Author Topic: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!  (Read 399330 times)

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Online Monkeh

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #325 on: July 02, 2014, 10:56:21 am »
Rabbits can set off landmines; I don't really see a point to that vehicle.

Anti-personnel landmines, yes, anti-vehicle landmines, no.

Then there's the capability to drive on sand and mud which normal vehicles would sink in..
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #326 on: July 02, 2014, 06:55:21 pm »
Those mine clearing vehicles are designed for fast field repair, enabling you to fix it with simple tools in the field if you do get a sensitive fuse. Of course you really have to not shake if doing EOD, and there are a lot of nasty traps there that mean that the blast shield is only there so they find something to fit in the coffin. Most of those guys that have been doing it for a while are very calm, up to a point where they snap badly. Good ones still have hearing in both ears and all 10 fingers.
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #327 on: July 05, 2014, 12:42:04 pm »
OMG there is ANOTHER ONE!
http://www.solaroad.nl/en/
 :o

Not nearly as whacko though. The Brushaw's are the Michael Jackson of the solar road industry.
 

Offline PA0PBZ

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #328 on: July 05, 2014, 02:57:00 pm »
Ehm... I live about 15 Km from the spot they want to build the test track. Remind me in a few months if you want pictures  ;)
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Offline jancumps

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #329 on: July 05, 2014, 02:58:48 pm »
OMG there is ANOTHER ONE!
http://www.solaroad.nl/en/
 :o

Not nearly as whacko though. The Brushaw's are the Michael Jackson of the solar road industry.
They clearly say it's an experiment. Their approach is to pave a short cycle path and measure over a long period. No 'we are production ready kickstarter' here.
 

Offline tszaboo

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #330 on: July 05, 2014, 06:34:11 pm »
Sorry, for jumping in the discussion a bit late. I agree that the main concept is just wrong. But the idea slightly modified could work I think. For example, there is a better suited place along the roads, the noise blockers (two walls on the two sides). There you can have almost the same surface, you dont need the stupid road construction glass, and wrong angle. The cleaning could be by automated way. The micro inverter idea is useful, as there will be less surface influenced in case of a failure, and the inverters would reduce the cabling cost also. A south facing wall would be ideal. Well, north facing down there in Ozzy.

Also, the road type could work in niche applications. Say, you are building a technology related bug conference hall/tradeshow place, you could make the parking lot from this. 99% of the time the parking lot isnt used, and you just need to put some speed limit everywhere, and not allow trucks to enter. It would be a nice attraction alone, telling people where to park, sorta guiding them. Probably it wouldnt break even. But that wouldnt be the point it would be part of the building, the attraction. People pay crazy amount of money on useless constructions, even though it is pointless. Think of it as the Eiffel tower of the 21 century.
 

Offline PA0PBZ

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #331 on: July 05, 2014, 06:58:14 pm »
For example, there is a better suited place along the roads, the noise blockers (two walls on the two sides).

We have that (well, almost):
https://www.google.nl/maps/@52.287951,4.917936,3a,75y,53.4h,87.48t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s0i0STJDaGQknfEWOq-kyCQ!2e0
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Offline rob77

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #332 on: July 06, 2014, 07:33:44 am »
For example, there is a better suited place along the roads, the noise blockers (two walls on the two sides).

We have that (well, almost):
https://www.google.nl/maps/@52.287951,4.917936,3a,75y,53.4h,87.48t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s0i0STJDaGQknfEWOq-kyCQ!2e0

exactly ! that's how a "solar roadway" should look like  :-+
panels at a correct angle + they're even improving the noise blocking a bit ;)
 

Offline PA0PBZ

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #333 on: July 15, 2014, 02:29:00 pm »
OMG there is ANOTHER ONE!
http://www.solaroad.nl/en/
 :o

Not nearly as whacko though. The Brushaw's are the Michael Jackson of the solar road industry.

Building started, first 'panel' (?) placed:

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Offline rob77

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #334 on: July 15, 2014, 07:07:06 pm »
those have at least much (really much) better construction than the hexagon miracle ones...

quote from their web site:
Quote
SolaRoad is being developed as prefabricated slabs. It consists of concrete modules of 2.5 by 3.5 meters with a translucent top layer of tempered glass, which is about 1 cm thick. Underneath the glass are crystalline silicon solar cells. The top layer immediately shows an important difference from the traditional road surface. It has to be translucent for sunlight and repel dirt as much as possible. At the same time, the top layer must be skid resistant and strong enough in order to realize a safe road surface. This is one of the technical challenges of SolaRoad.

they're primarilly designing and building a road surface with the possibility of solar panels inside.... not the opposite way as the hexagon guy did (designed a solar panel with a lots of electronics and leds and trying to use it as road surface).
they are even claiming that making a safe road surface is a technical challenge - so those guys know what are they doing.. in contrast to the hexagon guy who is parking a mini tractor on top of his version and claiming it's safe for road surface ;)
 

Offline PA0PBZ

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #335 on: July 15, 2014, 07:15:02 pm »
those have at least much (really much) better construction than the hexagon miracle ones...

Yes, it looks like something I'd dare to ride my bike on. In fact I will when it's finished, since it is close to me. Wait for the full report  :)
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Offline rob77

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #336 on: July 15, 2014, 07:28:43 pm »
those have at least much (really much) better construction than the hexagon miracle ones...

Yes, it looks like something I'd dare to ride my bike on. In fact I will when it's finished, since it is close to me. Wait for the full report  :)

actually it makes sense in your country. Netherlands is a flat country with no hills - therefore no issues building a road out of prefabricated slabs. it has lot's of bicycle roads - and to build a bicycle road (light load) the slabs alone are enough, so probably those will even pay themselves back when used as bicycle road surface.
 

Offline apis

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #337 on: July 15, 2014, 08:43:46 pm »
:bullshit: I have to agree with Dave, this is BS. It makes much more sense to put solar panels on roofs etc, then they don't have to be super though and can be more efficient, will have better angle towards sun, production will be closer to the user and you can use existing infrastructure for transformers and such... Even if they could make something that works they can't make it more cost effective than roof-panels or even just putting up panels next to/over the road as mentioned previously

From an engineering perspective, it's seldom hard to build something if money isn't a issue (e.g. pyramids), what's difficult is to make things as cost effective and efficient as possible imo.
 

Offline rob77

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #338 on: July 16, 2014, 07:56:13 am »
:bullshit: I have to agree with Dave, this is BS. It makes much more sense to put solar panels on roofs etc, then they don't have to be super though and can be more efficient, will have better angle towards sun, production will be closer to the user and you can use existing infrastructure for transformers and such... Even if they could make something that works they can't make it more cost effective than roof-panels or even just putting up panels next to/over the road as mentioned previously

From an engineering perspective, it's seldom hard to build something if money isn't a issue (e.g. pyramids), what's difficult is to make things as cost effective and efficient as possible imo.

wholeheartedly agree with Dave and You and all the others (and myself - as i'm strictly against the hexagon miracle).... but in this case - those concrete slabs with solar panels are NOT about efficient solar power plant..... those are about "let's have something" out of the bicycle road. if you use those as bicycle road  - the slabs alone are enough to build up the road, therefore it might be economically viable - just slightly more expensive than a concrete/tarmac bicycle road , but produces "some" electricity.
 

Offline Legit-Design

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #339 on: July 16, 2014, 09:54:23 am »


Thunderf00t finally got around to the youtube video he was talking about weeks ago. It features DAVE!
 

Offline pickle9000

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #340 on: July 16, 2014, 04:31:26 pm »
those have at least much (really much) better construction than the hexagon miracle ones...

Yes, it looks like something I'd dare to ride my bike on. In fact I will when it's finished, since it is close to me. Wait for the full report  :)

I thought the slabs where going to be used for the walls of a structure. Even so if this is an evaluation of materials (and it seems to be) I have no problem with it. If however it's to get a bit of the solar roadways "pie" then either they are scam artists or fools (take your pick).
 

Offline rob77

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #341 on: July 16, 2014, 05:18:45 pm »
those have at least much (really much) better construction than the hexagon miracle ones...

Yes, it looks like something I'd dare to ride my bike on. In fact I will when it's finished, since it is close to me. Wait for the full report  :)

I thought the slabs where going to be used for the walls of a structure. Even so if this is an evaluation of materials (and it seems to be) I have no problem with it. If however it's to get a bit of the solar roadways "pie" then either they are scam artists or fools (take your pick).

look at their web - they're going to build 100m and test it for several years - to get some real world application test results. - that doesn't sound as scam to me ;) they're not talking about mass production, they're talking about verification of the idea and further development.

quote from tehir web:

Quote
Bicycle path

As a pilot, approximately one hundred meters of SolaRoad cycle path will be placed along the provincial road N203 near Krommenie. Before the actual construction of such a cycle path, it will thoroughly be tested in a laboratory environment. In the autumn of 2014, the SolaRoad cycle track will be built. It will then remain in situ there for a number of years. During this time, research will be conducted continuously and the technique will be further developed.
The GPS data of the location are: 52.493875, 4.767134
 

Offline miguelvp

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #342 on: July 16, 2014, 05:33:52 pm »
On top of that they only aim to light up the test roadway not power a city or even a small town ;)
 

Offline robbyn

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #343 on: July 16, 2014, 08:50:33 pm »
They talk about that in The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe:
http://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu/470
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #344 on: July 17, 2014, 05:51:09 am »
Edible Freakin Roadways!

 

Offline pickle9000

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #345 on: July 17, 2014, 06:00:40 am »
Edible Freakin Roadways!

I'll give that a thumbs up.
 

Offline gildasd

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #346 on: July 17, 2014, 07:48:56 pm »
The dutch project seems interesting. No a wild claim but a real world test.

As for solar panels on roofs, you must remind yourself that in certain places in Holland or Belgium, the available roof space is already saturated.
On the motorway Antwerp and Rotterdam, I'm pretty sure there's a few km of "solar wall" separating the road and a commercial park - probably also a test.
So they are trying to find other places to make marginal gains, not trying to solve world poverty with hexagons.
I'm electronically illiterate
 

Offline hikariuk

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #347 on: July 19, 2014, 08:14:35 am »
The dutch project seems interesting. No a wild claim but a real world test.

As for solar panels on roofs, you must remind yourself that in certain places in Holland or Belgium, the available roof space is already saturated.
On the motorway Antwerp and Rotterdam, I'm pretty sure there's a few km of "solar wall" separating the road and a commercial park - probably also a test.
So they are trying to find other places to make marginal gains, not trying to solve world poverty with hexagons.

I saw one idea recently to use them in carparks as cover for the parked cars, I kind of liked that idea.  Stops cars getting obscenely hot in sunny weather, means you have shelter when loading the car when it's raining, and potentially does some vaguely useful energy production at the same time.
I write software.  I'd far rather be doing something else.
 

Offline jippie

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #348 on: July 25, 2014, 10:24:55 pm »
http://www.solaroad.nl/en/

Couple major research, tech and civil Dutch companies are in that project, at least they have budget and in depth knowledge on the various topics required. I'm curious for the outcome, though skeptical. At least they seam not to have the LED's for road markings and paddle bikes are a fair bit lighter than cars.
 

Offline EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!
« Reply #349 on: July 25, 2014, 10:50:44 pm »
 


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