Solar Technology - Ford C-Max and Fresnel Lens

[RonRelyea]

MaineSail ... here's one for you since I know you keep up with automotive electric vehicle advances. Ford just introduced a concept car that will use a carport-like fresnel lens to concentrate sunlight onto the roof of the parked vehicle.

I have thought about the concept of using a solar concentrator to overcome the limited real estate for solar collection on a boat. I always thought that the increase in heat would be an impediment.

It seems that Ford and Georgia Institute of Technology has overcome the obstacles.

So the questions are:
1) Is Ford using a different type of collector panel than what is in general use now?

2) It looks like the fresnel lens is movable and sun-tracking - do you foresee an application similar to this that would be designed for a boat?

 

[joker460]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...rd-recharge-batteries-WITHOUT-plugged-in.html

http://www.treehugger.com/solar-tec...nel-lenses-concentrate-sunlight-charging.html

Actually it looks like you park it under the Frensel Lens support structure and the car moves to get the best direct lighting.

Additionally, these Guys make the Panels:

http://us.sunpower.com/homes/products-services/solar-panels/

 

[Brian D]

My concern would be the light generated by the concentrated rings of the lens could be lethal. The other concern would be the heat generated by the concentration of light.

 

[Brian M H23]

Collectors work pretty well with solar cells, in grad school we experimented with 1x1 cm cells under a 1 meter !! round lens. Going from "carport" to "car" is not nearly so severe, probably a magnification of 2. Moving the car / angling the carport to get optimal sun all day is probably how they get the other 4X improvement to "8 times more efficient" than just the roof alone