solar panels on aircraft ?

usemyillusion12

sorry if this idea seems very stupid , and im sure it is considering there arent any solar panels on aircraft , but why arent there ?

perhaps putting them on the wings and ontop of commercial airliners ?

especialy with the high oil prices, maybe this bit of electricity would be useful for money saving ?

andy_g

hmmm...... lets see aerodynamics much? anyone. on a serious note a little too bulky TBH

ch252

And it gets colder the higher you go up. Now my understanding of them from physics is that there is a pipe winding round inside and the black cover attracts heat which heats whatever is in the pipes, be it water etc. It would only be any good on the ground, wouldn't it?

Fabio

No that's just to heat water I think, different for electrical producing ones such as the ones you see on satellites and such.

crisco10

Another issue is batteries to store the electricity. Very heavy and bulky.

Wasn't a plane made there a year or two ago to fly non-stop around the world powered by the sun? It had the wingspan of an a380 but could only carry 1 passenger!!!The wingspan was needed to have enough solar panels.

ON that note, what is the power density of a solar panel in good light?

hugoline

crisco10 wrote: »

Wasn't a plane made there a year or two ago to fly non-stop around the world powered by the sun?

Project is still on the way, a prototype will be shown at the end of this month

http://www.solarimpulse.com/

Davidth88

Wasn't a plane made there a year or two ago to fly non-stop around the world powered by the sun?

I thought it was an unmanned drone , designed for the USAF ( or similar ) to stay aloft for days at a time spying.

May be mistaken , Ill have to google it .

*Kol*

usemyillusion12 wrote: »

sorry if this idea seems very stupid , and im sure it is considering there arent any solar panels on aircraft , but why arent there ?

perhaps putting them on the wings and ontop of commercial airliners ?

especialy with the high oil prices, maybe this bit of electricity would be useful for money saving ?

It's not a stupid idea, but there is more than enough electrical power coming from the generators on the engines to supply the aircraft. A system of solar panels with the weight, extra equipment etc couldn't be justified. Even the best solar panel in the strongest light wouldn't be a patch on an engine driven generator.

Davidth88

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-034-DFRC.html

Solar powered aircraft.

Now thats slightly different to the OP's question.

There , how much do solar panels weigh ? Compare that to the amount of power they may generate . Possibly they would use more power than they generate ?

I am sure Boeing/Airbus would have considered it, if it was viable.

partyatmygaff

It wouldn't be impossible just impractical, Useless at night and very dangerous if heavy dark clouds appear and you come careening out of the sky or in the case of a good pilot glide down.

The amount of energy made by a solar panel is so small, that you would need to have something about 5 times as big as an a380 all covered with solar panels to transport some 20 people.

This is with current solar tech so can change as time passes. The batteries would be heavy and cabin space would be pretty limited and not to mention the cabin would pretty much resemble a very early commercial jet due to a lack of power.

Maybe if they used to the power of the engines to power a generator kind of like a RAT to generate extra power.

For 1 or 2 people flights its possible and somewhat feasible to use solar power. Not economical and definitley not practical.



Wouldn't imagine passengers being too happy flying a plane which could easily cut off at the lack of sunshine.

vulcan57

Thats right, I think the aircraft is the helios that was designed for un-manned flight and the possibility of staying aloft for days on end. I seem to remember that one of the uses was it could be used to replace some low level communication saterlites, as it could fly so high. I could be wrong here and am open to correction, but surely solar panels on aircraft are not really going to be any real use. The panels are not going to power a passenger aircraft of any real size, so you are going to still have the engines which in turn generate electricity for the aircraft and so no need for the solar panels.

Mr Benevolent

andy_g wrote: »

hmmm...... lets see aerodynamics much? anyone. on a serious note a little too bulky TBH

Not true, NASA did it with Helios. Granted, the aircraft broke up in mid-air due to structural and aerodynamic problems, but it was unmanned. It worked very well while it flew. Proper solar panels are very light and flexible.

The main problem with them is efficiency. The best commercial panels are 27% efficient, so for 30m2 of wing area at 1000w/m2 you're talking total power of 8.1kW. Subtract inverter and cable losses and you're down to about 6.5kW, which is enough to keep an unmanned aircraft in the air. To counter that though, the latest lab-based solar panels are 50% efficient.

Batteries don't come into it, as the aircraft doesn't need to store energy unless it's flying at night. There will be very few manned solar powered aircraft until cell efficiency gets above about 75%.

usemyillusion12

ok lol , maybe i should ive been more clear on my idea , i didnt mean for the entire plane to be driven by the panels , just some systems , this would then reduce the fuel used by those electrical systems ,

and the aircraft flies above cloud level , so the panels would be very exposed.

also , not only could the wings be covered, but the top of the body aswel

no batteries, aerodynamics shouldnt be effected, i just cant see why it wouldnt work.

partyatmygaff

Maybe for an electrical backup system yeah but any benefits would be negated by increased fuel usage by the plane due to extra weight. Airlines need to make a profit so the less weight the better

usemyillusion12

less fuel to carry due to the power from the panels , that would save on weight ,

( also in my opinion, charge the people who take up two seats for two
seats , rather than letting them take up half of someone elses seat also , i think they do this in america )

partyatmygaff

usemyillusion12 wrote: »

less fuel to carry due to the power from the panels , that would save on weight ,

( also in my opinion, charge the people who take up two seats for two
seats , rather than letting them take up half of someone elses seat also , i think they do this in america )

Thats only because an American could take up more than 2 seats

I doubt many airlines would trust running a plane's vital electrical systems on relatively as of yet unreliable solar panels. The cost of fitting solar panels or retrofitting solar panels to planes of now would be enormous and would take quite some time as the entire plane may need to be rewired and the airframe changed slightly to accommodate solar panels.
Maybe on planes of the future but I doubt older planes will be retrofitted.

usemyillusion12

oh defo not retrofitted that would be way too much ,

but it doesnt have to be vital systems, think about all the new non vital systems planes use :

entertainment systems , tv's , certain galley equipment , the lights for the advert boards on ryanairs planes lol ,ect

tu2j2

There's just no need for solar panels on current commercial aircraft. The APU supplies its electrical needs and has battery's for backup etc. The little extra electrical power gained would be of no real use.

Solar power aircraft would be interesting alright although I don't think we have the technology to do it at this time.