EEVblog 1575 - TIPA: The World's Most Efficient Solar Panel - BUSTED

TIPA: The World's Most Efficient Solar Panel raised £293,000 on Indiegogo and Kickstarter, AND also got a UK government innovation grant for £560,000!
They claim 3 times the power output of regular solar panels by using mirrors to reflect the light back on the solar cells (TIPA: Total Internal Photonic Absorption). They claim 80% of the light that hits a solar panel is reflected!

And when challeged by a solar cell researcher from the University of Freiburg on the claims of 80% reflectance and why they don't independently test, there is a hirarious word salad response!

00:00 - Another Dodgy Crowd Funder
01:00 - £560,000 UK Government Innovation Grant!
01:42 - Let's watch the video!
06:22 - How it works
06:58 - We can beat the Shockley Queisser Limit!
09:17 - $2BN valuation!
09:28 - The prototypes
10:15 - How they screwed up
12:06 - Reflective coatings and solar panel efficiency tradeoff
13:26 - Some actual reflection measurements using reflectance spectroscopy
15:18 - There ain't no free lunch. The claims are BS
16:52 - The reflection/absorption efficiency tradeoff
17:54 - Let's see what else they have developed at Yellow Studio!
19:21 - Electon Spin Battery Charging using magnetic forces!
19:55 - Solar Electromagnetic Energy Power Battery System using liquid nitrogen!
21:11 - Their other Kickstarter projects
24:14 - Hilarious word salad response to a solar cell researcher calling them out!
28:49 - Conclusion

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#ElectronicsCreators #Solar #crowdfunding

[Croz]

I bet there's a lot of pissed off academics out there who put their blood, sweat and tears into writing rigorous and well researched grant applications to the UKRI resarch councils for often significantly smaller sums, have half of them rejected, and then see this bunch of clowns waltz in and grab half a million quid.

[iamdarkyoshi]

I'll give them some credit at least for coming up with an idea that doesn't involve driving on top of the damn things.

[TheTallGirl]

Scams like this must be a crime. There is no way they are doing this in good faith. We need exemplary punishments for the people behind this.

[johnwest]

At last! PV panels that actually SHOULD be driven on!

[NebukadV]

"They have no idea, what they are doing."
That could not be further from the truth. They know exactly what they are doing. They are tricking people, who don't have technical understanding of the topic but instead just read the odd line here in there in some newspapers, into thinking, that their idea is actually smart. It is of course very dumb, but they make it sound plausible enough for a ton of people to give them a shitload of money.

[danpatterson]

This is what we get for not requiring enough science in our schools. The "Tipa Team" response to the scientist who pointed out the obvious flaws in the concept can't be intended to impress her (if anything it probably gave her a good laugh), it is just an attempt to bamboozle less-savvy investors. But, people want to believe, so...

[jcxtra]

Wow, the project owner's answer to that question about why they didn't get their 80% claim tested sounded like they'd taken a master class in 'ways avoid answering a question' from a politician, word salad until the person who asked it (hopefully) gets fatigued and moves on.

[bmac]

Hey Dave I work for First Solar, I've been an EE for 40 years and I have jokingly commented to our development team to make the panels transparent then all you have to do is set a big stack in your back yard, save lots of space! This "boondoggle" reminds me of that. It's too bad our politicians, who have no education, give these shysters our tax money. Keep up the great work! BMac

[mtpaley]

If the UK government had any scientific advisors who are listened to then it would have saved £0.5 million. Clearly they do not.

[ItsEverythingElse]

They know exactly what they are doing, they are pulling a scam.

[CarlVanWormerAEGD]

Also, the aperture for the incident light is much less than the total area of the cells on the inside of the structure. Laying the cells out flat (or tilted) would give them more output.

[bernhardneubuser]

It is also noteworthy that 420Wp panels cost now around 90 Euro. The Tipa offers 45Wp according to their own statement, it is hence slightly less than an order of magnitude more expensive.

[jonnafry]

These mini greenhouses should be good for hot working environment which we know the panels just love.

[LogicalNiko]

Wow those solar panels are amazing, 80% reflective…that’s better than most reflective paint coatings.

Actually most of the 4-8% you reflect on solar panels is not within the bands the silicon cell can absorb. The better way to capture more of the reflected light is use bifacial cells with a highly retro-reflective paint on the surface under the panel.

I suspect the only improvements they are seeing is because of lensing effect allowing a slightly larger amount of highly angled light to hit the panel. However this increase usually comes with significantly more manufacturing cost which is not worth it to capture. They probably believe this is due to their reflection theory, and are going to spend tons of time trying to tune to something that doesn’t exist.

[jankcitycustoms]

can't wait till they finally reduce side fumbling on their vector canceling condenser

[jugularSignal]

Thanks for continuing the BUSTED videos. Some of my favorite content

[hlsix]

TIPA reminds me of the old saying "if you can't blind them with your brilliance, baffle them with bullshit!"

[ItsEverythingElse]

At $50 per TIPA I seriously doubt they will ever ship anything.

[RingManiac]

80% reflective solar panels are basicly a dirty bathroom mirror. A regular clean glass mirror is around 90-95% reflective. I don't see a lot of mirrors on the roofs of houses. That would be really bad having all these reflecting houses around. 🤣🤣🤣

[TechUpBuilds]

Wouldn't it get extremely hot inside? Considering you absorbing all the sun light in a closed box.