At 2:08 AM 1/18/5, Harry Veeder wrote: >On a clear hot day would state of the art solar panels on the roof and hood >of a car provide enough electricty to run the AC?
Well, if the new supposedly 30 percent efficient solar cells are cost effective, and vehicle insulation much better than now, and glass reflectivity high, yes. Solar insolation is about 1 kw/m^2, so at noon in southern lattitudes you might get .9 kw from 3 m^3. At lower sun angles you get less energy, but may need the A/C less. The cells would have to be located away from the surface of the car however. Those black cells get 30 percent of the energy as electricity, os absorb 70 percent of the heat. It would be ugly! Not a bad idea for a camper maybe. It's a totally losing battle if that extra absorbed heat can get to the vehicle. Better to just have a chrome roof and aluminized but see-through windows. Something that would greatly help though, without any vehicle changes, for parking your car briefly, is mereley a thin highly aluminized sheet thrown over the top of the car. It might help to put elastic edges/straps on it, and/or weight it, and custom fit it for fast use. This would probably only be practical if you or someone made a business out of selling them cheap though, because it might be stolen fairly fast if people realized how much good it did. It's possibly a good business idea, so you're welcome! Regards, Horace Heffner
