combination Solor Electrical/thermal Panels

[Lunkster]

Can we have panels that collect the sun light and the panel has two functions in it where the top layer of the panel collects the sun light and converts it into electricity.  At the same time under  this layer of the panel is a liquid being pumped through it in order to collect and convert the heat that is in the panels.  In this way people would get more converted energy per square foot than just having the solar panels on the roof.  The drawing is very simple, but shows the basic idea of what I am trying to communicate.  Actually when the sun goes down, the changing temperature in the panel could still be used to convert energy from it.  Is that not true?

[sm0ky2]

This is a brilliant idea, and something the solar industry has been trying to accomplish since the begining at Texas Instruments.


This thought process was deemed obsolete by Eric Jacqmain's rediscovery of Archimedes Solar Death Ray. Which is the modern solar tech used by electrical companies today.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/358244/

[kajunbee]

https://dualsun.com/en/product/hybrid-panel-spring/

[sm0ky2]

There are some fundamental problems with the technology.


Mainly this:


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockley–Queisser_limit
{edit: the forces that be don't want this link to work ^^}
   [should be able to google or yahoo it]

By using a solar death ray we are gathering 100% of the BTU's available in our sunlight
and condensing into a small space.
Assuming maximum theoretical carnot-efficiency we can achieve close to 50%
(of the total sunlight, not just what is exposed to the pv junction)


These are cheap and accessible for thousands of applications.
You can even buy premium concentrators that have a hole in the bottom for use with a reverse reflector or prism.


https://www.edmundoptics.com/search/?criteria=parabolic&Tab=Products


By incorporating waste-heat collection and natural cold-sink technologies we can push this to 69%
Which is already above the 68.7% theoretical maximum of PV technology. (See Chart Below)




But if you insist on using PV's, I recommend something like these systems.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrator_photovoltaics


Apologies for the large photo, this is to preserve the data