Custom Search

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

All about Solar Panels

Subscribe to Electronics Circuits by Email


I hope to cover this article with the following. Don’t know I have succeed in this.

What are solar panels?
How do solar panels work?
How to make panels?

Solar Panels use arrays of solar photovoltaic cells to convert incoming photons from sun into usable electricity. With solar panels we are using echo friendly renewable energy from the sun.

Solar panels are typically constructed with crystalline silicon, and the more expensive gallium arsenide, which is produced exclusively for use in photovoltaic (solar) cells.

Other, more efficient solar panels are assembled by depositing amorphous silicon alloy in a continuous roll-to-roll process. The solar cells created from this process are called Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells, or A-si. Solar Panels constructed using amorphous silicon technology is more durable, efficient, and thinner than their crystalline counterparts.

For very important solar projects, such as space probes, very-high efficiency solar cells are constructed from gallium arsenide by a process called molecular beam epitaxy. Solar cells constructed by this process have several p-n junction diodes, each designed to be maximally efficient at absorbing a given part of the solar spectrum. These solar panels are much more efficient than conventional types, but the process and materials involved make them far too expensive for everyday applications.

Solar panels collect solar radiation from the sun and actively convert that energy to electricity. Solar panels are comprised of several individual solar cells. These solar cells function similarly to large semiconductors and utilize a large-area p-n junction diode. When the solar cells are exposed to sunlight, the p-n junction diodes convert the energy from sunlight into usable electrical energy. The energy generated from photons striking the surface of the solar panel allows electrons to be knocked out of their orbits and released, and electric fields in the solar cells pull these free electrons in a directional current, from which metal contacts in the solar cell can generate electricity. The more solar cells in a solar panel and the higher the quality of the solar cells, the more total electrical output the solar panel can produce. The conversion of sunlight to usable electrical energy has been dubbed the Photovoltaic Effect. The photovoltaic effect arises from the properties of the p-n junction diode; as such there are no moving parts in a solar panel.