NSF Convergence Accelerator Track M: Bio-Inspired Surface Design for High Performance Mechanical Tracking Solar Collection Skins in Architecture

建筑物占碳排放量的40%，造成了我们最沉重的社会挑战之一--气候危机背景下的建筑。在建筑物上进行太阳能发电是工程和建筑学中的一个汇聚问题。通过在设计的早期阶段将创造性的生物灵感与光伏(PV)系统相结合，该项目将与研究人员的行业合作伙伴E Ink一起，推动可持续发展、技术和设计的广泛整合，以产生国家影响。该团队将结合生物灵感设计研究过程，解决建筑集成光伏(BIPV)的两个主要收敛问题：1.采用平面硅系统的单轴太阳跟踪根据地理位置可以产生高达10%-40%的能量，但与传统系统相比，需要更多的场地准备和更多的维护。2.住宅部门没有大规模采用太阳能电池板，主要原因是设计质量和美观程度较低。研究人员假设，美丽和可持续的设计是大自然的重要组成部分，而且已经证明，太阳跟踪在植物中产生光合作用优势，这表明它对光伏系统也有类似的好处。从自然中学习，研究人员将通过实验室和设计工作室的杂交，采用一种激进的跨学科方法来实现可持续发展，融合研究和工业中的创新，以产生兼具美感和性能的太阳能收集皮肤。研究人员的方法将创造一个重要的机会来激发公众的兴趣，从而吸引他们对STEM的兴趣。该项目的智力优势将通过在设计、Kirigami几何学、3D打印以及仿生滤光器和皮肤组件的卷到卷制造方面的进步来创新光伏电池的设计和工程。具体地说，研究人员将基于植物光合作用的基本操作开发三种仿生设计方法-向日性(定向)、光散射(滤光器)和细胞对不同辐射暴露的形态反应(调节形状)。接下来，该团队将测试、扩展和优化具有kirigami几何学的仿生工具包，以开发一系列模块形状，这些模块形状可以改变和变形为任何全球表面设计，但量身定做以跟踪太阳不断变化的路径。将生物适应性，包括拟南芥植物的细胞形态发生和向日葵的趋日性机制与kirigami方法相结合，该团队将研究面板的非传统表面配置。第三个目标是将仿生表面设计策略与硅材料在光伏电池和皮肤层面对光和能量的响应相结合，以设计和设计特定功能。通过与E Ink的独特合作，该项目将开发高度定制的非标准滤光片和光伏电池板表面，为建筑创造特定地点的、美丽的、机械跟踪的太阳能集热皮肤。通过利用大自然工具包的弹性和性能以及团队的跨行业专业知识，该项目交付成果将展示第一个适应性太阳能收集系统，展示以生物为灵感设计的新BIPV皮肤的潜力，展示了一种集成的光吸收发电方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Buildings account for 40% of carbon emissions, contributing to one of our most burdensome societal challenges – architecture in the context of climate crisis. Generating solar power on buildings is a convergent problem in engineering and architecture. By integrating creative bio-inspiration with photovoltaic (PV) systems in the early phases of design, this project will inspire widespread integration of sustainability, technology, and design for national impact together with the researchers’ industry partner, E Ink. The team will incorporate a bio-inspired design research process that will address two primary convergent problems with building integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs): 1. Single axis sun tracking with planar silicon systems can generate as much as 10-40% more energy depending on geographic location, but there is more site preparation needed and more maintenance required than conventional systems. 2. Lack of large-scale public adoption of solar panels in the residential sector is primarily due to poor design quality and aesthetics. The researchers hypothesize that beauty and sustainable design are an essential part of nature, and it has been demonstrated that solar tracking produces a photosynthetic advantage in the plant suggesting that it will be similarly beneficial for photovoltaic systems. Learning from nature, the researchers will employ a radical transdisciplinary approach to sustainability through the hybridization of labs and design studios to fuse innovations in research and industry to generate solar collection skins that leverage both aesthetics and performance. The researchers’ methodology will create a significant opportunity to excite the public, thereby engaging their interest in STEM. The intellectual merit of the project will innovate the design and engineering of PV cells through advancements in design, kirigami geometry, 3D printing, and roll-to-roll manufacturing for bio-inspired filters and skin assemblies.Specifically, the researchers will develop three bio-inspired design methods based on fundamental operations of photosynthesis in plants – heliotropism (orientation), light scattering (filters), and cellular morphological responses (modulate shape) to varied radiant exposure. Next, the team will test, extend, and optimize the bio-inspired toolkit with kirigami geometry to develop a family of module shapes that can change and morph into any global surface design, but are tailored to track the changing path of the sun. Blending biological adaptations, including cellular morphogenesis in the Arabidopsis plant and heliotropic mechanisms in sunflowers with kirigami methods, the team will investigate non-conventional surface configurations of panels. The third aim focuses on the convergence of the bio-inspired surface design strategies with the silicon material response to light and energy at the photovoltaic cell and skin levels to design and engineer for specific functions. Through a unique partnership with E Ink, the project will develop highly customized, non-standard filters and PV panel surfaces to create site-specific, beautiful, mechanical tracking solar collection skins for architecture. By leveraging the resiliency and performance of nature’s tool kit and the team’s cross-sector expertise, the project deliverable will demonstrate the first adaptable solar collection system, demonstrating the potential of bio-inspired design for a new BIPV skin that showcases an integrated approach to light absorption for energy generation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.