THEORETICAL POWER OUTPUT FROM A FRACTAL SOLAR PANEL

Abstract

Solar energy is one of the most practical sources of free and convenient renewable energy in the tropics.  Capturing this energy and converting it into electricity by a solar or a photovoltaic (PV) cell became commonly pursued in the field of physics, engineering, and renewable energy advocates for decades and in the recent years.  The first and second generation solar cells were made in bulk design with the best efficiency ranging from 30 to 40% conversion.  Related studies have shown, almost 70% of the losses accounted for thermalization, extraction inefficiencies and non-absorption of solar energy. These known losses can be drawn as a result of properties intrinsic to the material used and geometric design of solar cell. Understanding the wave nature of the solar spectrum and treating it as an electromagnetic wave, it is most viable that the said losses can be recovered using a geometric approach by capturing solar energy at its corresponding wavelengths.  It was determined that by employing a fractal Sierpinski’s carpet as a PV cell design could theoretically improve the maximum efficiency 3.7 times than the conventional Euclidean PV cell. The effects were supported by related studies in Photonics and Fractal Antennas.  Equations for the evaluation of the actual efficiency performance and maximum power point had also been established.