13-Year-Old Makes Solar Power Breakthrough by Harnessing the Fibonacci Sequence

Man has always tried to outdo nature instead of working with it, and each time man has lost. A child saw that patterns in nature aren't there out of coincidence, that they have purpose, even if we cannot immediately grasp what it is. I hope everyone learns something from this boy, aside from how often we overlook the brilliance of children.

reply to post by wavemaker


gives a bit more creadance to "And a child shall lead them"! now if we can just get these 7th graders into politics we might just have a shot at a fair and representative government! I have to say koodos to these kids of today for thinking outside the box while there are so many strikes against them and with them being called the dumbest generation to date! maybe the dumbest of our world with the biggest of hearts and hopes is the answer to all the worlds woes!

Aww man, I was totally just about to put a patent on that, but mine used marijuana plants Are we allowed to say marijuana plant?

Yes this is a good idea.I have been trying different methods myself.I have gotten the best results by using reflectors instead of more panels.This cuts down on cost and maintenance.A panel centered with sun tracking reflectors beaming much light to the panel.The heat produced is an energy source in itself exceeding 500 degrees.

The whole thing looks like a confused science project to me. He never measured power output, all he measured is open circuit voltage.

reply to post by Richardus

O yeah great; let's load all the trees everywhere with solar panels! Should look fun next to the fields filled with wind turbines! Or let's alternate fields with the turbines with fields filled with artificial solar panel trees!

Well, the way our climate is changing, eventually there may not be any more real trees left. So we can put up a bunch of solar cell trees and make them look like real trees.

But the design is based on the use of biomimicry. He doesn't actually propose to hang solar panels in trees.

reply to post by die_another_day

Looking at all the "WoW Nature is Amazing" posts make me think how many of you actually learned about photosynthesis efficiency. Only 3% of light that reaches the chloroplast is absorbed. That amount isn't bad, and it's higher than most synthetic processes, but it is no were near "WOW."

The efficiency of the photosynthesis process is independent of the architecture of the plant. The plant's architecture is constructed such that each photosynthetic "processor" has equal access to that sunlight. The Fibonacci sequence comes into play because it describes the most efficient way of arranging those "processors."

The Aidan Dwyer design, presumably, applies that architecture to distribute the positioning of individual solar cells in such a manner as to maximize the amount of energy that each of those cells can produce.

reply to post by deadeyedick

Yes this is a good idea.I have been trying different methods myself.I have gotten the best results by using reflectors instead of more panels.This cuts down on cost and maintenance.A panel centered with sun tracking reflectors beaming much light to the panel.The heat produced is an energy source in itself exceeding 500 degrees.

It seems that if you use some type of heat exchanger to capture that heat and simultaneously cool down the PVs, you should be able to increase the efficiency of those cells. That would increase the power output as well.

reply to post by gixxerblade

The whole thing looks like a confused science project to me. He never measured power output, all he measured is open circuit voltage.

I have to agree with you on that one. It is a bit confused from what I can tell, at least what's portrayed in the article. But he's a 13 year old kid. And it does have the feel of a project that a 13 year old would complete on his own. It would be interesting to hear him discuss his project. That would be the best indicator of whether he did the project himself.

As far as measuring open circuit voltage, you are also correct. It's really a shame that he didn't turn the knob on his DVM to the DC current setting to get the closed circuit current. The closed circuit current provides a much better indicator of the effect of changing luminance on power generation. However, the deltas he measured in the voltage are significant enough to show that there was a difference in luminance.

To really test his design, he would have to provide a controlled environment with a relatively stable temperature range and illumination. He would have to verify that the what he refers to as the "standard design" is oriented to produce the best possible results. And he would need to repeat the test several times, making measurements several times a day.

reply to post by DexterRiley


take a look at this, seems to fit the bill nicely multiferroic alloy allegedly it can efficiently change heat into electricity.

Originally posted by Cryptonomicon
I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but that kid's design is flawed. The reason the "tree" did better was because it has twice as many PV solar cells. Just look at this picture: aidan_large_08.jpg

The flat panel has 10 PV cells, and the Tree has 20.

The kid should get the Al Gore award for fake Science.

edit on 8/19/2011 by Cryptonomicon because: (no reason given)

And the reason for only 20-50% additional energy, is because the solar panels are not all directed in the same direction. I guess this is also what is being referred to. By making a tree, you always have a panel pointing towards the sun, while you have to the flat panel motorized for the same purpose.

I'm not so sure how original this idea is though - it looks very similar to some concept ideas of Stefano Mancusco.
BUT, it is nice to hear that someone else is thinking about the intelligent ways that plants have solved problems, and how it can be applied to human technology problems - I mean, really, especially where solar power is concerned!

Originally posted by DexterRiley
***snip***
Given that the amount of energy that can be generated from a solar cell is directly related to its angle with respect to the sun, if that relationship is linear, then there would be no additional efficiency gained by using the solar array "tree" over a static solar array panel. In fact it would probably be less efficient. However, that relationship is nonlinear and the amount of power generated by the solar cell falls off quickly with an increasing incident angle. This webpage provides a formula that indicates that the solar array power varies as a constant raised to the power of the secant of the sun's incident angle with respect to the solar array. So, at certain times of the day, a few properly oriented "tree" solar cells could potentially provide more power than an entire array of fixed solar cells.

***snip***

You hit it right on the button.

Fibunacci has nothing to do with it. What the kid has found is that like trees you gain by distributing the solar cells so that you always get result as the sun passes over the sky.

But of course - Fibunacci gives it a touch of alternative science to it doesn't it?
And as with Al Gores "great film" an untruth told enough times becomes truth. Fibunacci sequences isn't that abundant in nature as some would like to pretend.

Good for him.
The best arrangement, of course, is for the solar panels to track the sun, i.e. they move.
Trees can't do this so they have the leaves pseudo-randomly place for optimum reception, i.e. 30% vertical & South East (depending on where you live).
That's being done already, yet another idea that i should have patented

reply to post by wavemaker


Let us pray that gatekeeping joos running the patent office will buy this patent and shelf it next to GM 1999 electric car and those 100yr light bulbs and JFK's brain.

i think I've had an idea about how to have panels that track the sun, without using motors.

thinking about human limbs - they have muscles in opposing pairs, as one contracts the other expands. I'm sure there are materials that contract or expand due to heat, so a set up of several muscles, as each one is in the sun it heats up and expands, which moves the panel round slightly, as the sun moves, different 'muscles' are in the sun, and expand, or in the shade, and contract, which keeps the panel facing the sun (this would require some very complicated work to ensure that the muscles contract, or expand are in the right place, etc) - this 'tree' would then have several panels that track the sun, without using up any of the energy created.

neat idea huh?

His 'discovery' has been debunked. The kid is an idiot, nobody bothered to do a peer review study before giving him some reward. www.theatlanticwire.com...

It's been debunked as junk science. So stop praising this kid he doesn't deserve it.

Originally posted by TDawgRex
reply to post by newcovenant

 

OK, I'll bite. What does political ideology have to do with solar arrays and the sometimes brilliant thinking of children?

But I do agree that it is how we raise our children, to be more observant, and to use their minds that are the key to the future.

Not all will be scientists and engineers, but we will always need plumbers, electricians and farmers.

That's just the massive social democrat ego in him.

reply to post by CrastneyJPR


A brilliant idea! The way to do it is BI-METALLIC strips, placed so as to expand & contract, the shadow created by vertical screens will allow fairly close tracking of the sun.
Easy
This should be open source, so that everyone can have a go, i will of course place a design in my 'free energy machine' files, if no-one minds
NO WAY should big companies buy up these patents & shelve them, & then take YOU to court if you go & build one. Everything should be open source......

reply to post by Dmonix


I think your secret is safe with us