Maybe if you used glass with a treated surface in a half-cylinder  
shape that directed the solar energy to edge-mounted solar cells, you  
would get decent efficiency without having to move anything.
cc


> On Jul 15, 2008, at 6:21 PM, cdb wrote:
>
> Whilst it does sound 'dodgy' I'm not so sure, here is a link from
> yesterdays BBC webpage using a solar film:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7501476.stm
>
> and I recall the CSIRO tried unsuccessfully to get funds to further
> research into a flexible and new way of depositing solar cells onto
> material.
>
> Colin
>
> :: This set off alarms for me, too. The reason why it helps to track
> :: the
> :: sun is not because of any directionality of the panel. It is
> :: because
> :: you want to maximize the amount of watts per square meter which the
> :: panel receives. The closer you can make the line of sight to the
> :: sun
> :: match up with the vector perpendicular to the solar panel surface,
> :: the
> :: more light you receive. Think about it from the sun's perspective:
> :: when the panel is way off, the sun would only "see" a thin line,
> :: but
> :: when the panel is broadside to the sun, the panel appears as big
> :: as it
> :: can get.
> --
> cdb, colin@btech-online.co.uk on 16/07/2008
>
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> Baltasar Gracian
>



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