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Bifacial that flips over and is used both ways

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owenfi

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Oct 15, 2020
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I'm looking for a way to do a solar-awning on a Sprinter van conversion. One of the ideas I've come up with is mounting panels on a hinge that runs down the passenger edge of the van. When parked I would flip one set of panels out and have a bit of shade, and reveal the 2nd set of panels on the roof, thus allowing me to get somewhere between 1.3-2kw of solar on the van.

For this approach to work, I'd want to be able to get ~50% solar capacity while "retracted" (and the rest could be made up from the alternator, or skipped during times of lower usage).

So my question is: would bifacial panels generate a similar amount of power from each side if they received equal light? In other words, if I flipped a bifacial panel over how far off from its peak generation would it be?

Thanks for any help!
 
How about hinging both panels - raise the top one (which faces up), revealing the second one which faces down. Flip the second one out as an awning, and set the first one back down.
The flip out panel could either slope down or slope up, depending on which side has sun.

I'm considering two face up. One covers the other while driving, but both can be tilted up to meet in the middle, making an acute 60 degree angle.
One catches morning sun, the other afternoon.
 
Hedges said:
How about hinging both panels - raise the top one (which faces up), revealing the second one which faces down. Flip the second one out as an awning, and set the first one back down.
The flip out panel could either slope down or slope up, depending on which side has sun.

I'm considering two face up. One covers the other while driving, but both can be tilted up to meet in the middle, making an acute 60 degree angle.
One catches morning sun, the other afternoon.
Click to expand...
Very interesting ideas; double hinge and the upside folds out (but is covered during driving) I think makes most sense for my application. Maybe with the right arrangement they could even both tilt towards the sun
 
Don't make me put two panels on my van. One 300W panel is all I am putting up there. You hear!
 
Any chance you ever got an answer to this? I came up with the idea independently and I wonder what you found.
 
I don't think the back side uses the same quality cells as the front. I wouldn't expect anywhere near the same production.

If you want to use a single panel on the roof and for shade, put it on sliding rails. Like drawer slides. You can get latching drawer slides that will support hundreds of pounds. That also means you don't have to support the panel when it's in "shade" mode.
 
400bird said:
I don't think the back side uses the same quality cells as the front. I wouldn't expect anywhere near the same production.

If you want to use a single panel on the roof and for shade, put it on sliding rails. Like drawer slides. You can get latching drawer slides that will support hundreds of pounds. That also means you don't have to support the panel when it's in "shade" mode.
Click to expand...
Actually, this guy got 66%.

This spec sheet says 70% +\- 5%:


I’m really leaning toward the flip over design because all I’d need are stainless hinges they sell at home depot for a few bucks. I’m thinking I’ll have them flip over the front and rear of the car so it could be deployed while parked in a parking spot.

If I mount them just a foot back from the ledge, once they’re flipped over they can support themselves.

Show my slides rated for outside (wet and dusty conditions) and I’ll likely go that route instead.
 
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66-70% qualifies as "nowhere near" in by book. But honestly I was expecting worse. Not a huge sacrifice.
 
400bird said:
I don't think the back side uses the same quality cells as the front. I wouldn't expect anywhere near the same production.
Click to expand...

Back side ... cells?

I thought these were just a single set of cells, and light able to hit them from both sides.
If somebody put cells on both sides I'd expect double the cost.

This indicates P/N junctions diffused into both sides:

en.wikipedia.org

Bifacial solar cells - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
I guess I should have done more research. I never through about it much.

The bifacials I've got (Qcells) cells are black on the front and blue on the back. Hence, my thoughts that it was different cells facing up/down.
 
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