12 replies to this topic

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Interesting.
Using gallium indium phosphide-solar subs in our future?
Article

[JBMedia]

Wow, this is absolutely amazing. I honestly would of never thought this to be possible. Being that I lived on an island growing up, I've always been in the water diving and fishing. The further down you go, the darker it gets. To be able to derive solar power from the water is a very interesting aspect that I hope they will consider using in the future once more research has been conducted on it.

[zararina]

I never thought that it is possible either.
It was amazing that they could come up with such idea and such kind of project. That could mean all type of vehicles can run with the use of solar energy in the future.

[bryce12]

This can really be a game changer as far as adaptation of solar power is concerned. One major issue with solar power is that there is no way to generate power in the dark but this invention coud change that. I will follow the story closely and hope to see some practical solar energy applications based on this principle in the near future.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

The military is becoming the leading edge in a lot of these "green" projects.
Their objective is to keep our soldiers alive, or out of harms way if possible and using greener technologies
is savings lives and millions of dollars to boot.
(And no, I don't believe in the military industrial complex; this is not a ra-ra thing but the "boots on the ground"
are finding ways to save lives and emissions.)
http://www.altenergy...e__hl__military
http://www.theepocht...reen-61738.html
http://edition.cnn.c...?iref=allsearch

[still learning]

Note that the linked article in the original post includes "the cells can eke out enough juice to power sensors 30 feet down."

Powering a sensor isn't propelling a submarine or any other vehicle.

I don't see any "game changer" here.

[Phil]

OK gang, lets not run away with ourselves.   Please read the article carefully, the cells just absorb a different part of the spectrum, it does NOT say they work in the dark.  You still need photons so the farther down you go the less output.  My panels work with a slight snow cover but the deeper the snow the less the output.

You will not see solar subs.  You may see subsurface devices that dive deep then return near the surface to recharge or devices that just hover near the surface. That's about it.  In both cases they can't be that big, solar cells are very inefficient even in full sunlight.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

You must admit it's cutting edge though, and no one does it better than Americans. (mini flag waving here)

[still learning]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 13 June 2012 - 04:12 PM, said:

You must admit it's cutting edge though, .....

Sure.
Some of the comments though....surely some are trying to make a joke?

[Phil]

Progress is always good!  Let's just keep it real!

[FamilyTreeClimber]

Science is amazing, isn't it?  I'm not sure how this will be practically applied.  Just the fact that they have figured out how to capture a part of the spectrum--the part that is absorbed by water--is amazing.

They say the development will lead to this..."long-duration autonomous underwater systems and sensor platforms".  Now if I only knew what that was!

[Shortpoet-GTD]

FamilyTreeClimber, on 15 June 2012 - 12:32 PM, said:

Science is amazing, isn't it?  I'm not sure how this will be practically applied.  Just the fact that they have figured out how to capture a part of the spectrum--the part that is absorbed by water--is amazing.

They say the development will lead to this..."long-duration autonomous underwater systems and sensor platforms".  Now if I only knew what that was!

http://www.mendeley....ter-vehicles-3/
Sensor platforms are for smart phones & tablets.

[artistry]

The lengths to which this will and can be applied, should be tremendous, the ingenuity is to be applauded. So good luck to all in their future endeavors.