solar power supply system

1. General
The basic component of solar system is a solar cell. Solar cell is
an electrical (electronic) device which converts solar energy
(light energy ) into electrical energy. The principle behind the
conversion of solar energy into electrical energy is photo-voltaic
effect. Physicist A.Becquerel firstly discovers this theory in
1839. The main advantages associated with solar cells are,

(a)they have no moving parts.

require less maintenance.
(b) high reliability and works quite satisfactory with beam
or diffused radiation.

To evaluate the availability, it can be stated that earth receive

1.62 x 1012 KWH energy per day. However only 40% of it reaches
the surface and rest being reflected by upper layer atmosphere. If
even 40% could be collected, it would represent thousand of times
the total world energy consumption. As far as raw material is
concerned, Si is by far most used in industries and 28% of earth
crust is made up of Si.

2. Components of photovoltaic cell.

It is a semi-conductor diode having specially doped P and N
region. In P region the proportion of impurity is 108 atoms of
Phosphorus per cm3 and in N region the proportion of impurity is
1016 atoms of Boron per cm3 of silicon.
3. Types of solar cells.

Different types of solar cells are made respectively from

(a) Mono-crystalline silicon (Mainly used as present)

The most general known techniques of making solar cells based on
silicon are Mono-crystalline i.e. single crystal. These types solar
cells are extremely stable device. The efficiencies of such cells lie
between 11 to 12%. The major disadvantage of this technology is
high-energy pay back time.

(b) Poly-crystalline silicon.

It may be possible to make solar cells from cheaper poly-
crystalline silicon instead of much expensive single silicon. Poly-
crystalline silicon consists of an aggregate of small crystals or
grains. The efficiencies of such cells are yet below 10%. The
saving in energy consumed for production compensates the loss in
efficiencies.

(c)Amorphous silicon.
A amorphous silicon is actually an alloy of silicon and hydrogen.
The amorphous silicon technology offers thin films solar cells.
Since the photosensitive layer is very thin, little material is
required and ultimate cost are low. The efficiencies of these cells
are around 10%.
4. Constructional Details.
Conventional silicon cells are thin wafers about 300 m in
thickness and 3 to 6 cm in diameter.
0.3m N-type
L
250m P-type O
Layer of Sio2 A
D

Solar Cell

A single cell can generate 0.6 V and current generation of about 35

mA per cm2. The maximum current generation up to now with 100
cm2 cell is 3.5 A.
The power generation can be calculated as,

Max. Power (Pmax) = Vmax x Imax

But, the value of current and voltage of cells depends upon:

(a)Temperature:- The short circuit current (Ish)increases with
increase in temp. While open circuit voltage (Voc)
decreases with increase in temp., as a result the maximum
power slightly drops.
(b) Solar Irradiance: - Current drain is roughly proportional
to quantity of photons striking the cells, voltage remaining
quite stable. Therefore current from cells increases with
increases in solar irradience.