The idea of indoor solar panels may sound a little like the concept of deck chairs on submarines, but U.S. based Solaroad Technologies may be onto something with their "CubeTube" cylindrical solar panels.
The company says CubeTube can power computer workstations by harvesting wasted energy from office lighting. The device can be clipped to cubicle walls, or placed on desktops or windowsills. Given the shape of the device, CubeTube can utilise ambient light for the production of energy from all directions.
Computers can be plugged directly into the CubeTube and the device also contains battery banks within the unit, so it can be used as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with enough on tap when fully charged to run a work station for a few hours.
If there is not enough power available to run a workstation from the device, an automated inbuilt system switches the workstation back to the mains grid until the CubeTube system is charged enough to provide power again. These cycles will occur seamlessly, without the user even realizing that the switch occurred. Desktop computers are notoriously power hungry, so the system may be more suited to notebook workstations.
Being an indoor panel and likely often used within an air-conditioned building, the CubeTube should operate at high efficiencies – heat is usually a major enemy of solar panels and extremely high solar cell temperatures, such as experienced in direct sunlight during summer, can have a huge impact on solar panel output.
As to CubeTube’s output under normal office lighting conditions, conversion efficiency, other technical details and price, no further information is available on their web site at this stage.
Solaroad anticipates the CubeTube will be available for purchase in 2011
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