The goal of this project was to explore the possibility of making solar energy more usable and scaleable by creating arrays of panels which provide consistent power from sun-up to sun-down without an unwanted surge in the middle of the day. We where able to quickly test lots of configurations of solar panels with these scale models.

I built this table and arm designed to swing across the table and shine light at different angles in order to simulate a day of sunlight. With this design, we where able to simulate a day of sunlight and collect data in fifteen minutes, which allowed us to design and test a number of configurations of the solar panels.

Duct tape can do everything right? Not pictured, me trying to determine if I was overloading my H-bridge by touching it…

Using Some reflectors to try and direct some of the light towards the panels throughout more of the day.

Wall solar panels are quite ineffective if they are near other houses, so we tried using reflectors on adjacent houses to shine light on traditionally hard-to-reach places.