@@GEOsustainable wow, the very first time ever a channel replied my comment!!. For you information, I have send an email to you regarding this topic, hope can hear from you soon.
@@GEOsustainable Hi, Could you help me finding supplier for the eva sheet and the back sheet? Im form Malaysia and currently preparing for BRIDGESTONE WORLD SOLAR CHALLENGE in 2019. we decided to encapsulate our own solar cells. I have reached out many company for past week but none of them are replying.
Hi! Very great video! I have one question: After your encapsulation process, can you mount a panel with those cells? How do you do the welding process? Is not risky to soldering the wires with the EVA closes to the wires? i mean, it can be over heated and make a Little hole to the EVA. I hope you can help me with those questions.
@@GEOsustainable Thank you so much for yor answers. So, you have to put all the cells you need in the champer to make your circuit cells (in other words, to connect the cells each other)
Hello Metalorn. Yes, the EVA sticks very well to the aluminum foil. I no longer use this method. I use simple Acrylic Floor Wax to coat my cells. Thank you for watching.
I've been considering undertaking this DIY project for about a month now, and I think encapsulation is one of the most overlooked steps. I've seen people not really encapsulate with anything (just put the diy panel in a glass frame), I've seen people basically submerge the whole thing in resin...Only recently I heard about EVA. I guess my question is: do you have any experience with different processes? Are there any drawbacks with this or other processes (thermal expansion/cooling, yellowing of resin etc)? I am terrified of humidity, but also of cutting my cells lifespan in half
I chose EVA to encapsulate my cells. It is slightly less expensive than Resin. I also, was worried the Resin could leave bubbles with what I had to work with. With EVA, bubbles can be removed in re-working. Correct, you want a perfect hermetic seal to give your cells maximum life. So, clean, clean clean along the way. Good luck and let me know how you are getting on.
@@GEOsustainable Makes sense...I've seen some replies on the forms from people talking about bubbles being a real concern. Anyway, I'm probably still a few months out from being able to attempt this, but when I do, I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks for the help! By the way, loved the simplicity of the vacuum/heater machine!
Hi, thanks for your video! I wonder if you have any advice for me. I want to build a solar powered boat, a trimaran cruiser. I figured out it has to be long (15m) and lightweight (less than 5t) to be able to cruise at 6kt with 3kw power. I want to put about 10kW or 50m² of solar power on the roof, maybe a bit less. The boat design is basically one giant flat solar panel roof. It would be build using vacuum infusion fiberglass and PVC foam core to create a stiff and lightweight boat hull and ceiling. The simple way is to use glass solar panels because they are cheap and efficient. But they are heavy (12kg/m²) and not the exact size I need. The frames lift off the glass so if a wave washes over it could break because of lack of backing. So ideally I would have to remove the frames from glass solar panels and then glue them to the fiberglass. Make holes for the connectors. The weight of glass also creates a "top heavy" boat which requires more width / structure to become stable. It's possible but also not ideal for efficiency. So I'm looking again into flexible solar panels with those sunpower 22-24% efficiency. From what I gather you need eva or etfe to encapsulate and then PET film to protect from UV light. But it also seems even properly encapsulated flexible solar panels are not that long lasting. My question is: Is it true? Or can PET compete with glass solar panels? I'd rather take the weight penalty and the solar cells lasting 25 years. Maybe a way would be to use very thin glass (1-2mm), put the solar cells, then fiberglass, 20mm structural foam and fiberglass and vaccum infuse this with epoxy to form a rigid sandwich. That way the glass and fiberglass foam core sandwich creates on solid and rigid element without needing eva film. Do you think a process like that could be made to work? Thanks
@@GEOsustainable Well learning some more it seems glass remains be the best choice for my project. But one question, do you know if you could heat the EVA film again to remove the top ETFE film? As a way to "regenerate" a flexible solar panel if it's covering becomes degraded?
@@dejayrezme8617 When you actually take the time to make this, you will have your answer. Endless speculation is a waste of time. Try it and let us all know.
@@GEOsustainable Hmm after looking some more and reading some papers it seems plexiglas / acrylic / PMMA might be idea for my application. Laminate the cells in between EVA to an acrylic glass sheet. Could also thermoform the acrylic. Worst comes to worst the acrylic glass can be sanded and polished. Or sanded down coated with more PMMA. Anyways, thanks for the video!
This box is made of stainless steel, and broke at the edges, making it incredibly strong. I used a 1HP Wet Dry vacuum, so not that strong. It takes 15 minutes just to suck out one atmosphere. This is a very safe build.
![[BuildLog] Solar panel encapsulation for rc plane](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/KUU4UvGU8N0/mqdefault.jpg)
I have been looking for something like this!!! 👏 👏 excellent job done sir!
Just what I have been looking for!
Great to hear. Glad I could help.
@@GEOsustainable wow, the very first time ever a channel replied my comment!!. For you information, I have send an email to you regarding this topic, hope can hear from you soon.
@@kamarizasuhaini3605 I will respond as quickly as I can.
@@GEOsustainable Hi, Could you help me finding supplier for the eva sheet and the back sheet? Im form Malaysia and currently preparing for BRIDGESTONE WORLD SOLAR CHALLENGE in 2019.
we decided to encapsulate our own solar cells. I have reached out many company for past week but none of them are replying.
@@kamarizasuhaini3605 I have replied to your email. Check there.
Thank you very much, that‘s what I was looking for!
I wandering if placing a glass cover on the front EVA, is this process still works?
Yes, it is. I am so glad you like. I am doing more on solar soon.
Hi! Very great video! I have one question: After your encapsulation process, can you mount a panel with those cells? How do you do the welding process? Is not risky to soldering the wires with the EVA closes to the wires? i mean, it can be over heated and make a Little hole to the EVA. I hope you can help me with those questions.
Yes, you can mount a panel. The welding process is done inside the chamber during heating. Yes, it is risky, so be careful.
@@GEOsustainable Thank you so much for yor answers. So, you have to put all the cells you need in the champer to make your circuit cells (in other words, to connect the cells each other)
@GEOsustainable Hello Martin! I wanted to ask if the aluminum foil sticks to the EVA or is it easy to sepparate. Thank you very much!
Hello Metalorn. Yes, the EVA sticks very well to the aluminum foil. I no longer use this method. I use simple Acrylic Floor Wax to coat my cells.
Thank you for watching.
I've been considering undertaking this DIY project for about a month now, and I think encapsulation is one of the most overlooked steps. I've seen people not really encapsulate with anything (just put the diy panel in a glass frame), I've seen people basically submerge the whole thing in resin...Only recently I heard about EVA. I guess my question is: do you have any experience with different processes? Are there any drawbacks with this or other processes (thermal expansion/cooling, yellowing of resin etc)? I am terrified of humidity, but also of cutting my cells lifespan in half
I chose EVA to encapsulate my cells. It is slightly less expensive than Resin. I also, was worried the Resin could leave bubbles with what I had to work with. With EVA, bubbles can be removed in re-working. Correct, you want a perfect hermetic seal to give your cells maximum life. So, clean, clean clean along the way. Good luck and let me know how you are getting on.
@@GEOsustainable Makes sense...I've seen some replies on the forms from people talking about bubbles being a real concern. Anyway, I'm probably still a few months out from being able to attempt this, but when I do, I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks for the help! By the way, loved the simplicity of the vacuum/heater machine!
Very good
ty
Hi, thanks for your video! I wonder if you have any advice for me.
I want to build a solar powered boat, a trimaran cruiser. I figured out it has to be long (15m) and lightweight (less than 5t) to be able to cruise at 6kt with 3kw power. I want to put about 10kW or 50m² of solar power on the roof, maybe a bit less. The boat design is basically one giant flat solar panel roof. It would be build using vacuum infusion fiberglass and PVC foam core to create a stiff and lightweight boat hull and ceiling.
The simple way is to use glass solar panels because they are cheap and efficient. But they are heavy (12kg/m²) and not the exact size I need. The frames lift off the glass so if a wave washes over it could break because of lack of backing. So ideally I would have to remove the frames from glass solar panels and then glue them to the fiberglass. Make holes for the connectors.
The weight of glass also creates a "top heavy" boat which requires more width / structure to become stable. It's possible but also not ideal for efficiency.
So I'm looking again into flexible solar panels with those sunpower 22-24% efficiency. From what I gather you need eva or etfe to encapsulate and then PET film to protect from UV light.
But it also seems even properly encapsulated flexible solar panels are not that long lasting.
My question is: Is it true? Or can PET compete with glass solar panels?
I'd rather take the weight penalty and the solar cells lasting 25 years.
Maybe a way would be to use very thin glass (1-2mm), put the solar cells, then fiberglass, 20mm structural foam and fiberglass and vaccum infuse this with epoxy to form a rigid sandwich. That way the glass and fiberglass foam core sandwich creates on solid and rigid element without needing eva film. Do you think a process like that could be made to work?
Thanks
Sounds like an ambitious project. Good luck!
@@GEOsustainable Well learning some more it seems glass remains be the best choice for my project.
But one question, do you know if you could heat the EVA film again to remove the top ETFE film?
As a way to "regenerate" a flexible solar panel if it's covering becomes degraded?
@@dejayrezme8617 When you actually take the time to make this, you will have your answer. Endless speculation is a waste of time. Try it and let us all know.
@@GEOsustainable Hmm after looking some more and reading some papers it seems plexiglas / acrylic / PMMA might be idea for my application. Laminate the cells in between EVA to an acrylic glass sheet. Could also thermoform the acrylic.
Worst comes to worst the acrylic glass can be sanded and polished. Or sanded down coated with more PMMA.
Anyways, thanks for the video!
@@dejayrezme8617 Glad I was able to help.
Won’t the structure implode when you create the vacuum?
This box is made of stainless steel, and broke at the edges, making it incredibly strong. I used a 1HP Wet Dry vacuum, so not that strong. It takes 15 minutes just to suck out one atmosphere. This is a very safe build.