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Super-Thin Solar: Sized from 180W to 540W and less than 12 kgs!
So has a third the Power to weight ratio as a Porsche!

 

 

 

The Super-Thin Solar panels are made from Monocrystalline wafers bonded in a unique and proprietary way to Aluminium.
The photo shows the two types of monocrystalline panels.

Monocrystalline silicon solar panels are common in the industry because of reliability and great watts/square metre. However, the traditional glass format is very heavy and fragile. A slight crack can cause the panel to fail!

In 2009, Kimberley started working with a manufacturer to use the Oxide Aluminium back-sheet and Dupont’s EVA/ Tedlar products to bond the same monocrystalline wafers.
This produced a highly durable panel less than 2mm thin, and weighing 75% less than glass. We have now shipped more than 800 panels with this technology without one failure!
They are virtually unbreakable (No Glass). Other technologies that we considered are:

So what is the weight saving with Super-thin Solar panels?

The 540W Panel array on a Kruiser weighs 15kgs. If this array was in conventional glass based solar, it would weigh 65 Kgs.

The weight saving is 50kgs. There is an added benefit that this saving is on the roof!

Specifications of a combined pair of panels rated at 180W:

• Open circuit voltage (Voc): 42.6V
• Optimum power voltage (Imp): 36V
• Short circuit current (Isc): 5.5A (note this is at 36V)
• Optimum operating current (Im): 5A
• Watts peak (Wp): 180W
• Weight: 3.5Kg

The first thing you will notice with this specification is the higher voltages. We have specifically design these panels for this higher voltage as it reduces losses in the cabling from the roof to the controller.

These panels will only work with a controller that will take up to 50V open circuit voltage. They work best with MPPT controllers.
The 30A MPPT controller available from Kimberley has a high efficiency.

These panels can power 24V circuits if required. They are sold as 180W, 360W of 540W sets.

The Smart weight saving for customers in the Kruiser when the Super-Thin Solar is combined with Lithium Batteries is:

	Solar and Batteries	Difference in Weight	Comment
Kimberley Kruiser Classic Battery and Solar Specification	180W Solar and 168Ahrs Lithium Batteries	Combined weight of 26kgs	70 Kg Lighter than glass panels and AGM Batteries Includes 20A MPPT controller
Kimberley Kruiser Black Caviar Battery and Solar Specification	540W Solar and 250 Ahrs of lithium Batteries	Combined weight of 46kgs	174 Kg Lighter than glass panels and AGM Batteries No need to modify car for charging Includes large 30A MPPT controller

This chart says it all. It is “smart” as there is no reduction in strength or effective capacity. The weight saving is purely because of new “smart” technology of Lithium Batteries and Super-Thin Solar!

This is an image of the Solar Controller's performance at 9am on June 23rd in NSW. The sun is very low in the sky and it is early morning. Although there is 540W of Panel capacity on the roof because of the low angle of the sun, only 78W is finding it's way to the controller. The MPPT has set the maximum power point at 37.2V and the batteries are about half full at 129Ahr. They hade been used all night for DVD/Stereo plus the fridge freezer running. There is now 5.9Amps going into the batteries which are at 13V.

Equipment used (note Hot Water and Diesel Cooktop use minimal power when running)	Water Pumps	25 LEDs	Freezer	Fridge	Microwave	Media Centre DVD	LCD Screen Bedroom	LCD Screen Galley	Fantastic Fans
Status During Test	Intermittent	All On	Running	Running	Standby	Running all the time	Running part of time	Running part of time	2 Running part of time

The Kimberley Kruiser Black Caviar Model with 540W of solar on roof, in the Southern Highlands of NSW on a sunny day but with the sun low in the sky between 10am and 1.30pm on June 29th (lowest sun angle day of year) used only a net 0.5Ahr of the batteries during this period.

These Super-Thin Solar panels are made in China with Dupont technology. DuPont has started ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) production at its Chinese joint venture, under the Elvax brand. It is formulated as an encapsulant for solar cells. Dupont’s other Solar products: Solamet photovoltaic metallization pastes, and Tedlar polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) resin are also produced in China. Tedlar films boost long-term durability and performance for solar modules in all-weather conditions.

The Power to weight ratio of a Standard Porsche Boxster is approx 120 W/kg; For the Super Thin Solar: 37 W/kg
The Porsche uses carbon based fuel; the Super Thin Solar uses the renewable power of the Sun!