One of the biggest drawbacks of solar technology is, well… it gets in the way. Capturing sunlight means that you block it from reaching whatever is beneath or behind the panel. And solar panels themselves aren’t exactly attractive, which makes them a tough sell for residential areas. Even when homeowners make peace with the appearance of solar arrays and decide to install them on their roofs or in their backyards, the NIMBYs tend to come out en masse. Solar panel installations have raised the ire of homeowner associations and neighbors throughout California, Missouri, Maryland, Britain, and of course, Canada.
But what if a solar cell could capture light without completely blocking it?
That’s what a French company has accomplished. The company, called Sunpartner Technologies, has created a product dubbed (or rather, burdened with the name) Wysips. While the name is rather unfortunate (it stands for “What you see is photovoltaic surface“) and demonstrates why engineers should never be allowed to handle branding, the tech is actually pretty impressive.
Wysips is a transparent photovoltaic film. Or to put it more simply, it’s a clear solar panel meant to be integrated into a wide variety of products, providing an alternative power source without affecting the appearance of the devices they charge. There are four different types of Wysips panels, each designed for different applications:
- Wysips Crystal, an ultra-clear version of the tech designed to be integrated into the screens of phones, tablets, e-readers (like the Amazon Kindle), and smart watches.
- Wysips Glass, which can be installed in the windows of homes and buildings.
- Wysips Chameleon, designed to power electronic designs and billboards. While opaque, the material is designed to blend in with other building materials.
- Wysips Graphics, for use in mobile device accessories like phone and tablet cases, as well as for integration into wearable tech, such as the frames of Google Glasses and the watchbands of smartwatches.
While all of these technologies are impressive, obviously the headliner is the Crystal version, with its promise of a nearly invisible means of generating solar power. While there have been specialized cases with integrated solar panels available for several years now, for practical reasons they tend to require the device to not be in use (for instance, if a panel is installed on the back of a phone, then the phone has to laid on a surface, screen down). But if light could be captured on a display surface, then the device could be continuously used while still charging. The trick is capturing enough light to produce enough electricity to make a difference in battery life, while still allowing the display to be visible.
A typical smartphone display is about 92% transparent, meaning that 92% of the light emitted by the LEDs in the display actually makes it through the glass. A display with Wysips Crystal installed–sandwiched between the touch-sensitive conductive film and the actual image display–has about 82% to 90% transparency. This results in an image which is slightly dimmed, though not significantly so.
Despite the fact that most of an electronic device’s light is allowed to pass through the Wysips Crystal solar cell, it generates a decent amount of electricity, producing 2.5 mW per square centimetre (though the company intends to up this figure to 4 mW by the end of the year). To put this in perspective:
A Samsung Note 5 has a screen area of 88.4 square centimetres, meaning that with Wysips Crystal installed, it could generate 221 mW. A typical charger delivers 10 watts. So, the screen charges the battery at about 2.2% of the rate of a wall charger.
It’s certainly not fantastically fast, but in the course of a day the manufacturer estimates that over an 8 hour period, Wysips Crystal could add about 15% to a phone’s battery life. And in an emergency situation where no power is available, setting a Wysips-equipped phone out in the sun for a few hours would charge a phone enough to be used for a reasonable amount of time.
It’s also suggested that older style dumb phones that consume far less power than smartphones, if equipped with Wysips, could be fully charged in only a few hours, making it ideal for use in areas without ready access to electricity.
Obviously, the company is focusing on starting small. But as indicated by the many other types of Wysips panels they’ve already developed, it’s clear that they foresee a day when homes could be installed with Wysips windows, or even Wysips roof tiles or transparent panels. Currently, the Wysips Glass technology, because it can get away with being less transparent than a cell phone display, can generate as much as 300 mW per cm, or 30 watts per square meter. By storing electricity generated during the day, a household could easily power their lights during the evening, without tapping into the local power grid.
The technology is certainly promising. One day soon, you may be able to cover your entire home in solar panels, and the neighbors won’t have a clue…
