In the past what some have done is install motorized assemblies to allow these panels to track the Sunday.
In fact, the study says, “As a result, residential, pitched rooftop systems, which account for ~85% of installations, lack conventional tracking options entirely”.
A team of engineers, researchers, and an artist came together to develop an array of small solar cells contained within a larger panel, with the ability to tilt inside.
Max Shtein, associate professor of materials science and engineering said, “The beauty of our design is, from the standpoint of the person who’s putting this panel up, nothing would really change”. “However inside, it will be doing one thing exceptional on a tiny scale: the photo voltaic cell would cut up into tiny segments that may comply with the place of the solar in unison”.
A flat plastic sheet backing the solar cells splits into wavy, connected ribbons when stretched, creating an ultra-efficient solar cell. Kirigami strips take care of this problem by being able to stretch and follow the contours of the sun’s path. The design proposed would shelter the delicate gallium arsenide strips between two surfaces, much like triple-paned windows, and the panels themselves would need to be larger than traditional ones, to accommodate the stretch. They designed an array that tilts and open up further, spreading apart to the sun’s rays at lower angles, thereby raising the area of the panels “seen” by the sun to soak up more sunlight.
The design created by Lamoureax and Shlian offers a solution to this dilemma; instead of moving the entire panel, the solar cells within it move to track the Sunday. This new breakthrough could lead to solar cells that “have it both ways”. Lamoureux then made more precise patterns in Kapton, a space-grade plastic, using a carbon-dioxide laser. He says that although the approach is best suited for thin, flexible materials, in principle it could work with “almost any kind of solar cell”. The unique design isn’t just more efficient than flat solar panels, but perhaps more attractive as well. The team’s simulations have shown that the kirigami cells are, overall, as effective as traditional sun tracking arrays; the panels were 36 percent more effective than stationary models. Those conventional trackers are too bulky for use in some instances.
“We think it has significant potential, and we’re actively pursuing realistic applications”, Shtein added. Today’s tracking systems, featured in only a small portion of the world’s solar power installations, are cumbersome and can be costly. The University has now applied for a patent and is seeking private investment to bring the technology to market.