The trend towards reducing the cost of solar modules in recent years has become increasingly noticeable. This leads to an increase in demand for the installation of alternative energy sources among ordinary citizens – household owners or ordinary citizens. Most owners of private SES are in no hurry to disconnect from the central network and transfer their home to an autonomous power supply. It is justified by the fact that photovoltaic modules are not able to accumulate energy, but only generate it. Moreover, the generation volumes are not constant and depend on weather conditions.
Experts in the field of alternative energy have found a solution to this problem – photovoltaic modules that accumulate energy. Innovative equipment will be able to provide electricity to the most inaccessible and remote corners of our planet.
The question of storing solar energy is quite acute since the time as alternative energy has become widespread throughout the globe. Scientists have invented various devices to solve the problem of energy storage, up to the creation of giant drives, but none of the ideas became a panacea. A group of engineers from the University of Wisconsin offered a completely new look at the solution of this issue. They invented solar panels, which simultaneously play the role of both a power generator and a storage device. They achieved this by integrating the flow of energy storage. It is worth noting that innovative photovoltaic modules perform three important functions:
1. Collect solar energy and transform it into electricity.
2. Accumulate and save energy.
3. Charged from any other source of energy, like conventional drives.
Scientists from Wisconsin synthesized two already known technologies to create one radically new. If we talk about traditional lithium-ion batteries, they save energy due to solid materials in the composition (most often metals play this role). Flow-through batteries are distinguished by the fact that they store charge by using liquids that are placed in special tanks. To increase the capacity of such a drive is possible by increasing the volume of the tank.
It should be noted that the use of flow drives as a battery for a mobile phone is impossible. The sphere of their use can be a large industry. There they can be successfully used to provide large production facilities with energy.
The idea to combine a photovoltaic module with a flow drive was first implemented by a group of scientists from the University of Wisconsin. Inventors managed to get in practice more than 14 percent of system performance. In the near future – to increase this figure to 20-25 percent.
In addition to the effectiveness of new equipment, scientists are also interested in improving the design, more precisely, the cheaper materials for creating the device. At this stage, new photovoltaic modules are at an experimental stage and undergo a lot of tests. Scientists are confident that their discovery in the future will be able to provide significant assistance in matters of energy supply to remote villages and districts.Do not forget about the prospect of using solar panels with a flow-through battery in the transport industry. Extreme interest in the application of technology expressed by the company nanoFlowcell. Currently, the company is working on the development of a project for the production of quantum electric cars.