Scientists have designed a metal frame that increases the amount of sunlight captured by a solar cell, enhancing its energy production by almost one-third. The simple, inexpensive and ingenious method could increase solar energy captured for people in developing countries, as well as remote regions that are off the grid, researchers said. “In Uganda, between 20 to 25 per cent of people have no access to electricity,” said Beth Parks, an associate professor at Colgate University in the US. “One solar cell supplies enough energy to power lights and charge cell phones and radios. This is a huge quality-of-life improvement,” said Parks.
While solar panels offer a clean source of renewable energy, they are typically
mounted on a fixed frame and only optimally oriented towards the sun during specific
hours of the day. Parks previously saw a design for a frame that would allow the
solar panel to track the sun using hanging weights. However, the design had not
been tested to see how it actually performed. Nor had it been optimised for
affordability to ensure commercial viability and adoption. Parks worked with students
at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda to design a frame
using metal tubing that a local welder could easily obtain and assemble.
“We have created a frame using inexpensive materials that allows the solar panels to
track the arc of the sun throughout the day,” Parks said. “This approach could make
solar energy more affordable to households and small businesses in the developing
world,” she said. In her design, a bucket of rocks is placed on the west side of the
frame and a bucket of water is placed on the east side. Using a controlled leak from
the water bucket, the weight shifts and the panel slowly rotates from east to west
throughout the day.
There are so many places and people who are still deprived of the electricity and this
is one of the most efficient and easy ways through which the natural resource can be
used in such way that it can make the life of people very much easier and also with
that, the major problem of electricity will be solved. Still there are many test and
works are being performed which are on-going to make it all this happen and so in
future people could use solar energy and also with that this will not affect much on
the pocket.
