Proto Labs, an online and technology-enabled quick-turn manufacturer, has presented its next Cool Idea! Award to Skyven Technologies for its development of an innovative solar panel system. The manufacturing grant will help the Texas-based company further advance its Skyven Cogen System that simultaneously produces energy for both electrical power and heated water.
The system integrates three technologies — traditional solar PV, advanced concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) and solar water heating — into a single, multi-tasking solar panel. A network of panels can be installed on commercial and industrial rooftops, which then provides companies, hotels, factories and other large facilities access to more efficient electricity and water heating.
“The solar industry is growing tremendously, and much of that is led by increased awareness paired with the steady decrease of silicon and solar panel costs,” explains Skyven founder and Ph.D. Arun Gupta.
Gupta plans to use the Cool Idea! Award service grant on plastic and metal parts manufactured by all three of Proto Labs services. Due to the precise nature of the panels’ mechanical drivetrains, 3D printed prototypes will be built through Proto Labs’ rapid stereolithography (SL) process. Panel components will also be CNC machined and injection molded as Skyven continues to develop the manufacturability of the system. Gupta and his team are working towards the completion of their pre-production version by mid-2015 with plans for a full-market launch in 2016.
“Skyven has leveraged existing solar technologies, which have been heavily researched and proven over the past few decades, to create a completely new model that builds on each technology’s strengths,” says Proto Labs founder, Larry Lukis. “The resulting product is one that brings higher levels of solar efficiencies to a market that is always looking to reduce its users’ carbon footprint.”
Since 2011, the Cool Idea! Award has provided more than $750,000 in Proto Labs prototyping and low-volume production services to entrepreneurs developing new products in the United States and Europe. Cool Idea! Award is meant to help innovative ideas come to life.