10 Benefits of Flexible Solar Sheets – Panels that Bend and Wrap

Flexible Solar Sheets are now a reality. These panels are made up of solar cell that are light weight and can easily wrap over surfaces or portable electronics.

Here are 10 benefits of flexible Solar Panels/Cells

Solar panels have long being available in the rigid frame based format, which is commonly used on roof tops and for most home based systems. Though they are definitely useful, their rigidity limits the number of uses these can be put to. Traditional solar panels cannot be bent to cover curved surfaces.

But with advancement in technologies, Flexible Solar Sheets is now available which can be to drape over roofs, or to wrap portable electronic devices and for various other purposes. Some solar sheets may have limited flexibility depending on the manufacturer and the intended purpose. So for instance the maximum bend angle for certain solar panels could be just 30%.

Benefits of Flexible Solar Sheets/Panels
Here are some of the benefits of using flexible panels.

Flexible: The advanced technology makes it easy for these solar cells to conform easily to the roof design of your RV, cabin, boat or manufactured home.

Convenient: These are roll-able, folds up and stores in a convenient storage tube. You also have solar backpacks, which has solar cells in the form of a shoulder carry bag.

Portable: These are very portable; you can easily take it outdoors.

Durable: Made up of durable material so that it can survive the hot and cold extremes of outdoor use. You can take these along for hiking, backpacking, tenting.

Waterproof: Flexible Solar Sheets/Panels are made up of waterproof material so you can use it for various marine activities as well.

Easy to Install: You get all the instructions on how to use these flexible solar sheets. Some panels come with grommets along the edges for easy mounting.

Charging: You can use these solar sheets either to power electronic items directly or you can use them to store energy for later use (need battery-charger)

Purpose: Depending on the wattage, you can charge various electronic items like laptop, video camera, GPS, and most other electronics.

Works in Low Light: Flexible solar cell gives good performance even in low light, over cast conditions. It comes with built-in reverse-flow protection.

Increase Wattage: Need more power? It’s easy! Buy more and link them together. It’s possible to increase the power output by buying and linking additional solar panels/cells.

Thin Solar Film Panels

Thickness of thin solar film panels varies from a few nanometres to tens of micrometers. Initially, solar powered hand-held calculators used these small strips, but now these are used for commercial use as well.

Since this is an evolving technology, the disadvantage is that it increases your cost. Besides, the efficiency also needs to be increase in the future. However its lightweight nature makes it appealing to many.

Big corporations and municipalities all over the world are already using it.

And the moment the cost and the efficiency issues are taken care of, you can see a lot of uses for thin panels. In fact thin-film cells could layer the roofs or façades of anything and everything that needs power in any form.

You can find them on rooftops of every solar powered building; you could see solar cars and trucks everywhere. The possibilities increase manifold with thin solar film panels!

Smaller sized solar Panels are ideal for small-scale projects and also off-grid solar systems. Here’s a video that shows an Aquarium air pump move with the help of a small solar panel:

Conclusion
While these are flexible solar cells, they may not be as flexible as the manufacturers make them out to be. Nonetheless, it is not a big issue. In some cases, you may need to put in a bit of extra effort to mount it.
The durability and portability of flexible solar panels/sheets makes it easy to be used for various outdoor purposes. You can use them to produce infinite energy and charge batteries. So if you use a boat, car, golf-cart, mobile, laptop, etc., consider going in for flexible solar sheets/panels.

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