To the average unsuspecting onlooker, a solar concentrator would just be a simple technical glass that converts sunlight to energy for use. However, to physicists and scientists alike, solar concentrators hold a larger and more significant value. In most basic terms, solar concentrators can be classified as mirrors. While mirrors usually reflect what is seen directly back, the mirrors in solar concentrators reflect sunlight directly to solar cells that convert light into electricity. Fresnel lenses and solar cells are the building blocks to solar concentrators. The mirrors in questions are scientifically known as Fresnel lenses. Fresnel lenses are essentially lenses are concentric, shaped like a target, that are arranged using many simples lenses in order to achieve focal length that is diminutive. The idea of this is for light to be concentrated into a narrow stream. A narrow stream of light is critical for light conductors such as traffic signals, spotlights, floodlights or lighthouses which are all conductors that Fresnel lights were originally and still are used for. Figure 1 represents a basic diagram of a Fresnel lens.
Figure 1: Diagram of a Fresnel Lens
There is a Fresnel lens on top of every solar cell. Solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells, are essentially a mechanical device that light into electricity. It is able to do this because of the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic effect is essentially when, due to the introduction of light electrons on a surface are expelled out. Due to this ejection, electric energy is generated. Chemically, electrons are jumping across valence bands and are becoming highly excited. This is what accelerated energy. This is critical to the working of solar concentrators because ...
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...molten salts which is about an 87-180*C range. Freezing points require the manufacturing of advanced freeze protections. In order to greater advance solar concentrator technology it would be necessary for further research to solve some unknown questions within this field of research. Questions include how to reduce the costs of the component and the plant, how to increase the operating temperature further beyond 500*C, how to alleviate the plant performance, life, and reliability, as well as how to properly increase the plant’s production. One more important question that remains to be answered is how to successfully commercialize solar power in general. It is still a significantly new concept in comparison to fossil fuels and commercializing includes public awareness that solar power is definitely an energy that can be used without depleting the Earth’s resources.
Solar systems, also known as solar panels, are built to be very efficient and require very little maintenance. Technology has helped to improve the look and construction of the solar panels. The solar systems that are built and installed today have to meet very strict guidelines. “Stringent quality control in the Modern Solar supply chain ensures the quality of solar product installed on your roof is reliable, durable, and of the highest quality standards.” (“Solar Energy Benefits”). These panels are built using “monocrystalline cells that are held together with solder. They are surrounded by a hard, glass cover, polymer EVA sheet and a sp...
Solar energy is energy taken from the light that reaches earth's surface from the sun. There are four different kinds of solar energy, which are active solar systems, passive solar systems, photovoltaic cells and concentrating power systems. An active solar systems is a system that captures solar energy by mechanical means. Common active solar systems are often in buildings or homes. Some examples are roof collectors and water heating. Low Intensity and high variability have limited the use of active solar energy in Canada. A pass...
The Solyndra Company, founded in 2005 by Christian Gronet, designed, manufactured, and sold a unique type of solar panels. They were termed “solar photovoltaic (PV) systems” and were designed for large, flat to low sloped commercial building roofs. The panels were designed to have the best performance when mounted horizontally and to be installed very close together so that they covered a much higher percentage of the roof top thus producing more electricity than the typical flat panel solar panels by comparison. This was created through the production by absorbing light from all directions including indirect and reflected light as well as direct sunlight when combined with a white roof. This was due to the design of having rolled its copper indium gallium selenite or CIGS into a cylindrical shape. Each tube had 40 of them in each 1-meter-by-2-meter panel (Solyndra, 2008).
This chapter explains the passive solar design techniques both in general context as well as in context of havelis. It also explains the key factors of passive solar design used in havelis of Rajasthan.
The Effect of Intensity on the Power of Solar Cells This experiment involves changing the intensity of light falling on different cells and measuring their power outputs. Higher intensity of light means that there are more photons hitting the surface of the cell per unit area per second. The more hit the cell, the more rapidly the electrons move across the p-n junction, so the larger the emf produced. If the rate of movement of electrons is inhibited, then the greater the rate of supply of photons (intensity), the more will not successfully excite an electron, so the lower the efficiency of the cell.
The first Fresnel Lens date back to 1822 when a French physicist by the name of Augustin Fresnel wanted to make our bodies of water safer for sailors throughout the world. The Fresnel Lens originally were a type of compact lens created by Fresnel for lighthouses. A Fresnel lens replaces the curved surface of a conventional lens with a series of concentric grooves, molded into the surface of a thin, lightweight plastic sheet (“Fresnel Lenses”). The Fresnel Lens were beneficial for lighthouses because they have the ability to capture more oblique light which allowed lighthouses that used them to be seen from greater distances. Fresnel’s lens resembles a giant beehive with a complex system of multi-faceted glass prisms mounted in a brass framework.
Rotman, David. "Finding a Solar Solution." Technology Review 2 (2012): 48-51. Print. 22 November 2014.
Siegel, RP. "Solar Thermal: Pros and Cons - Part 1: Solar Heating and Cooling." Triple Pundit RSS. N.p., 21 May 2012. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. .
According to Mr. Solar.com, “this type of energy production, known as the Photovoltaic Effect, is achieved by solar panels converting sunlight into energy. Solar panels are made up of several individual solar cells, composed of layers of silicon, phosphorous (which provides the negative charge), and boron (which provides the positive charge). Solar panels absorb the sunlight’s photons and by doing so initiate an electric current, producing electrons. The resulting energy generated from photons striking the surface of the solar panel allows electrons to be knocked out of their atomic orbits and released into an electric field generated by the solar cells, which then pull these free electrons into a DC or directional current.” This electricity then proceeds to a mechanical room beneath our house to a charge controller, which regulates the amount of energy sent to our 24V batteries to be stored.
The main objective of the present work was to improve the quality of copra produced in a forced convection solar dryer. But it has been reported that the efficiency of evacuated tube collector is very high as compared to the efficiency of flat plate collectors. However, the some experimental
Duke Energy. n. d. a. d. a. d. 10 April 2014. http://www.duke-energy.com/about-energy/generating-electricity/nuclear-how.asp>. “How do solar cells work?” Physics.
Solar water heaters work by using energy from the sun. There are two types of systems for solar water heaters, an open system and a closed system (“Tapping into the Sun”). These systems depend on the type of climates they are installed in (“Tapping into the Sun”). Open systems are worth the installation if the weather is year round sunny, closed systems are better if the weather gets cold. The water cannot be run during winter so the system will be switched to fuel and in the summertime when it is warm, so the sy...
I am certain that all have heard of the terms green house gases, fossil fuels, and global warming. Have you ever questioned what will happen if nothing is done about the environmental problems facing the world today? What if I answer you that, we can merely use the power from the sun to power up our entire planet without the use of harmful energy sources, which affect our atmosphere? The power from the sun is what we call solar power. Solar power is the energy that comes from the sun as light and heat energy, and then it is later converted into electrical energy through solar panels (Nelson, 2008). This kind of power is completely free, right? Why should we put a lot of expense on other sources of energy, when there is a complete free and healthy power? It is evident that solar energy is a healthy source of energy, which will help stop global warming all together, but it is economically efficient to switch everything to solar energy. Solar energy is capable of becoming the world's future power supply because, it is renewable, eco-friendly, and extremely efficient when strategically placed.
The photovoltaic effect, electricity can be created directly from sunlight. Some semi-conductor materials that are exposed to sunlight can create electron-hole pairs, which can be collected to produce electricity. This occurs when photons have energy above a certain threshold. These photons have shorter wavelengths. In silicon, the threshold for electron-hole production is in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
This is because many waves, including light, will travel away from the filament in a circular motion, not straight lines directly towards the solar cell, so the further away it is, the less rays will hit it. · A changing power to the light source, and therefore, to the solar cell, will affect the solar cell output. Theoretically, an increase in power at the light source should result in more energy being transferred to the solar panel, per second, resulting in a greater solar cell output. · The different colours of light would also affect the solar cell output, as each colour of light has a different frequency. We can tell this from Einstein's theory of photons being directly proportional to frequency: Energy =