A fully levelled investigation into how cloud cover effects the amount of electricity solar cells produce. Your experiment will measure the effect of changing light intensity on power output from the solar cell. With this project, you can get down to the atomic level and learn about the world of solidstate electronics as you investigate how solar cells work. Ee462l, power electronics, solar power, iv characteristics version january 31st, 2014 page 3 of 27 yield panel voc. Physics laboratory manual for engineering undergraduates dr. Lecture 3 types of solar cells experiment 3 generations. Experiment instructions to carry out an investigation into the factors affecting the voltage produced by a solar cell. Ee462l, power electronics, solar power, iv characteristics version january 31st, 2014 page 2 of 27 correctly. I tested all the tracking and data logging software routines before running the experiment outside with the real tracker hardware. Part 1 was an experiment to determine whether the distance of the source of light from the photovoltaic cell affects the power the cell produces.
Currently, solar energy is recognized as one of the most promising options to address the issue 1,2. In the first part of the lab we wanted to see how changing the intensity of light affected the amount of electricity produced by the solar cell. Shortcircuit current is and noload voltage uo as a function of the light intensity j. A solar cell uses the photovoltaic effect to convert solar radiation directly to dc electrical energy. Part b semiconductor devices experiment series 3 solar cell solar cell prelaboratory assignment draw the equivalent circuit representing a solar cell. Experiments with pv cells uo solar radiation monitoring.
Polycrystalline thin films, crystal structure, deposition techniques cdscdte iivi cells cdscuin,gase2 cells. Under illumi nation from an artificial light source with an intensity of 8. The four 15 watt panels form the complete 60w ideal output that powers the rest of the circuit. A perovskite structured compound is a hybrid organicinorganic lead or tin halidebased material and also has the active layer for harvesting the light. The sequence is a simple set of repeating steps including oxidation, etching, diffusion, cleaning and patterning. Svelto, the flight data of the gaas solar cell experiment on. You should also work out numerical values for equations 1 9 for the day and time of your measurements. Solar powered toys, calculators, and roadside telephone call boxes all use solar cells to convert sunlight into electricity. Thereis also a chapter on advanced types of silicon cells. Jan 16, 2015 experiment instructions to carry out an investigation into the factors affecting the voltage produced by a solar cell.
Alternative solar cells can have practical implications for renewable energy production. The cell should have either clips or hooks around which you can manually twist the wire. A typical iv curve and power curve of a solar cell fig 4. In our experiment, the solar cell and motor had v 1. This experiment will provide students with a thorough analysis of a solar panel system that produces a standard 120v ac output. Experimental arrangement for solar cell characteristics apparatus. A solar cell or a photovoltaic cell is a device that converts photons from the sun solar light into electricity. The power of a solar cell is the product of the voltage across the solar cell times the current through the solar cell. Set up your lamp a fixed distance from where you will test the solar cell. The way a solar cell looks physically is shown in fig. A material or device that is capable of converting the energy contained in photons of light into an electrical voltage and current is said to be photovoltaic pv. A solar cell is an electronic device which directly converts sunlight into electricity. Single and polycrystalline silicon growth, impurity diffusion, contacts modules, interconnection generation 2. What is the difference between solar cell and a photodiode.
The parameters like ph, oxygen level and turbidity at every node powered. Efficiency of a solar cell objective how efficient is a solar cell at converting the suns energy into power. The solar cell traps all the electrons released by the silicon and pushes them in one direction, which creates an electric current. Part 1 was an experiment to determine whether the distance of the source of light from the photovoltaic cell affects the power the cell. This channel covers theory classes, practical classes, demonstrations, animations, physics fun, puzzle and many more of the physics.
Various photovoltaic pv solar cell technologies are currently being developed in three. Many notions presented in this chapter will be new but nonetheless the general idea of how a solar cell works should be clear. The tool simulates the currentvoltage iv characteristics of. Enhanced light trapping in solar cells with a metamirror following generalized snells law. An overview of the sequence is shown to the right figure 1. Types of solar cells experiment 3 generations generation 1. This is sort of like a light bulb that is acting in reverse. Oct 30, 2011 in this weeks class we conducted a series of experiments concerning photovoltaic cells. To investigate any relationship present between the distance between a solar cell and a lamp, and the current output of the solar cell, at a fixed voltage. Ee462l, power electronics, solar power, iv characteristics. The intention of the manual is to provide lab users and msu students with a complete description of the. The voltage for maximumpanelpower output is usually about 1617 v. Solar cells are an alternative method for generating electricity directly from sunlight.
If you are doing the project outside, set up your experiment in an area with direct sunlight. The follow up activity explores energy from the sun. This is the measure of the number of photo junction inside the solar cell which is e. When the diode is in forward biased conduction mode turnedon a small drop across the device occurs and does not change much. Photovoltaic cells are also called pv cells or solar cells for short. In general, a solar cell that includes both solar and nonsolar sources of.
Temperature affects how electricity flows through an electrical circuit by changing the speed at which the electrons travel. Solar cell lab manual july 2009 this manual was designed for use with the montana microfabrication facility at montana state university. Experiments with photovoltaic cells university of oregon. Solar cell experiments by jerry loomer a solar cell photovoltaic cell is a solidstate electronic device that takes in light energy and converts it directly into electrical energy. Solar energy can be part of a mixture of renewable energy sources used to meet the need for electricity. The primary design objective of this circuit is to. By adjusting the load voltage, the cells current output can also be adjusted. Connect your multimeters leads to the solar cells alligator clip leads. In 1961, shockley and queisser showed that the maximum theoretical ef. Few facts of solar energy are explained below a perovskite structured compound is present in perovskite solar cell. We wont spend too much time on the underlying science that drives this fantastic device, but rather focus on its anatomy and its basic operation principle. These solar cells are fabricated using a combination of thin film deposition and etching techniques. Finding the efficiency of a solar cell while driving an electric motor. A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into.
Schematic diagram of the band structure of an organic solar cell having only one material in the active layer and di. This project shows a wireless solar charger that can charge the mobile phones solar based advanced water quality monitoring system using wireless sensor network. How does solar cell output vary with incident light intensity. The typical bluesilver solar cell has a base of the element silicon. Application of pn junctions within solar cells is discussed.
Cu2oznon solar cell fabricated by spark plasma sintering. Lesson 2, the temperature effect fundamentals article 1 photovoltaic efficiency. The lamp with an incandescent light bulb is still used in the following experiment. Nowadays, many households have converted their home to be powered solely by solar power, reaping all the advantages offered by the sun. Solar cells are like batteries series and parallel pv cell connections to teach how to measure the current and voltage output of photovoltaic cells. A resistance in the cell circuit should be introduced so that the current does not exceed the safe operating limit. In practice, when a load is present a potential difference develops between the terminals of the cell. You will need solar cells, voltmeters and tracing paper for the practical. Pdf remote triggered laboratories are an excellent way to provide access to costly labs and equipment for students in areas without. Solar cells are the semiconductor devices which produce. A unique fact of photovoltaic solar cells is that the power output of the cell can be adjusted by changing the load voltage. The rate of energy generation or power from the solar cell.
This potential generates a current which acts in the opposite direction to the photocurrent, and the net current is reduced from its short circuit value. Let us design the experiment to measure the electric power produced by the. This article examines how the efficiency of a solar photovoltaic pv panel is affected by the ambient. Solar cells produce direct current dc electricity and an inverter can be used to change this to alternating current ac electricity. Draw on the same graph, the vi characteristics obtained from experiment, and the one calculated from the obtained equivalent circuit. We give the upper limit to the solar cell e ciency. Solar cells convert light energy to electrical energy, so are transducers. The solar cell system we developed in this project is dyesensitized solar cell. A simple solar cell experiment the following experiment was performed using a commercial polycrystalline silicon solar cell with an active area of 8. Light shining on the solar cell produces both a current and a voltage to generate electric power. The working principle of a solar cell tu delft ocw. The results showed that j sc, v oc and ff of the 2. A typical cell solar cell cross section is shown in fig. The readeris told why pv cells work, and how theyare made.
The solar cell should be exposed to sun light before using it in the experiment. Solar cell, light source, basic circuit, connecting wires etc. In the experiment, silver chloride was placed in an acidic solution and illuminated while connected to platinum electrodes, generating a small amount of voltage and current. Solar cells are made of two thin pieces of silicon, the substance that makes up sand and the second. Using photovoltaic cells also called solar cells, solar energy can be converted into electricity. The objective of this experiment is to explore solar cells as renewable energy sources and test their efficiency in converting solar radiation to electrical power. In this weeks class we conducted a series of experiments concerning photovoltaic cells. Use a current source representing the photoelectric current and resistors representing the shunt and series resistances. The physics guide is a free and unique educational youtube channel. Todd kaiser montana state university solar cell lab manual july 2009 this manual was designed for use with the montana microfabrication facility at montana state university. Solar energy is undoubtedly the future trend of energy. Introduction to solar cells horizon energy curriculum.
Overview incident sunlight can be converted into electricity by photovoltaic conversion using a solar panel. E g, v oc, j sc, ff and z of single junction solar cells ignoring the series and shunt resistances. Denis ar con ljubljana, may 2011 abstract this seminar is a short overview of current photovoltaics. Rectifiers solar cell bypass diodes in silicon crystalline. Giri department of physics indian institute of technology guwahati a project completed under the curriculum development cell, quality improvement program q.
This was because i tried to setup before dawn and things began to gather dew. In this work, since a gaas ponn solar cell structure will be later investigated. Solar photovoltaic cells introduction one method of converting energy from the sun solar energy is to use a solar cell also known as a photovoltaic cell. In addition to reflecting the performance of the solar cell itself, the efficiency depends on the spectrum and intensity of the incident sunlight and the temperature of the solar cell. Schematic diagram of the band structure of a heterojunction organic solar cell. Characteristic curves of a solar cell phywe series of publications laboratory experiments physics phywe systeme gmbh 37070 gottingen, germany 24109 3 fig. All the aspects presented in this chapter will be discussed in greater detail in the following chapters. This project monitors the quality of water using solar powered underwater wireless sensor network technology. Fundamental properties of solar cells, principles and. An experiment to measure the ivcharacteristics of a silicon. Design and conduct a controlled experiment, field study, or other investigation to make systematic observations about the natural world, including the. A novel remote triggered photovoltaic solar cell experiment is presented here. To draw the iv characteristics of a solar cell and to. Light intensitiy j at distances s normal to the light source.
This arrangement is referred to as having the meter in series. The project has contributed to reducing the price of organic solar cells, which will drive. Effect of temperature on a solar panel results carrying out the experiment. Light from the lamp should fall normally on the cell. Solar cell mounted on the front panel in a metal box with connections brought out on terminals. Jul 28, 2017 the physics guide is a free and unique educational youtube channel. In our solar cell experiment, we were tasked with experimenting with solar panels and how they function.
Alternative solar cells and their implications worcester. An experiment to measure the ivcharacteristics of a. Physics laboratory manual for engineering undergraduates. Solar cells are used on spaceships like the international space station pictured below, but are also used on earth in places that get lots of sunlight throughout the year. Jan 24, 20 a fully levelled investigation into how cloud cover effects the amount of electricity solar cells produce. I setup the equipment outside once the day began to warm. Two meters mounted on the front panel to measure the solar cell voltage and current. It is presumable that there were some other factors that limited the cell efficiency in this experiment including the area of. To plot the vi characteristics of the solar cell and hence determine the fill factor. Chapters 68cover the designs of systems constructed from individual cellsincludingpossible constructions for putting cells together and the equipment needed for a practioal producer of electrical energy. Since power is the multiplication of voltage and current, the power output of the cell can also be modified by adjusting the load voltage. Follow your teachers safety instructions and attach the red wire from the pv cell to the red lead of the ammeter either clip or wrap the wires together. The project has contributed to reducing the price of organic solar cells, which will. Many different solar cell technologies are being developed, for various applications rooftops, solar power plants, satellites, backpacks or clothing, etc.