Would it be possible to instal solar panels on all aircraft to reduce energy being produced by other means,?
Question:
Doubtful. Solar panels are too delicate to withstand the forces that they would be subjected to in flight.
We have had 4 modern, high-tec, solar panels approx 4' square each put onto our roof; they are just for free hot water at 60 deg.; they can't produce enough power for heating the radiators
A friend is a canal boat builder and he looked at the possibility of covering the roof of a boat with solar panels with the resulting energy replacing a diesel engine - it is just not on with current technology.
So I think, at the moment, lovely though the idea is, it's a no go at least in this decade.
Instead of painting them white or orange, they should be painted black to absorb heat when they are above the clouds. To save energy, the tanks should be filled with helium as the fuel is used up to make the plane lighter. Runways should be tilted up at the end to assist take-offs. How about all that?
The power from the Sun is about 1350 W per square meter.
The 4 engines of a 747 Jumbo jet add up to 80 MW (yes, this is 80,000,000 watts). So, even if you had solar panels with 100% efficiency (10% is more like it) you'd need about 60,000 square meters of solar panels.
The shadow of a 747 (65 m wjngspan) seems less than 600 m^2. So, at best, you get less than 1% of the power you need (less than 0.1% with more realistic solar panels).
Solar heating is close to what you need (if this wasn't the case, this Planet of ours would be frozen solid by now). However, solar energy would provide only a negligible fraction of what you actually need to propell a commercial plane.
solar panels don't create anywhere near enough power for a commercial jet, and the solar panels would have to withstand amazing pressures, the extansive and contraption of the plane wouls likely break them.
planes are heated with the hot air from the compressor section of the engine (usually around the 6th or 7th stage). This extra air that is "bled" off (called bleed air) is so little compared to the total compressed of the engine it makes a negligible difference in engine efficiency. Also, the fuel tanks are filled with nitrogen as the fuel is used. Nitrogen is much cheaper than helium, but it being an inert gas is why they are filled - to help prevent possible ignition of the fuel inside of the tank.
More Questions & Answers...