describe electricity generating potentials for home use parabolic solar collector into smaller solar panel?

Question

I am trying to understand why a home made system of inexpensive parabolic mirrors linked into a smaller series of solar panels for home use is not available. I understand solar tracking issues but believe this could be overcome.

Answer 1

Focusing too much light onto a photo voltaic cell will damage it beyond repair...They melt
Its the same as focusing the suns rays with a magnifying glass to set fire to things.

Answer 2

Part of the problem is that a lot of sunlight is diffuse. Parabolic reflectors aren't nearly as efficient for diffuse light as they are for parallel rays.

You also need to be careful about the focal length of the parabola. With a short focal length, a solar panel will block a large fraction of the light that you want to fall on the reflector. But with a long focal length you end up with a large mechanical monster.

If you understand the solar tracking aspect, then consider heliostats aimed toward a stationary array.

Answer 3

a single panel probably not. High efficiency solar arrays such as the ones used in solar racing are also very expensive. The Kansas State University solar car's newest solar array cost a little over $300,000 to build, and was 3.5 meters of cell area with the ability to generate power at 1700 watts, which is enough to get the solar car beyond normal highway speeds, but with no additional power for driver comfort. Keep in mind, 1700 watts would be enough to power a computer (400W), a 10 13W CFL light bulbs (130W) and a microwave (1000W) with very little power to spare. Storage also tends to be an issue. Using the solar car again as an example, there is a 2.9kW lithium ion battery pack, which again was expensive at about $36000, and lithium ion batteries will explode is overheated and the gas released during battery failure is highly toxic. Most commercially available lithium ion batteries are far less efficient, although they are safer. Lead acid batteries, which are far more common are also somewhat expensive, and relatively inefficient. One other drawback of solar cells, and one of the major limitations of most commercially available arrays is a device known as a power tracker. Because every individual cell have a slightly different output, cells are wired in series to increase the voltage to a usable level, with strings wired in parallel to increase current output. The parallel cell sets are then matched with a device called a power tracker, which creates a usable "line voltage" which can be ran to the battery pack and power distribution system. Hope that cleared up a little about photovoltaic solar cells and their limitations.

Answer 4

Guide To Solar Power : http://SolarPower.siopu.com/?DNP