After arriving on the second floor.
Chen Yi turned on his computer and pulled up the drone design blueprints from before.
He connected the 3D printer and printed another batch of drone components.
The ion-propulsion drone from the previous test flight had its battery attributes adjusted, and its radar imaging and communication modules were also products of multiple stacking adjustments.
Now that solar panels and External Function Modules had been added.
The item's Quantum Domain would collapse and reorganize again, making it impossible to read the subsequent information.
To make further improvements and read the technical information, he could only use unadjusted, unstacked materials and components to build a brand-new drone.
After watching for a while and confirming that the 3D printer was operating normally.
Chen Yi took the previous drone, connected it to the computer, and exported the flight-test data from when it had hunted the black hawk.
The data exported automatically.
Chen Yi then went over to activate the battery production equipment and produced another batch of batteries.
Several hours later.
The new drone components, engine modules, and batteries were all finished.
Chen Yi picked up the still-warm parts, quickly assembled the drone, and loaded in the manually written avionics control program.
Then, he carefully installed the completely original batteries, whose theoretical safety rating was 10 but whose actual safety rating was only 1.4, in series.
"Phew, no explosion. Looks like my skills are better than the Samsung Note 7's."
Seeing that the batteries had been installed successfully.
And that the anticipated smoke, fire, and explosion had not occurred.
Chen Yi breathed a sigh of relief. He picked up the solar panel beside him, ran it through voltage boosting and rectification, and connected it to the battery's charging terminal.
[Item: Ion-Propulsion Drone] [Attributes: Energy x42.1(!), Speed x1.6, Mass x21, Stability x2.6, Strength x14, Communication x12.5, Radar Imaging x10.6, Avionics x34.5, Appearance x3.8, Endurance Replenishment x4.6] [Consciousness Wave: 6801203] [Note: This is a uniquely designed ion-propulsion aircraft. Unfortunately, its unsafe and unstable energy core makes it extremely dangerous. Its cumbersome endurance replenishment module causes Stability, Speed, Appearance, and other attributes to plummet, preventing it from flying normally.]
"I never expected this explosive battery to even trigger a warning exclamation mark."
Chen Yi stepped back several paces, making sure he was at the maximum safe distance for adjusting attributes.
Whoosh!
Rainbow-colored light bloomed.
It enveloped the drone before Chen Yi, which had a solar panel mounted on its back.
The solar panel's attributes rapidly adjusted, while its shape and form continuously changed.
More than ten seconds later, the light faded.
The thick, hard, square monocrystalline silicon solar panel vanished.
In its place was a special black translucent film.
Faint golden threads spread across the film, forming small slime-mold-like nodes that eventually converged into two wires connected to the drone's charging port.
"This looks a bit like the membrane circuit board inside those old membrane keyboards."
Chen Yi examined this brand-new solar circuit board and checked the drone's attributes.
[Item: Ion-Propulsion Drone] [Attributes: Energy x21.1(!), Speed x2.6, Mass x21, Stability x2.6, Strength x14, Communication x12.5, Radar Imaging x10.6, Avionics x34.5, Appearance x4.8, Endurance Replenishment x24.6] [Consciousness Wave: 6790203] [One attribute has exceeded its initial value. Read information? Yes/No!] [Note: This is a one-of-a-kind ion-propulsion aircraft. Unfortunately, its unsafe and unstable energy core makes it extremely dangerous. The lightweight endurance replenishment module has also reduced its Stability, Speed, Appearance, and other attributes. Perhaps you could find a way to fit the film against the surface of the airframe. That might bring you some surprises.]
"The solar panel turned into solar cell film, and its appearance improved a little."
"Fitting the cell film to the airframe is exactly the sort of idea I like. Looks like the system understands me pretty well."
"But unfortunately, a simple fit like that can't withstand very high speeds."
Chen Yi looked at the evaluation in the note, but he did not rush to read the information.
Instead, he took out a monocrystalline silicon solar panel, connected it to a high-precision current and power meter, and placed it beneath the sunlight on the balcony.
Then, he connected the solar cell film to the current and power meter as well.
He spread it out beside the monocrystalline silicon panel and placed it on the balcony to bask in the sunlight.
Five minutes later.
Chen Yi recorded the power readings of the solar panel and solar cell film, measured their areas, and finally calculated their solar conversion efficiency.
"According to the calculations, under standard unit-area conditions.
The cell film's average power over ten minutes was 42 watts, while the monocrystalline silicon panel produced 21 watts over ten minutes.
Most monocrystalline silicon solar panels have an actual solar conversion rate of 18%.
This cell film's solar conversion efficiency reached 35.9%."
Looking at the calculated figure, Chen Yi shook his head in disappointment.
A solar conversion efficiency of 35.9%.
It was still far from his required standard.
As far as he knew, as early as two years ago.
Researchers at Eagle Country's NREL had used Group III-V compound materials to develop solar panels with a conversion rate close to 50% in the laboratory.
"Read the information."
Dense information surfaced in Chen Yi's mind.
Compared with the complex material structures and dense algorithms from before.
This information was relatively simple.
It described a thin-film semiconductor material with a light-concentrating structure, produced through chemical deposition, along with corresponding processes such as slicing, series connection, assembly, layering, compound packaging, and so on.
The processes were ordinary. Any solar panel manufacturer could handle them.
The true essence lay in this special semiconductor material.
Ordinary polycrystalline or monocrystalline silicon solar panels.
Converted light energy into electrical energy through the semiconductor photoelectric effect.
But because monocrystalline silicon itself had an excessively high reflectivity, a considerable portion of the energy was reflected away.
At some massive solar photovoltaic bases, the reflected light was so concentrated that birds flying overhead could sometimes be roasted unconscious.
This unique thin-film semiconductor compound material, however, relied on a special microscopic structure.
Like a magnifying glass.
It gathered incoming light, reduced reflection, and increased the intensity and efficiency of light conversion.
"So, improving the material's light-concentrating effect and reducing reflection."
"That should be the direction for the next technological breakthrough in solar panels."
Chen Yi made his guess inwardly and continued adjusting the attributes.
[Energy: 21.1 → 7.1] [Avionics: 34.5 → 24.5] [Endurance Replenishment: 24.6 → 44.6] [Stability: 2.6 → 4.6] [Speed: 2.6 → 4.6] [One attribute has exceeded its initial value. Read information? Yes/No!]
The light faded, revealing a thin, translucent panel before Chen Yi.
The original solar cell film hardened again, becoming stronger and more rigid.
After connecting it to the high-precision power meter, Chen Yi once again conducted a comparison test against the monocrystalline silicon solar panel.
"An average of 64 watts over ten minutes, with a conversion rate of 54.8%. Let's read the information."
After a round of testing and calculations, Chen Yi obtained the solar panel's conversion efficiency this time.
Without hesitation, he directly chose to read the information.
"Group III-V gallium nitride compound material.
It also has a light-concentrating structure, reducing light reflection.
At the same time, its photoelectric effect is more pronounced, reducing the internal resistance of the solar panel.
Its heat dissipation is also better, reducing losses caused by increased resistance as temperatures rise under daytime irradiation."
Chen Yi pondered and digested the information in his mind.
After a long while, realization dawned on him. "If I'm not mistaken, this should be the solar panel that Eagle Country's NREL researchers developed in the laboratory using Group III-V compound materials.
And it's an even more refined, advanced version of the technology that has achieved industrial mass production.
Looks like I need to sort through the technical details when I have time.
Before Eagle Country's technology gets beyond the laboratory stage and achieves industrial mass production, I'll register a wave of global patents.
Peaches always taste better when picked from someone else's tree!"
Chen Yi added the matter to his schedule, looked at the drone before him, and continued adjusting its attributes.
[Avionics: 24.5 → 7.5] [Endurance Replenishment: 44.6 → 69.6] [Stability: 4.6 → 7.6] [Speed: 4.6 → 7.6] [Communication: 12.5 → 7.5] [Mass: 21 → 9]
Rainbow-colored light emerged.
The drone's attributes rapidly adjusted.
When the light faded, the previously hard and rigid gallium nitride solar panel had changed appearance.
It became a hazy, distorted solar cell film, its color like black crystal in a mirage, soft and thin throughout.
"It's reached the limit."
Chen Yi looked at the attribute that could no longer be adjusted once Endurance Replenishment reached 69.6.
He understood that this should be the solar panel's limit.
Although the photoelectric effect was a physical phenomenon at the atomic level and could achieve energy conversion efficiency far beyond chemical energy.
For example, the electromagnetic force effect of electric motors could easily achieve energy conversion rates above 90%.
However, compared with the sealed environment of an electric motor, solar panels were far more affected by the outside environment, so their efficiency would definitely be much lower.
As for 100%...
Thermodynamic limitations.
No matter how incredible an electric motor or solar panel was, it could never reach 100%.
"Let's test it and see whether it has broken 80%."
Chen Yi connected the cell film to the power meter and hurried to test it before the sun set.
After more than ten minutes of testing, the results came out.
"An average of 98.7 watts over ten minutes, 84.6%—hiss!"
Seeing the measured conversion rate, Chen Yi could not help sucking in a breath.
A conversion rate beyond his imagination!
It could convert 84.6% of solar energy into electrical energy.
"With this solar cell film."
An astonishing thought flashed through Chen Yi's mind. "It seems I can design a true Sun Never Sets Drone based on this solar cell film."
"As long as the sun doesn't set, neither will I!"
PS: A 3,000-word chapter. Esteemed Readers, please keep reading, and please send recommendation votes and monthly votes.
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