----- Original Message ----- From: "Igor" To: "'Cathy Colwell'" Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 8:37 PM Subject: RE: Research Project at Mainland High School, Daytona Beach, FL > Dear Katharine, > I'll try to answer your questions. See below. > Best regards, > Igor Skryabin > Dr Igor Skryabin > Program Manager > Sustainable Technologies Australia > 11 Aurora Ave, Queanbeyan, NSW 2620 > tel: (61) (2) 6299 1592; fax: (61) (2) 6299 1698; mobile: 0414 721 434 > email: technical@sta.com.au > www.sta.com.au > > > On Sunday, February 04, 2001 5:39 PM, Cathy Colwell > [SMTP:colwell@mindspring.com] wrote: > > I am the sponsoring teacher for a group of students entered in an > Internet research competition called ISTF (Internet Science and Technology > Fair) sponsored by the University of Central Florida. > (http://istf.ucf.edu/) The contest ends on February 28th when we have to > open our website to the contest's judges. We are in need of a person with > technical expertise to open a dialogue with my students and help them with > the final technical phase of the project. > > After two months of research we have determined that our national > critical technology is Alternative Energy Sources, with a technical > application of building efficiencies, concentrating on windows. We have > learned that a general office building looses up to 1/4 of its energy > through its windows. We would like the windows in our building to have less > of a negative impact on the building's energy consumption; but to in fact, > to become a energy source. In Florida, with its natural abundance of > sunlight, most buildings have external edifices entirely comprised of > windows. > > We would like to implement the application of solar photovoltaic cells > onto/into the windows of municipal buildings in a hope to offset some of > the its electrical lighting demands. My group has been researching solar > films and current window technologies. Your titania solar cell seems > perfect for our design. Not only are they less expensive than silicon cells > but they are more versatile and more tolerant of variations in sunlight. > > We are hoping that someone in your company would take a few moments and > answer some of our questions. > (1) How many solar cells would it take to produce a 100 watt array? > Normally 100 W is reffered to us as 100W peak power. Let's say, the cells > are 10% efficient. On a good sunny day sun light produces power density of > around 1000W/sq.m. Thus, 1 sq.m of the cells will generate 100W of > electricity. > The cells can be made of variable sizes. You can assume that each cell has > an area of 100 sq.cm.Thus, you need 100 cells to cover 1 sq.m. > (2) How should those cells be incorporated into the windows? sandwiched > between the panes of double pane windows? As strips on the surface of the > actual window? > Our current product will be sandwiched between two panes of double pane > window. > > (3) What type of dye would be best? > This dye has not been created yet. The best dye (for electric window > application) shall absorb in IR and be transparent in visible. > Look at our web page for more details. > (4) How would the voltage be collected from the window? > The window will produce DC voltage. It could be either distributed inside > the building for internal usage (charging batteries, etc, or directed to > the inverter, which converts it to AC voltage). Obviously it will be a > cable (2 wires) connected to the window. > Our project is educational and non-profit. However our ideas will be read > by 100's of judges nationwide to determine the contest's winner. I > sincerely hope that you will consider helping my group reach a successful > conclusion to their research efforts. > > Catharine H. Colwell