EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!

[Mr.B]

All you need are blinky LEDs.  Nothing else matters.

Agreed.
Our stupid local council paid a fivetune for pavement mounted water fountains with multi colour LEDs under the water spouts.
The solenoids turn on and off in a sequenced pattern through the four of five jets spaced about 2 meters appart.
Nobody seems to care that it cost the rate payer mega-bucks.
Everyone just says "Isn't it pretty".

To add insult to injury, they also run it in the height of summer.
Water being splashed all over the show by the kids and evaporation... All during water restrictions when I am not allowed to water my vegetables...

[LabSpokane]

They did it better in 1977:

[ataradov]

All you need are blinky LEDs.  Nothing else matters.

Then hire Mike, he knows how to make robust large scale blinking LED installations

[LabSpokane]

All you need are blinky LEDs.  Nothing else matters.

Then hire Mike, he knows how to make robust large scale blinking LED installations

You read my mind.  I immediately thought that Mike could do something 100X as cool in 1/10 the time *and* it would do what it's supposed to.   

[jonovid]

They did it better in 1977:

[/size] Yay! Leds Lol 

[EEVblog]

Site

There is a perfectly good road right in front of it, why not install the Solar Roadway there? 

[ataradov]

There is a perfectly good road right in front of it, why not install the Solar Roadway there? 

City administration is not THAT stupid.

Also this green roof building is a public restroom, regular solar panels can go on top of that. They will be way more efficient, but won't have blinky LEDs, of course.

[EEVblog]

#1

Wow that's a lot of wasted square area per panel.

And why don't they look like they were supposed to?

[EEVblog]

They light up so pretty at night!
I wonder were they get the power from...

[EEVblog]

Disco floor mode.


Don't ask me how ANY of the lighting displayed corresponds to creating the yellow and white lane marking used on roadways. I haven't even seen what resembles an attempt to do so.

The LEDs are quite coarsely spaced, and unless the panels are installed diagonally from the oncoming traffic, straights lines are going to be hard. BUt even then, look at the panels, the LEDs don't even line up between panels 
Not that the LED idea is ever going to be practical anyway 

[LabSpokane]

Site

There is a perfectly good road right in front of it, why not install the Solar Roadway there? 

An even better question would be, why didn't Solar Roadways install the system at their own parking lot entrance, where cars drive in and out every day? 

The panels had to be installed on the sidewalk, because the minute it snowed, those panels would shatter with the first chained-up UPS truck going over.

And they don't look like they originally did because I'm fairly certain they realized just *how* poor the transmissivity of those first glass slabs were. Not that I think after the potting compound in these ages and yellows that this generation will fare much better.

Tomorrow, I will go dialing for kW-h data. It should be interesting...

[LabSpokane]

They light up so pretty at night!
I wonder were they get the power from...

By the way, that gentleman in the photo is a filmmaker (didn't get his name), so expect some type of movie-ish/documentary to be coming down the pike. When I saw him yesterday, he was sweeping sand to help with the install.

[LabSpokane]

The LEDs are quite coarsely spaced, and unless the panels are installed diagonally from the oncoming traffic, straights lines are going to be hard. BUt even then, look at the panels, the LEDs don't even line up between panels 
Not that the LED idea is ever going to be practical anyway 

The hexagonal shape is a complete train wreck from a design and efficiency standpoint.

I'll see if I can get up to Sandpoint in a week and take some daylight photos just to illustrate how indistinct the LEDs are. I saw absolutely no effort to address the directionality of the LEDs.  I'm trying to be neutral, but it's hard not to feel insulted by just how little effort was put into developing a functional roadway that generates solar power. The two most important criteria have been completely ignored. And this is after ten years and nearly $3MM USD.

Thus far, nobody who is footing the bill seems to care a whit.

[Fungus]

7:26 pm PDT - Less than 12 hours after unveiling, two of the working panels have already had some type of electrical failure.

It's all part of the scam.

Now they can ask for more funding before anybody gets a chance to fully analyze the Wattage data.

[rrinker]

 Even better - not only is there a perfectly good roadway right in front of the location, there's a nice crosswalk there that oculd have been redone with the solar panels. After all, if they can keep the snow and ice off, plus generate power, wouldn't it make sense, keeping the crosswalk safer for pedestrians? And the whole thing could light up red when there's oncoming traffic as an alternative to the Do Not Walk sign.

 As for the comparison to Saturday Night Fever, well, they do have one HUGE advantage - being LEDs they won't get nearly as hot as those 70's disco floors. But absolutely agree, enough blinken lights and the public is fascinated and won't care if the whole thing is actually energy negative.

[coppice]

The top surface of those panels appears to be an ordinary flat glass sheet. Isn't that going to be a little slippery if it rains? It looks like a real health and safety issue for passnig pedestrians. What happened to their low wear high grip vehicle grade glass surface?

[LabSpokane]

The top surface of those panels appears to be an ordinary flat glass sheet. Isn't that going to be a little slippery if it rains? It looks like a real health and safety issue for passnig pedestrians. What happened to their low wear high grip vehicle grade glass surface?

There is actually a very fine, but grippy texture on the surface. No worries about slipping. I tried it.

[EEVblog]

The panels had to be installed on the sidewalk, because the minute it snowed, those panels would shatter with the first chained-up UPS truck going over.

Yup. After all these years and millions of dollars in development, the only thing that's been on these tiles is a sub 1ton tractor with low pressure tires 

And they don't look like they originally did because I'm fairly certain they realized just *how* poor the transmissivity of those first glass slabs were. Not that I think after the potting compound in these ages and yellows that this generation will fare much better.

Yup again. They'll never release that data though.

Tomorrow, I will go dialing for kW-h data. It should be interesting...
[/quote]

[EEVblog]

I'll see if I can get up to Sandpoint in a week and take some daylight photos just to illustrate how indistinct the LEDs are. I saw absolutely no effort to address the directionality of the LEDs.  I'm trying to be neutral, but it's hard not to feel insulted by just how little effort was put into developing a functional roadway that generates solar power. The two most important criteria have been completely ignored. And this is after ten years and nearly $3MM USD.

Yup, and here us "doubters" with our silly engineering data and knowledge we were getting attacked by the true believers about how the LED solution could be easily solved and they haven't even tried.
Perhaps they already know it's entirely impractical?
Oh, you want to direct those LED's? Which direction? How much loss? How much power is required? 

[digsys]

  There is actually a very fine, but grippy texture on the surface. No worries about slipping. I tried it. 

And seriously, how long will that last ?

[EEVblog]

The Engadget peanut gallery are out 
https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/02/solar-roadways-public-test/

[LabSpokane]

  There is actually a very fine, but grippy texture on the surface. No worries about slipping. I tried it. 

And seriously, how long will that last ?

As a road?  It would likely be worn down very quickly. As a disco floor, it will likely stay grippy enough to impede many of the more advanced moves for a few months.

[LabSpokane]

The Engadget peanut gallery are out 
https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/02/solar-roadways-public-test/

And so is missed the entire point of having an education in science and engineering: so we can spend 10 minutes with a napkin and a calculator and know what *not* to spend $3MM and ten years developing.

[ataradov]

It looks like we have an answer to visibility of road markings question. Here is how that thing looks in a day light.

[Fungus]

And so is missed the entire point of having an education in science and engineering: so we can spend 10 minutes with a napkin and a calculator and know what *not* to spend $3MM and ten years developing.

But they're Americans! Americans can achieve anything if they just want it badly enough.