnt constant it's self ) point being this could work.

 

[Guest]

Uhh, yeah, not only is the original story old news by now, but the follow up correction showing that the original was wrong is also old news by now. Way to keep on top of things.

 

[Ciuy]

best news i read this year

 

[eklipz330]

whoa... i was walking through my neighborhood just a few days back, thinking how long in the future will it before we saw trees made of solar panels

but i also thought if we were to ever find an H2O alternative...lol

 

[aliened]

I'm glad for him, hope he keeps up with the good work.

 

[ram1009]

It's hard to believe the people involved here don't know the difference between current and voltage.

 

[Guest]

Totally debunked. Not true, not remotely true. No scientifc process or testing. There is no measure of Current, just Voltage. If you take solar panels that are perpendicular to the sun and change the angle, you can only get less efficient, not more. No science here folks, just a cute kid....move along.

 

[del35]

He created a tree-like stand for solar panels and attached them in a Fibonacci-like manner

It would be nice to see a picture of what he did. I don't think all trees have leaves arrange in a Fibonacci like patter.

A Fibonacci arrangement: http/britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/fibslide/fibanim3.gif

 

[11796pcs]

I feel really stupid... good job!

 

[del35]

I suspect perhaps arranging the panels in a leave like manner as if in a tree could lead to the same result, without using the Fibonacci sequence. Sorry, but not all trees have leaves growing in a Fibonacci pattern.

 

[BSMonitor]

First of all, where did the Fibonacci sequence fit into a tree's growth? What kind of tree? The placement of the leaves? The number of leaves per branch? Trees grow to get the most exposure to the sun possible, true, but not by some mathematical sequence?!!? If this were true, trees of the same age and type would look the same?!

Tying solar panels to trees with the Fibonacci sequence itself is TOTAL BS. Let alone the rest of this story.

 

[gti88]

I can imagine an article tomorrow: "6yo girl writes news for Tomshardware!"

 

[Guest]

@gti88

actually it should read, 6 year old girl discovers that if you group letters together in a predetermine pattern you can write an article, offered a job at Tomshardware

 

[Kami3k]

So the only time Tom's reports on a kid doing something, and not an adult actually doing it, they still did nothing in the end.