Friday, January 7, 2011

Homemade solar panel - use Plexiglass or Lexan?

Homemade solar panel - use Plexiglass or Lexan?

Question from reader:
I plan to use Lexan on my homemade solar panel. I intent to encapsulate the solar cells directly to the Lexan.

Will Lexan warp over time when exposed to the sun? How about other Plexiglass? Does it depend on the thickness of each?

If so, what thickness do you recommend?
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The Lexan will haze unless you use a special outdoors version – like Makrolon 15 – something new on the market. Plexiglass will not change.

The question is do you need strength (Lexan) or clarity (Plex) – you can also go thinner with Lexan but it will be hard to locate anything thinner than 1/8” in Mak15. I would stay with 1/8” for Plexiglass.

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  2. UPdate: if you think your panel will have temperatures greater than 180-200F, use polycarbonate (Lexan, Makrolon, Tuffak) which will operate up to 275F

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