Optimize power generation through solar panels It has been the subject of study for a long time. In Ecuador, three students have presented a prototype that offers an interesting and quite curious approach. They have created a sort of magnifying glass that allows the sun’s rays to be concentrated and intensified on a panel, in order to make it more efficient. Is called Energy Balland the peculiar thing is that only water and a recycled plastic bottle have been used to develop it.
This particular solution was born in the Yachay Experimental Technology Research Universitywhich is popularly known as Yachay Tech. The creators of the Energy Ball They are three young people who are studying different careers in that establishment, but who have come together under the same objective: to make energy generation through solar panels more efficient. And the purpose has an even nobler motivation, since, in the future, its intention is that the technology serve to bring electricity to the most remote rural areas of Ecuadorian territory.
The students behind the Energy Ball They are Dalena León (Physics), Emilia Iglesias (Chemistry) and Ronny Velastegui (Information Technology). What they did was reuse a plastic bottle, give it a spherical shape and fill it with water. They then mounted it on a wooden stand, with a small flexible solar panel underneath.
It may not seem like much at first, but the young inventors sought to show that, at least on a small scale, it is possible to optimize the performance of electricity generation with solar panels. In fact, they claim that the Energy Ball It is capable of providing enough power to charge a mobile phone battery or turn on a light bulb.
A low-cost invention to improve electricity generation with solar panels
As explained by the Yachay Tech students, solar panels achieve their optimal performance when they receive sunlight at a 90 degree angle. However, since this does not happen in the course of a whole day, the opportunity to get the most out of this type of facility dedicated to the generation of clean energy is lost.
The Energy Ballthey explain, focuses the sun’s rays on a specific point on the panel, no matter what angle they enter the sphere from. This, in turn, makes the captured light more intense. The ideologues of this project indicated that, with this kind of magnifying glass, they seek to improve the operation of solar panels without the need to modify them. During their experiments, they managed to increase the efficiency of the plate used by up to 40%.
The concept is not new, certainly. Last year, research from Stanford University was released that aimed to obtain a similar result, but with a different method. This does not detract from the Ecuadorian effort, which offers an alternative approach to eliminate the biggest problem of solar panels.
We have made it clear that the aspirations of the creators of the device are very interesting. Optimize the generation of energy from solar panels using only a plastic sphere with water, could be vital to bring electricity to remote rural areas of Ecuador. Or from any other part of the world, even. However, it is still unknown how the prototype could be adapted to work on a larger scale.
It is clear that we are dealing with an initial design that, although rudimentary, may be the starting point for finding a low-cost method that optimizes the generation of electrical energy through the sun. The initiative still leaves several questions to be resolved, especially about its scalability. Still, it’s a very promising first idea, and one that even offers an interesting approach to reusing plastics that would otherwise end up in the trash.