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

[phate]

Grrr hate to be that guy but FUSION people, wtf is fusSion?

 

[dragonic2020]

Now he can sue anybody who tries to copy his design!

 

[Guest]

From an evolutionary standpoint, trees are not trying to maximize their efficiency, but rather make best use of their resources to make the next generation of trees. In almost all plant ecosystems, energy is NOT the limiting resource, nutrients are. Plants are 1% or so efficient in light-to-sugar conversion. The understory of a jungle might only get 3% of the light that hits the top, but plants can still survive on the forest floor. The use of growth patterns that can be modeled by the Fibinocci sequence is the outcome of many complex and interrelated adaptations, and like all of evolution is somewhat of a compromise.
So, such an approach is wishful thinking. As others have posted, it has been debunked already.

 

[Guest]

@Scuba Dave

...... the kid was awarded a mathematically derived patent (the application of Fibonacci Series for positioning of solar panels in a vertical structure, now if you want to apply 'prior art' to that you would notice there are no man made vertical structure that has solar panels arranged in a Fibonacci Series, a tree does not count as 'prior art'), Apple's patents are purely aesthetics based, so Samsung can happily claim it looks like 'prior art', this patent is not about looks it's about maths

and yes the kid has some smarts, but the big problem is that he did not add anything big to the overall equation, this thing will not revolutionized solar power (as the title suggest) in fact it may even detract and add fuel for the anti-conservationist movement who will use it to say even with technology that improves solar harvesting by 50%, it is still feebly insufficient

 

[norlock]

[citation][nom]demonhorde665[/nom]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.[/citation]Okay, after years of reading Tom's Hardware, it was your post that made me get so upset I had to register, so there's that. Anyway... you seriously think a nuclear reactor will trigger an atomic EXPLOSION? Do you even understand how they work? To actually detonate, the critical mass would have to be intentionally exploded.

 

[shin0bi272]

LOL its funny to look at how the environmentalists jump through their ass about how great this is when its a math trick. You take twice as many panels that are arranged in a manner that resembles a tree and lo and behold twice as many panels makes twice as much electricity !! :-o But when you put a headline on the article that he increased the efficiency 50% the greenies take it as gospel and start claiming that we should all power our homes from solar panel trees in our backyard. It just makes me laugh to watch them get so excited over another lie about the environment.

 

[The_Trutherizer]

bravo

 

[pepe2907]

Complete BS. It may improve against bad placed stationary solar cell panels, but not against aiming. His "tree" has more solar cells, 3 more as i saw by photos /on another source/, compared to the control stationary block. And why I don't see any Fibonacci sequence in this "tree"?
It's how a pseudoscience is made and then media multiplies it.

 

[ProDigit10]

It'd be much better if they would all be placed on a rotating surface, pointing straight towards the sun rays!
That way solar panels could run most optimally all the time of the day!

 

[scuba dave]

[citation][nom]InsufficientApplication[/nom]@Scuba Dave...... the kid was awarded a mathematically derived patent (the application of Fibonacci Series for positioning of solar panels in a vertical structure, now if you want to apply 'prior art' to that you would notice there are no man made vertical structure that has solar panels arranged in a Fibonacci Series, a tree does not count as 'prior art'), Apple's patents are purely aesthetics based, so Samsung can happily claim it looks like 'prior art', this patent is not about looks it's about mathsand yes the kid has some smarts, but the big problem is that he did not add anything big to the overall equation, this thing will not revolutionized solar power (as the title suggest) in fact it may even detract and add fuel for the anti-conservationist movement who will use it to say even with technology that improves solar harvesting by 50%, it is still feebly insufficient[/citation]


......If Samsung were to win with it's "defense" I could reasonably expect to be able to ilvalidate his patent by showing off pictures of trees, drawn by man, or showing CGI models of trees, built by man beforehand, showing the "basic design" isn't new. As per his solar panel usage, I'm sure I could also find an old pic, or clip, of something basically similar.. As I said, Samsung's defense, redic. No need to bring Apple into this.

As per the kid... I didn't say he was right, or that he did anything here of value. He DID however try to use his time to help and reinvent something, which ultimately could have helped the world. That is something to be commended. You however, focus on how he was wrong. Good job bro. Way to prove your (un)worth.

 

[Guest]

"...he put two and two together...." Didn't he put one and one together? Or one and two?

 

[Guest]

he was amazed by patterns he saw in the trees and realized that these pattern resembled the Fibonacci sequence (0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21...etc).


what.

 

[Guest]

Man, a lot of you people dissing this kid are complete morons.

Trees are EXPERTS at gathering light. MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of years of evolution at work. It was well-known that the fibonacci sequence represented leaf structure, if you studied CS you would know this instead of shouting your idiocy from the rooftops. You're only jealous you didn't think of it first. I know I am. This is a brilliant deductive leap and it seems so simple in hindsight. The brilliant inductive step he took was to put two and two together and yes, he deserves millions for that, especially since it will help mankind so tremendously. Although I doubt there will be patents that can be enforcable. Just buy some flat bendy sheets when they become available and make your own tree. Simple.

Another point many of you dimwits seem to be missing about the efficiency gain is that planting your solar panel tree, using the same square footage of panel material that you might otherwise have on a single plane, requires no setup, repositioning, motor control afterwards. It just works. All the time. Yes, the kid is a genius, unlike many of the posters here.

 

[Guest]

The kid probably was asking his dad why there are more leaves at the bottom of the tree than at the top ... "Well son, that is because of the Fibonacci sequence ... DUH" ... "Thanks dad, I will patent that".

Does every single tree in the world have leaves based on Fibonacci sequence? Or was it based on a game he was playing?