These Beautiful Solar Orbs Are So Efficient They Even Harvest Moonlight
 

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Photovoltaic panels aren't the most glamorous technology: They're usually tucked away on a roof, and when you can see them, they're ugly. And inefficient. But what if they made architecture more beautiful? And what if they were more efficient, working even at night? Say hi to Rawlemon, a solar ball lens that is quickly making its way to market.

This perfectly spherical glass ball is the work of a German architect named André Broessel, who began working on it three years ago with the aim of making solar power more efficient and less expensive, a technology available to everyone, everywhere. "Our product is democratic," he told me recently over email. "Imagine, we are conceiving autonomous products able to concentrate the light even during a cloudy day, which are generating sun powered energy wherever you are in the world. Energy for free."

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Well, not quite for free. But Rawlemon, by sheer force of numbers, has the power to outperform traditional solar panels by many thousands of times. In simple terms, here's how it works. Broessel's Palantir-esque globe is filled with water that magnifies the sun's rays by more than 10,000 times, making it possible to harvest energy from the moon, or the sun on a cloudy day. Where are the PVs? The tiny panels are situated directly below the ball, where the magnified ray hits them.

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At the most basic level, Rawlemon is a ball lens—a perfect sphere that refracts light into a powerful concentrated ray—and a mechanism that's been around for centuries. In fact, you can even make a crude version using a piece of saran wrap and water, as demonstrated by this dude on YouTube.

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But the sun and moon, of course, are constantly moving. So to more efficiently capture their direct rays—unlike PV panels, which usually lay in a static position—Broessel designed a microtracker that follows the course of the sun as it arcs across the sky, tilting the panels along with it. The tracking system, paired with the ball lens, make Rawlemon up to 70 percent more efficient than a typical solar panel.

"So why isn't there a giant pivoting crystal ball on every rooftop yet?" I hear you whispering in awe. For one thing, manufacturing—and certifying—solar collection systems is a serious undertaking, involving yards of bureaucratic red tape. But as Broessel tells me, solar tech is also hard to market to normal people.

http://gizmodo.com/these-beautiful-s...n-h-1500329295

Nuke them from orbit.

You know reading this made me think of the Mythbusters Archimedes mirror experiments - pretty damn cool though

I am kind of curious about the first picture, however.

It's odd, isn't it? It seems to be directing a beam of light up from the orb.

It looks like the one guy is holding a flashlight and pointing it at the globe

Could that be just a focused reflection? I'm not knowledgeable enough in the mathematics of reflection/refraction to say.

I thought that was the light collection point on the panels and he was standing behind it.

It's The Schwartz!

This is not a Kate Upton thread?

You totally ripped that off one of the captions.

It can be:

Just guessing here, but it looks like it's pretty dark and someone is trying to take a picture. I'd just assume he was demonstrating the globe in darkness what would be too bright to see in light

The what?

I'd like to see the picture or video the dude with that camera took standing on the roof with him

Captions from a pic at the bottom of page of bottom link.

I know you are playing innocent here but I am not buying it. Anything less than lethal injection for you is a travesty of justice.

This dude is going to be the next Stan Meyer.

Silly.

And they spelled it wrong.

LMAO

Probably be larger than that, more like Stan's older and more famous brother Oscar.

Just because you cleaned it up doesn't make your illegal acquisition of someone else's thoughts right.

I saw something just like this on the Dukes of Hazzard the other day. Some serious stuff we got going on here.

Your suspicion is noted and summarily dismissed. May The Schwartz have mercy on your soul.

Cool idea, but we all know that by the time the Government makes these guys jump through all the hoops those things will be too expensive to be cost efficient. The government has too much interest in other forms of energy that have big money behind them.

It's a shame, really.

Hey! Totally uncalled for.

If I wanted to be summarily dismissed I would get married again.

:spock:

Shut up, bitch.

:LOL:

Was it Uncle Jesse's moonshine recipe? Because that's messed up. He worked hard on that.

Sure. Could be. I don't know enough about the characteristics of light as it passes through a transparent spherical medium to say, really.

Daisy's song got mixed up with Boss Hog's illegal music pirating outfit.

Suffice to say shit really hit the fan.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Catherine Bach. She gave us Daisy Dukes.

http://31.media.tumblr.com/ec9c65924...28rmo1_500.jpg

I did enjoy them.

Whoa, somebody get that girl some makeup. Lotta shine going on, there.

It's a reflection from the beautiful solar orbs.

How much?

It's just a focused refraction, yes.

She had some glorious orbs back in the day too.

Solar tech is hard to market to normal people because normal people can't afford that shit.

Cool. I was hoping someone would weigh in.

well yah, at least they can't afford a solar orb right now because the cost to bring the product to market is too high. But once manufacturing has caught up, that is, once the entire manufacturing process is up and running, the cost per unit should drop significantly, just like anything else. You wanna know why laptop computers cost $5k 15 years ago and now cost $300 today (and you are getting a much better laptop today), because the cost to produce them is a lot cheaper. Same with super duper smart phones, etc.

What I'm curious about is the water these orbs. It can't be tap water, I'm thinking it's gotta be some super clear, super clean type of water. So between the glass orb and the water, along with the solar panel the concentrates the light energy and transforms it into electricity that goes to the house, I'm wondering just how much something like that could cost and maintain, if the orb manufacturer is cranking out a hundred thousand units a month....

Repurpose them as property defense laser systems and watch the profits roll in.

I am wondering about how much energy one provides
the Perfect orb part makes me think very expensive

I did some digging. Sure enough, it's Coors.

They pour in bottled water, so basically west virginia tap water.

He kinda has a point, same with lobbyist, certain groups make sure they get what they want.

Anyone else notice the resemblance? It’s a trap!

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Seems a bit fraudish. There is already a lot a research putting lenses on solar cells. Using a ridiculous (perfect? not likely) sphere (filled with water..ooooo) over a tiny array of cells is just silly. Also,even if the concentration factor was 10 000, that doesn't equate to an equivalent increase in energy conversion. There is better research, better methods, and more promise in other lines of experimentation. The line about taking a while to come to market because of that darn "Red tape" set off alarm bells. There are no goverment agencies "certifying" solar equipment. This ain't the FDA and medicine. There is no bureaucracy to slog through. Sounds like a delaying tactic to hold off the kickstarters who ponied up cash and got a glorified snow globe with one solar cell that lights up an LED or runs a tiny fan (I have no idea what little "desktop" toy they got other than what was described).