The SOL is a rugged, waterproof solar-powered laptop computer intended for use in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n schools that do not have access to an electrical network. Sol was created by

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

-based WeWi Telecommunications.

Design and features

The SOL is available in two editions, a standard edition and the Marine edition which uses

hydrophobic In chemistry, hydrophobicity is the physical property of a molecule that is seemingly repelled from a mass of water (known as a hydrophobe). In contrast, hydrophiles are attracted to water. Hydrophobic molecules tend to be nonpolar and, th ...

coating to provide water repletion instead of waterproofing the laptop. The laptop has a reinforced

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

-based clam shell casing that houses the solar panels and makes the laptop more durable. The device uses four detachable monocrystalline

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

panels which fold into the unit.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://store.solaptop.com/ Applications of photovoltaics Laptops