4 ms·

The solar panel conversion of sunlight to usable energy to around 20%, with a theoretical max of 30%. So it's better than that.

qayxc 2y ago
That can't be true. The current record for non-concentrating cells is 39.5% efficiency using triple junction cells [1] Concentrating cells are at 47.6% [2] [1] https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(22)00191-X https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(22)00191-X [2] https://publica-rest.fraunhofer.de/server/api/core/bitstreams/ec4fb182-ed3e-4aa1-886e-4d67978cd456/content https://publica-rest.fraunhofer.de/server/api/core/bitstream...
- sroussey 2y ago
  Isn’t that for sunlight though? I imagine if you have a source that only radiates a single wavelength, you could make a collector for that specific wavelength that’s more efficient than some general case one. Could be wrong though.
- choilive 2y ago
  The innovation here is you have a system that emits monochromatic light, and you have solar cells tuned specifically for that bandgap, plus the system is also "naturally" concentrating because the light output is incredibly bright. 3000 suns vs 500-1000 suns in typical CPV, plus they also do waste heat recycling. End-to-end efficiency of 40% is definitely feasible as advertised.
  - DaniFong 2y ago
    correct
    - selimthegrim 2y ago
      So you’re recycling the waste heat and reducing the operating temperature to normal solar cell levels as opposed to thermoelectrics?
- MalbertKerman 2y ago
  It's only true for a single junction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockley%E2%80%93Queisser_limit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockley%E2%80%93Queisser_limi... Multi-junction cells beat that limit, but they're still horribly expensive to manufacture which confines them to niche uses like spacecraft.
  - DaniFong 2y ago
    we're bootstrapping off the multijunction production while using just a single junction that matches the sodium D light well
audunw 2y ago
But sunlight is wide spectrum, and a lot of the reasons why the efficiency of regular solar panels is low, is that they don’t absorb all of the spectrum equally well. That’s why there’s all this talk of tandem solar cells with perovskites these days. The two solar cells can be tuned to extract energy from different wavelengths of light. Since the light they’re making is nearly monochromatic, it’s a lot easier to get higher efficiency. That’s kind of the whole point of the invention.
- DaniFong 2y ago
  well observed
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  Schottky solar cells are also a thing although their efficiency isn’t great either
mhb 2y ago
That's not really relevant. They have a light source that runs on a fuel and are putting multiple PV cells around it. The efficiency they care about is the fuel in to electricity out. If you can put more cells around the light, the system efficiency goes up.

qayxc 2y ago

That can't be true. The current record for non-concentrating cells is 39.5% efficiency using triple junction cells [1] Concentrating cells are at 47.6% [2] [1] https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(22)00191-X https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(22)00191-X [2] https://publica-rest.fraunhofer.de/server/api/core/bitstreams/ec4fb182-ed3e-4aa1-886e-4d67978cd456/content https://publica-rest.fraunhofer.de/server/api/core/bitstream...

sroussey 2y ago
Isn’t that for sunlight though? I imagine if you have a source that only radiates a single wavelength, you could make a collector for that specific wavelength that’s more efficient than some general case one. Could be wrong though.
choilive 2y ago
The innovation here is you have a system that emits monochromatic light, and you have solar cells tuned specifically for that bandgap, plus the system is also "naturally" concentrating because the light output is incredibly bright. 3000 suns vs 500-1000 suns in typical CPV, plus they also do waste heat recycling. End-to-end efficiency of 40% is definitely feasible as advertised.
- DaniFong 2y ago
  correct
  - selimthegrim 2y ago
    So you’re recycling the waste heat and reducing the operating temperature to normal solar cell levels as opposed to thermoelectrics?
MalbertKerman 2y ago
It's only true for a single junction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockley%E2%80%93Queisser_limit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockley%E2%80%93Queisser_limi... Multi-junction cells beat that limit, but they're still horribly expensive to manufacture which confines them to niche uses like spacecraft.
- DaniFong 2y ago
  we're bootstrapping off the multijunction production while using just a single junction that matches the sodium D light well

audunw 2y ago

But sunlight is wide spectrum, and a lot of the reasons why the efficiency of regular solar panels is low, is that they don’t absorb all of the spectrum equally well. That’s why there’s all this talk of tandem solar cells with perovskites these days. The two solar cells can be tuned to extract energy from different wavelengths of light. Since the light they’re making is nearly monochromatic, it’s a lot easier to get higher efficiency. That’s kind of the whole point of the invention.

DaniFong 2y ago
well observed
selimthegrim 2y ago
Schottky solar cells are also a thing although their efficiency isn’t great either

mhb 2y ago

That's not really relevant. They have a light source that runs on a fuel and are putting multiple PV cells around it. The efficiency they care about is the fuel in to electricity out. If you can put more cells around the light, the system efficiency goes up.