| 2005.12.31. Solar Car Archaeology Research Institute | |||||||
| Chronology / Development of the Solar Cells and the Early Solar Cars | |||||||
| YEAR | PLACE | EVENT | DETAILS | REF. | |||
| 1839 | French | Photovoltaic Effect | Edmund Becquerel, a young physicist, discovered the photovoltaic effect while experimenting with an electrolytic cell made up of two metal electrodes. | Compt. Rend. 9, 561 (1839) | |||
| 1876 | UK | Photovoltaic Effect in Solid Selenium | Adams and Day observed the photovoltaic effect in solid selenium. | Proc. Roy. Soc. London Ser. A 25, 113 (1876) | |||
| 1883 | USA | Selenium Photo Cells | Charles Fritts, an American inventor, described the first solar cells made from selenium wafers. | Amer. J. Sci. 26, 465 (1883) | |||
| 1914-1918 | Wolrd | The First World War | |||||
| 1918 | Poland | Single Crystal Silicon | Polish scientist Czochralski developed a way to grow single-crystal silicon. | http://www.geocities.com/semnews/milestones.html | |||
| 1939-1945 | World | The Second World War | |||||
| 1947-1952 | USA | p-n Junction Transistor | AT&T, Bell Laboratories, basic theory, proof experiments, and patent applications, for the transistor with pn junction. | http://www.mirai.tut.ac.jp/flabo/repo5/frepo/030521.pdf | |||
| 1954 | USA | Silicon Solar Cells | USA AT&T Bell Labs researchers D. M. Chapin, C. S. Fuller and G. L. Pearson reported their discovery of 4.5% efficient silicon solar cells. The efficient was raised to 6% only a few months later. | Bell Labs, U.S.A. J. Appl. Phys. 25, 676 (1954) | |||
| 1955 | USA | Commercial
Products |
Western Electric began to sell commercial licenses for silicon PV technologies | http://www.pvresources.com/en/history.php | |||
| USA | Hoffman Electronics's Semiconductor Division announced a commercial PV product at 2% efficiency; priced at $25/cell and at 14 mW each | http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsolar2.htm | |||||
| USA | The
First Solar Car (vol.1) |
The first solar car was publicly demonstrated. It was a 15-inch mobile made by William G. Cobb of the General Motors Corporation with 12 selenium photoelectric cells. | http://www.todayinsci.com/cgi-bin/indexpage.pl?http://www.todayinsci.com/8/8_31.htm http://timelines.ws/20thcent/1955.HTML |
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| 1957 | USA | US Patent | "Solar Energy Converting Apparatus," patent US2780765 was issued to Chapin, Fuller, and Pearson, AT&T. | USP2780765 | |||
| USA | 8% Efficient Cells | Hoffman Electronics achieved 8% efficient cells. | |||||
| USA | Vanguard I | The first space satellite "Vanguard I" equipped with solar cells was launched. However, the rocket that put it exploded immediately after the launch. | http://ncst-www.nrl.navy.mil/NCSTOrigin/Vanguard.html | ||||
| 1958 | USA | Explorer 1 | The United States succeeded in the launch of Explorer 1. The satellite operated with the solar cell for 112 days. | http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/Exhibits/AirAndSpace/MissionToThePlanets/Explorer1/Explorer1.php | |||
| 1959 | Japan | Sharp Corp. | Sharp Corporation started the solar cell research. | http://sharp-world.com/corporate/info/his/h_company/1963/index.html | |||
| 1960 | USA | 14% Efficient Cells. | Hoffman Electronics achieved 14% efficient PV cells. | http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsolar2.htm | |||
| 1962 | USA | The
First Solar Car (vol.2) |
The International Rectifier Company unveiled a solar energy-powered Baker electric (1912 vintage) car. The Vehicle was outfitted with a roof deck composed of 10,640 individual solar cells. | http://www-cchs.ccsd.k12.wy.us/cchs_web/jiliff/Decades/cars/cars.html | |||
| 1963 | Japan | Japanese Solar Cells Production | Sharp Corporation succeeded in producing practical silicon solar cells. | http://www.sharp.co.jp/sunvista/about/history.html | |||
| 1964 | USA | Nimbus | The Nimbus (earth observing satellite) was launched with a 470 watt solar cells. It stopped operating by the solar cell damage in one month. | http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsolar2.htm | |||
| 1965 | USA | Crystal Silicon Ribbons | Tyco Labs developed the edge-defined, film-fed growth (EFG) process, first to grow crystal sapphire ribbons and then silicon. | http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsolar2.htm | |||
| 1966 | USA | OAO-1 | In 8. Apr. 1966, OAO-1: The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory was launched with 1 kW solar cells. The missions were observation of ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma ray emission. It stopped two days later due to the breakdown of the power system. | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbiting_Astronomical_Observatory | |||
| Japan | Lighthouse with Solar Panels | In Japan, a 242 watt Sharp solar panels were installed on a lighthouse on Ogami Island Nagasaki Pref. It was the world's largest array at that time. | http://www.sharp.co.jp/sunvista/about/history.html | ||||
| 1973 | World | The First Oil Crisis | The fourth Middle East war broke out on October 6, 1973. The crude oil price rised greatly.The economy of Japan and the industry that had depended on crude oil from Arab were faced to a big crisis. | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_energy_crisis | |||
| 1974 | USA | 1 inch Wide Silicon Ribbon | Tyco Labs grew the first EFG, 1-inch-wide ribbon by an endless-belt process. | http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsolar2.htm | |||
| Japan | Sunshine Program | Japan
Ministry of International Trade and Industry Agency of Industrial Science and Technology. The Sunshine program that promoted the petronium alternative energy development was begun. Six companies (Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC, Sharp, Matsushita, and the Toyo silicon) |
http://www.cm.hit-u.ac.jp/kyouiku/mcm/thesis/shimamt1.html | ||||
| 1975 | Japan | Japan Solar Energy Company | Sharp proposed the FEG process to Agency of Industrial Science and Technology with Kyocera that was licensed from Tyco labs. Their proposals were rejected. Sharp, Kyocera, Matsushita, Mobile (U.S.), and Tyco Labs(U.S.) established "Japan solar energy company (JSEC)" for developing FEG process. | www.meti.go.jp/policy/tech_evaluation/
e00/01/h12/h1303i29-1. http://www.kyocera.co.jp/prdct/solar/spirit/history/75-81.html http://www.kyocera.co.jp/prdct/fc/htdocs/library/17.html |
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| USA | Terrestrial PV R&D Project, | 1975: The U.S. government began a terrestrial PV research and development project, assigned to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), as a result of recommendations of the Cherry Hill Conference. | |||||
| 1976 | USA | Amorphous Silicon Solar Cell | D.E. Carlson and C.R. Wronski reported the fabrication of aｎ amorphous silicon p-i-n solar cell with a conversion efficiency of 2.4% | D.E. Carlson and C.R. Wronski, Appl. Phys. Letters, 28,11,1976 | |||
| 197X | Japan | The First Solar Car in Japan | Prof. Masaharu Fujita and his research group had begun to study Solar Electric Vehicle after Oil Crisis. Their first vehicle was a solar bicycle. The second car was a four-wheeled vehicle. | Masaharu Fujinaka," Earth friendly Solar Car (High Tech Selection)", Tokyo Denki University Publications Service,1991.03.30,(in Japanese) | |||
| 1977 | USA | SERI | USA, The Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), later to become the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), began operating. | http://www.nrel.gov | |||
| USA | The
First Solar Car (vol.3) |
The first, totally solar-powered car, the "Bluebird," was built by Ed Passerini, in 1977 | http://www.cw.ua.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/04/29/3cccbf3a6e706 | ||||
| 1978 | World | The Second Oil Crisis | Iranian Revolution in 1978. The oil production in Iran interrupted, and oil supply was stringent to Japan that had bought a large amount of crude oil from Iran. The crude oil price was raised up again. | ||||
| Japan | Sunshine Program include Amorphous | The
development of the amorphous silicon solar cell was included in the Sunshine
Program. |
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| 1979 | UK | The
First Solar Car (vol.4) |
Alan Freeman constructed a solar car in 1979. And he road registered his solar car in 1980. | http://www.speedace.info/alan_freeman_solar_car.htm http://www.bvs.org.uk/text.HTML |
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| 1980 | Japan | NEDO | NEDO
(New Energy Development Organization) was established. The research on the
oil alternative energy use that contain the solar cell was promoted. |
http://www.nedo.go.jp/english/index.html | |||
| Japan | Commercial Production of Amorphous Solar Cells | The world's first commercial production of amorphous silicon solar cells by Sanyo Electric. | http://www.sanyo.co.jp/clean/solar/hit_e/index_e.html | ||||
| Israel | The First Solar Car (Israel) | Professor Arye Braunstein （Tel Aviv university Department of Engineering) produced a solar car. The vehicle had a metal frame and poly vinyl made body, and 432 solar cells (max 400w) were nstalled. | http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1980_September_October/Israel_s_Solar_Powered_Car | ||||
| 1982 | Japan | Polysilicon Solar Cells | Kyopcera Corp. began the mass production of polysilicon solar cells. | http://www.kyocera.co.jp/prdct/solar/spirit/history/82-86.html | |||
| Australia | Trans-Continental
Touring by the Solar Car |
In
December 19, Hans Tholstrup and Larry Perkins started on a historical
trans-continental touring. |
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| Copywright Stoshi Maeda | |||||||