Australia'S Backpack Solar Cell Has Made Great Progress In Three Years.

In August 27, 2014, Elmar, Emma Kelly, was reported.

In the next few years, the Australian army will be able to get rid of the heavy battery burden.

In a recent 72 hour training mission, soldiers tested the flexible SLIVER technology, proving that it can be used for commercial sales.

Although 6 cm long silicon cells may be very small - they are only 1.5 millimeters wide - but when combined, they can make all kinds of electronic devices, from GPS devices to night vision mirrors, for many years.

Andrew Blakers, a professor at Australian National University and director of the center for sustainable energy systems, says that "knapsacks" can not only reduce soldiers' load, but also extend the duration of tasks. Andrew,

"If you carry fewer batteries, you carry lighter weight, or you carry the same weight, but have longer endurance," he said. "I have heard that soldiers sometimes carry several kilograms of batteries.

If you can cancel most of the batteries and replace them with rechargeable batteries, you can save a lot of batteries.

"In the long run, solar panels don't run out, they just keep charging, so you can use electricity for days, weeks or months," he said.

Although sunlight is the best, solar panels can limit or even eliminate the depletion of batteries in cloudy days, he said.

The technology has been developed into the Defence Science and Technology Organisation and the Commonwealth of Australia science and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), a defense and safety system company, and the special agent of the company.

The company's (Tectonica Australia) funds are part of the $2 million 300 thousand cooperation project.

Due to unusual experiments, Australian National University began to commercialize the project results with industrial partners.

Although the solar cell is likely to enter the military market in the next two to three years, it is expected to attract a wider range of customers, like many military resources.

"A large number of civilian products are suitable for this portable, flexible battery," Professor Black J said.

"The soldiers in the field are not very different from the jungle hikers in the wild -- they don't want to be there.

Carrying glass modules.

Scientists at Australian National University originally used glass to develop these batteries, but the flexiability led the center to think about the possibility of using plastics.

The result is a lightweight fabric that can be woven into fabrics, easy to bend, such as a wearable knapsack battery that soldiers are testing, or materials like a stack of cards that can be folded and placed again.

Professor Black J said solar panels can also provide power for remote sensors such as micro cameras for years.

"You can't do this with a battery," he said.