Solar Power: Smartflower Home Solar System Gives Plug-and-Play Powe

Check this out, ATS. A company in Austria has invented a Solar Array Power machine which unfolds into the shape of a flower and it follows the Sun to provide even more power than conventional Solar Panels.

Translated to a workable prototype by GP designpartners, the 2.31kw Smartflower system claims to provide a plug & play power source that takes just an hour to set up. For 10,500 euros (roughly $11,759), consumers in Europe can pick up this 750 kilogram (1,653 pound) system that works with bi-axis suntracking and GPS coordinates, generating roughly 45 percent more power than a typical rough system set at a 30 degree angle. According to Linnea Nilsson, the company plans to expand into the United States next year.

Just wanted to post this. It's a very novel idea. I wonder why someone hadn't thought of this sooner. What says ATS?

homes.yahoo.com...

Kinda looks like a fancy malt machine when it is folded up.

I wonder who can actually "pick" 750kg

Neat little unit.
You'd need a couple of them to run a house.

a reply to: Phage
For peak demand, like running a central air conditioning unit, yes.

It's 2.31kw which could be exceeded with things like that or an electric stove, but I read somewhere the typical average residential usage is about 1kw, so if you could figure out a way to avoid those large peak demands, you might be able to get by with one, especially if the house is small.

Years ago I signed up for a pilot program from the electric utility that offered discounts for using electricity in off-peak times and charged a big penalty if your peak demand was high, and I managed to save a fair amount on my electric bill with that program, by figuring out how to avoid the peak demand penalty, so I think it's possible. One advantage I had there was two central air units, one for upstairs and one for downstairs, so the peak of running one at a time was lower than it would have been for one large central air unit like most houses have. I did have to make sure I stopped one before I started the other one but today that shouldn't be too hard to control electronically.

The point is I got a lot of detailed information from the power utility on exactly what my peak usage was during the month so I do have some data and experience suggesting it might not be impossible to keep it under 2.3KW. However if you don't really get that claimed value, that's when you really need more but I guess you could use the grid for supplemental power, as you'd need that at night anyway.

I like the way it tracks the sun.

The biggest question for me is total cost of ownership.
How long does it last?
How much maintenance does it need? (the sun tracking feature is nice but it's something that can break and cost money to fix)
How hard is it to keep clean?

I've heard of people installing solar systems and instead of saving them money it ended up costing them more than they were paying the electric utility company, after accounting for the amortized cost of the equipment over its not as long as they had hoped lifetime.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

I've heard of people installing solar systems and instead of saving them money it ended up costing them more than they were paying the electric utility company, after accounting for the amortized cost of the equipment over its not as long as they had hoped lifetime.

I use so little power that even with the tax credits, even if I could afford a system, it would take me a long time to amortize the net cost.

Fuel costs are not likely to decline again though, and the costs of PV systems are declining. I like the portability aspect of this thing though.

a reply to: lostbook

We will be luck,y if it sees the light of day in the UK. Our government managed to shut down a small factory with a super wind turbine for people to attach to their homes, because it governs and earns so much indirect tax from energy that it is determined to stop any form of energy supply that is attached independently to people's homes. Anyone doubting this needs only to ask why is the UK, with its shorelines not developing wave power. So reliable and cheap to run after the initial set up. The silence on wave power is crushing.

Good luck though brilliant idea.

a reply to: lostbook

I would really, really like one of those!


Technology like this can free people from the stranglehold of power companies and future advances in this area should be a real priority.
In twenty years a small inexpensive dish bolted to your roof may heat, cool, and power your entire house and then some.

Prompting Governments to create workable 'Sun Blocking' tech (a la Mr Burns) to ensure that they can shaft us and make us pay them for what is not really theirs to sell.

Thanks for sharing OP
S&F4u

a reply to: lostbook

The website for the company suggests yields of 4000kwh per year.

That's not shabby at all!

Nice, but nothing new.
I did see one last year in our village for demonstration.

There are already a lot of different types and versions.

Solar Flowers

Nice design. Wish it was cheaper. It would take me 10years to see the cost covered though.

originally posted by: Arbitrageur
a reply to: Phage
For peak demand, like running a central air conditioning unit, yes.

It's 2.31kw which could be exceeded with things like that or an electric stove, but I read somewhere the typical average residential usage is about 1kw, so if you could figure out a way to avoid those large peak demands, you might be able to get by with one, especially if the house is small.

You level the demand and the intermittent supply by using a battery.

originally posted by: yorkshirelad
You level the demand and the intermittent supply by using a battery.

I use batteries for computer backup when the power goes out and they don't last long. I think I'd need a whole bank of batteries to last from dusk to dawn, especially in the winter when days are short and nights are long.

a reply to: yorkshirelad
Just like the new Tesla batteries..

a reply to: lostbook

It's a very novel idea. I wonder why someone hadn't thought of this sooner. What says ATS?

It's hardly a novel idea and I don't find anything particularly impressive about the product. The idea of making the solar panel follow the sun has been around many years, and the idea of shaping it like a flower isn't new and it doesn't do anything to increase efficiency. However if you make it more like a tree with many branches and little solar panels for leaves, it does increase the efficiency. That is exactly what a 13 year old boy discovered back in 2011. That's what I call novel.

While most 13-year-olds spend their free time playing video games or cruising Facebook, one 7th grader was trekking through the woods uncovering a mystery of science. After studying how trees branch in a very specific way, Aidan Dwyer created a solar cell tree that produces 20-50% more power than a uniform array of photovoltaic panels. His impressive results show that using a specific formula for distributing solar cells can drastically improve energy generation. The study earned Aidan a provisional U.S patent – it’s a rare find in the field of technology and a fantastic example of how biomimicry can drastically improve design.

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

There`s a company ( I don`t remember the name) that makes cone shaped rotating solar panel arrays. I don`t think that they are selling them yet though,still in the testing phase I believe. no matter where the sun is the panels will be facing the sun.
By rotating, the solar panels stay much cooler because they aren't constantly in the direct rays of the sun.

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