New Solar Concentrator Technology

From technologyreview.com site.
This is VERY promising solar technology, which could make solar very affordable, and allow for much larger yields.
Startup is Covalent Solar - http://www.covalentsolar.com/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• solar
• energy
• concentrator

[rikv2004]

light is trapped on the inside of the plate? or is it the heat? if it were light, would that "trapping system" mean that there is a lower refractive index in the middle of the sheet? and higher refractive indexes on the outsides?

[VVi11]

heat comes from one band in the light spectrum, so you could pick a dye that would react to that and transmit the infrared to the edges. Over at the website, the journalist confirms that they could sandwich several plates together, each capturing a different part of the spectrum.

They're vague whether there is total internal reflection, but I suspect so, or hope so anyway.

[ponyryan]

So why not remove the central solar cell (the large panel) and only use the tiny outside ones? If you then replaced the large central solar cell with a panel of reflectors that would move the light to the outside of the plate (closer to where it is more effective) you might be able to gain efficiency and certainly reduce cost (over having the central cell in place). Thoughts?

[SaeedOshee]

How can i get these plastic sheets?

[strongmeasures]

This should be suggested as a way to increase the range and speed of The Air Car!