Obviously, the efficiency and productivity of solar panels in open space and urban environments will vary significantly. But so far no one offers solar panels that work in the shade or in diffuse light. Perhaps the first step towards “urban” solar panels was taken by scientists from South Korea, who created the analytical apparatus necessary for this.
Image source: Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI)
Researchers have consistently moved towards a mathematically based assessment of existing panels, taking into account many unfavorable factors: from the incidence of scattered light to suboptimal angles of incidence and reflection of light from surfaces with different reflective properties. The main conclusion that even the clearly incomplete and imperfect model allowed us to make is that solar panels for the city and indoors should not be flat.
There are already works that propose mosaic photocells on a flexible or shape memory base. Something similar, to a first approximation, was created by a group of scientists from the Korean Electrical Engineering Research Institute (KERI), who previously carried out calculations using a new analytical tool. An experiment in the laboratory showed that a photopanel in the form of a three-dimensional object without protective glass and with a self-control function is capable of generating 60% more energy than a conventional flat panel.
The researchers do not claim that their panel will be ideal for indoor or urban use. However, the analytical tool they proposed, which takes into account even the type and type of lighting elements and the level of dust in the air, will help in developing the most optimal designs of solar panels for the city. Of particular interest is the section of this tool that allows you to design solar panels for installation on vehicles where lighting conditions will almost always or often be less than ideal.