SOLAR ENERGY

Introduction
In present generation of growing energy needs and increasing environmental
concern, alternatives to the use of non-renewable and polluting fossil fuels
have to be investigated. One such alternative is solar energy.
If solar energy is tapped properly, the amount of energy released by sun in one
hour should be more than sufficient to meet the human demand for one year.
Hence theoretically solar power is one of the most promising alternative
energy sources.
However in actual practice there are limitations in tapping large amount of
solar energy.
Solar water heaters, solar furnaces and solar cells are the three devices in
which solar energy is converted to usable energy.
Solar water heating system (Solar Thermal)

A solar thermal cell absorbs heat energy from the Sun and utilizes it to heat
water in glass panels

Water is pumped through pipes in the panel, which are painted black, so
that maximum absorption takes place and the water gets heated up when
the Sun shines on them.

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Solar Furnaces

Solar furnace uses a huge array of mirrors to concentrate the Sun's energy
into a small space and produce very high temperatures (up to 3000oC).

Photograph of a solar furnace at Odeillo in the Pyrenees of France. The idea is to

harness the rays of the sun in order to produce high temperatures by concentrating
those rays using curved mirrors.

SOLAR CELL

Solar Cell is a device which converts light energy directly into electrical energy.
It is also called "photovoltaic", "PV" or "photoelectric" cells.

Components and Construction of a Solar Cell

Solar Cell is essentially made of silicon material. Pure silicon is a poor conductor
of electricity because none of its electrons are free to move about A solar cell has
silicon with impurities (ie) other atoms mixed in with the silicon atoms

The process of adding impurities on purpose is called doping, and when
doped with phosphorous, the resulting silicon is called n-type ("n" for
negative) because of the prevalence of free electrons .Only one part of the
solar cell is n-type.

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The other part is doped with boron, which has only three electrons in its
outer shell instead of four, to become p-type silicon

To construct a solar cell a p type and an n type Si are joined together.

The working of a solar cell is based on the principle of the working of a PN

junction diode

Working Of A PN-Junction Diode

When One p type and one n type semiconductors are brought together,
free electrons on the n-side and free holes on the p-side meet across the
junction and the free electron fills a free hole.

As a result, the free electrons and holes near the junction tend to cancel
each other and consequently the junction is devoid of moving charges
creating a "depletion zone"

Any free charge which wanders into the depletion zone finds itself in a
region with no other free charges and is forced to move back. As a result,
a lot of positive charges (the donor atoms) on the n-type side and a lot of
negative charges (the acceptor atoms) on the p-type side gets aligned
across the junction .

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The junction therefore acts like a barrier, blocking any charge flow
(current) across the barrier. This gives rise to concept of potential barrier
(difference in potential from one side of barrier to other). A free charge
now requires some extra energy to overcome the forces from the
donor/acceptor atoms to be able to cross the zone.

The potential barrier for some commonly used semiconductor materials
like Si and Ge are 0.7eV and 0.3eV respectively
Schematic representation of working of PN junction diode

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Working of Solar Cell

In a solar cell, when a photon from sunlight hits silicon, one of three things can
happen depending on the energy stored in photons
i.
ii.

iii.

The photon can pass straight through the silicon (this generally happens for
lower energy photons).
The photon can be absorbed by the silicon, if the photon energy is higher
than the silicon band gap value. This generates an electron-hole pair and
sometimes heat.
The photon can be reflected back

When a photon is absorbed in the P-layer, its energy is given to an electron

in the valence band. The electrons after acquiring the extra energy, gets
excited and cross the depletion zone and enters the conduction band
leaving behind a hole. As more and more photons are absorbed , the
process continues and electrons keep moving in one direction
.

Thus, a flow of electrons (i.e. electrical current) is set up.This creates a
potential difference between the two layers. Hence, as more solar
energy(photons) falls on to the P- layer, more electrons are excited and
consequently the potential difference and current increases.

In order to utilize this current, the two terminals are connected to an
external circuit and through this the electrons flow from the N-layer to the
P-layer.

In a PV cell, photons are absorbed in the p layer. It's very important to
"tune" this layer to the properties of the incoming photons to absorb as
many photons as possible

Another challenge is to keep the electrons from meeting up with holes and
"recombining" with them before they can escape the cell

In order to increase the efficiency of the solar cell, the P-layer is kept very
thin(about 0.0001cm)
which aids maximum absorption, minimize
reflection and recombination, and thus sustains steady conduction.

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Solar Panel / Solar Battery

Solar Panel is array of a large number of solar cells
Solar Panel can be used to light a house , provide electricity to space
satellites etc.,

Applications

The solar energy is used in the electrification of rural areas

Photo voltaic water pumps can be useful for pumping water for irrigation
as well as for drinking purposes.

Small electronic consumer products such as pocket calculators, watches,
torches, portable fans, electric fences, toys etc. are powered by photo
voltaic technology.

Solar cells are widely used in space shuttles, vehicles etc.,

Dense equipments such as remote radar, mobile phone and other kinds of
remote instrumentation make use of solar or photo voltaic cells.

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Solar cells are used in meteorological stations for the automatic recording
of the weather report.

Solar or photo voltaic systems are used to power railway signals, alarm
systems, warning systems, traffic light, highway telephones.

Photo voltaic panels are used to provide a small direct current that is
impressed on the pipelines, bridges etc., to protect it against corrosion.
This is known as impressed cathodic current protection.

To provide thermal energy for heating purposes in the form of solar
cookers, solar water heaters, solar furnace etc.
Advantages and Limitations
Solar cells make absolutely no noise at all unlike wind mills which is
another renewable source
Solar energy creates absolutely no pollution. This is perhaps the most
important advantage that makes solar energy so much more practical than
oil. Oil burning releases harmful greenhouses gases, carcinogens and
carbon dioxide into our precious air.
Solar powered panels and products are typically extremely easy to install.
Wires, cords and power sources are not needed at all, making this an easy
prospect to employ
Solar power cannot be harnessed during a storm, on a cloudy day or at
night.
The Solar Cells and Solar Panels that are needed to harness solar energy
tend to be very expensive investment
The constant bombardment of ultraviolet (UV) rays and other solar
radiation often causes the panels themselves to deteriorate, much like any
other material left exposed to the sun for extended periods of time.
Perhaps one of the most noticeable disadvantages of solar power is the
large size of solar panels required to generate very little energy
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