In June 2024, a new RMIT-led research centre (ARC Research Hub for Intelligent Energy Efficiency in Future Protected Cropping) was funded, with $5M awarded for next 5 years by the Australian Research Council (ARC), in which ClearVue is a Partner Organisation and ClearVue staff (Mikhail Vasiliev and Victor Rosenberg) are partner investigators. We will be supplying and performance testing the solar photovoltaic window samples for use in test greenhouse projects at RMIT (Melbourne) and in other future agrivoltaic installations of this newly established R&D Hub.
An academic article published by ClearVue and Murdoch University researchers in August 2023 has been cited in a recent (September 2024) comprehensive review titled “Wavelength-selective solar photovoltaic systems to enhance spectral sharing of sunlight in agrivoltaics”, in a prestigious high-impact journal Joule, published by Cell Press.
A new grow season started at Murdoch University solar greenhouse. Early results indicate that we are on track to likely repeat the successful demonstration of increased crop yields in several plant species.
Ongoing collaboration with California-based Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) has recently resulted in generating new data entries to be published in the updated International Glazing Data Base (IGDB), based on the optical characterisation measurements performed by the LBL using ClearVue-supplied laminate samples.
These data files produced by the LBL describe the optical and thermal properties of the newest ClearVue PVB interlayer types and allow the worldwide users of LBL’s WINDOW 7.8 software to evaluate the optical and thermal properties (solar heat gain, thermal insulation U-value, visible transmission, etc.) of the various custom designed glazing systems containing ClearVue components.
The ClearVue data will be available to software users in October 2024.
ARC-funded collaborative research activities with Macquarie University and UNSW have started, aimed at the development of next-generation quantum dot fluorescent materials for ClearVue-designed solar windows, following the ARC Linkage grant award achieved in 2023.
In August 2024, Dr Mikhail Vasiliev has visited the School of Chemistry and the School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Melbourne, starting a new round of lab characterisation measurements with ClearVue’s optical components, aimed at further improving the light collection performance in ClearVue’s Generation 2 window systems. This collaborative R&D work also involves Melbourne Safety Glass, who are supplying the test laminates and custom processed glass components.
Researchers at the University of Melbourne led by Prof Paul Mulvaney have submitted in September 2024 a new ARC Linkage Grant application “Australian-Made, High-Performance, Window-Integrated Photovoltaics” for funding commencing in 2025, in which ClearVue is a Partner Organisation. The research activities involve both the optical materials performance benchmarking and comparisons, and the continuous improvements to the optical system design.
Another high-impact research publication co-authored with Melbourne researchers on the optical materials characterisation experiments and the trends observed in the electric energy outputs from different parts of Murdoch greenhouse installation will be submitted in September 2024.
