I have a question for all you wizards and inventors out there, see details...?

Question

Did you ever take a magnifying glass and light a fire with it or burn up an ant, or even light the fuse of a firecracker?

My question is this, what if the people who make solar panels were to make a large magnifying glass and focus the rays of the Sun on the cells which they use to generate power?

Do you think the solar panels would generate more power more quickly?

What do you all think?

Answer 1

hmmmm, this sounds like a story from "One Hundred Years of Solitude", book written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Nobel Prize Winner). Don Jose Arcadio had your same idea, but he wanted to use it as a war weapon....it didn't work though! lol

-Hey Marty, thanks for letting me know that you posted a Q, and thanks so much for answering mine! ♥♥♥

Answer 2

This is already done and you can buys such lenses too. Only you need to be careful because you can burn off the PV cells.

This technique is used in heating water to generate electricity too.

Answer 3

as soon as they invent a solar panel that can take the heat.

The voltage of a PV module normally decreases with temperature rise. PV manufacturers document this by showing several lines on the IV curve (the graph of amps vs. volts), or by stating it in volts per degree of deviation from 25°C (77°F). Nominal "12 volt" PV modules are designed to sustain good current flow all the way to 17 or 18V at 25°C. This allows for voltage drop at higher temperatures.

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Concentrating-Sola...

Answer 4

It's been done.  It's called a solar plant.

Answer 5

Concentration of sunlight by mirrors has been used to generate steam; it is one means of obtaining energy from the sun. However, solar cells could be damaged by overheating from concentrated sunlight.

Answer 6

Yes they actually do this, its called solar radiation, and while it doesn't necessarily generate more power than solar cells, its a helluva lot cheaper. It works by using lenses to focus solar heat on a water source, which begins to boil, creating steam to drive a turbine, a simple cheap and effective way to create electricity, but you need allot of constant sunshine, so its only feasible, in desert areas. The Sahara is often mentioned as a place where this technique could be used to generate massive amounts of power, and the concept actually plays a role in a movie called "Sahara" if you wanna check that out.

Answer 7

the problem is that the materials may get too hot causing the component to work less efficiently or quite likely, fail all together.

however, the idea works well using a Fresnel lens on a solar oven or heater.

Answer 8

No it would just burn the solar panel.  you should apply the magnifying glass to the wind shield of a car so people with bad eyesite might be able to get a licence.

Answer 9

There is a finite amount of solar energy that passes through a plane. It's the same whether the energy passes through the plane of a magnifying glass and then goes on to a small energy collector or just passes directly into an energy collector the same size as the magnifying glass. All the glass does is take the light that's passing through it and concentrate it into a smaller area. It's easier and cheaper to have the solar panel the size of the glass in the first place.

They do this sometimes as an alternative to traditional solar cells however, as a method to create heat for steam.