Which are the lightest, available solar panels at the moment?

Question

I have this keen vision of a helium blimp powered entirely by solar panels, not even carrying a battery bank.

That would save it from being a "fly by night" (haha!), which is just as well, but what it would require is enough solar panels to power a little electric motor (I am hoping to bring it up to maybe 70km/h, or 45mph) - and they would need to be extremely light, of course.

Is there anything out there, or on the horizon, that might do it?

Answer 1

Cool Earth Solar does something like what you're describing. They use a balloon to capture solar energy, and they send the energy to a power plant. I think it's still under development. http://www.coolearthsolar.com/

Other companies are trying to create thin-film panels (among them, Nanosolar, which is already selling its products), but thin-film panels tend to be brittle and wouldn't work on a blimp.

Answer 2

i heard about new solar panels being made to replace skyscapers widows that are very light but i read it in the science world mag u might wanna check tha site

Answer 3

Look at Solarworld or I think Nordex, maybe they have some special solarcells for you. Solarworld is very good by the way.

Franky

Answer 4

Just do a Google search for Solar panels. A typical panel produced by Siemens generates 110 watts. The weight with a frame is 11.5kgs.

it is 1.3m by .66m. This panel would produce .147 HP. (1watt = .00134HP). Not very much.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

Contact your Chamber of Commerce; they will give you all possible manufacturers and there you may be able to find out whatever you wish.

Answer 6

Rule of Thumb for sizing Solar Panels: figure out the average current draw of the remote device that you need to power in Milliamps (MA). We're assuming a 12 VDC system. Pick a solar panel with a current rating of at least 10 times this number. Example: your remote Solar Panels device draws 6 MA average. Pick a solar panel of at least 60MA output current, or to calculate power (watts) would be 60MA x 12 VDC = 720 MW which is 7.2 watts so a 10 watt panel will work great for this system.

Current weight is 3.3 lbs.

http://www.rickly.com/gsa/SolarPanels.ht...