Trisha Banerjee @ 2010

Incandescent lamp
Photovoltaic
cell
Power
supply

Trisha Banerjee @ 2010

Object:- To determine the Stefan's constant by using an incandescent
lamp and the photovoltaic cell.

Apparatus:-

1) A regulated supply 0- 15 V and 0- 5 amp.

2) An incandescent lamp 6 V , 12 W with lamp house .
3) A photovoltaic cell mounted in a house.
4) optical bench with two strands , one for lamp to use the other for
photovoltaic cell.
5) A unit is operative on 230 V = 10% at 50 Hz AC mains.

Trisha Banerjee @ 2010

Both are hidden
by a dark cover.

Trisha Banerjee @ 2010

Power supply:-

Vg Ig

Trisha Banerjee @ 2010

Incandescent light:-

Trisha Banerjee @ 2010

incandescent lamp :-

The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is a

source of
electric light that works by incandescence (a general term for heat-driven light
emissions,
which includes the simple case of black body radiation). An electric current passes
through a thin filament, heating it to a temperature that produces light. The enclosing
glass bulb
contains either a vacuum or an inert gas to prevent oxidation of the hot filament.
Incandescent bulbs are also sometimes called electric lamps, a term also applied to the
original arc lamps.
Incandescent bulbs are made in a wide range of sizes and voltages, from 1.5 volts to
about 300 volts. They require no external regulating equipment and have a low
manufacturing cost, and work well on either alternating current or direct current. As a
result the incandescent lamp is widely used in household and commercial lighting, for
portable lighting such as table lamps, car headlamps, and flashlights, and for
decorative and advertising lighting.

Trisha Banerjee @ 2010

Photo voltaic cell:-

Photovoltaics is the direct conversion of light into electricity at the atomic level.
Some
materials exhibit a property known as the photoelectric effect that causes them to
absorb photons of light and release electrons. When these free electrons are
captured, an electric current results that can be used as electricity.
The photoelectric effect was first noted by a French physicist, Edmund Bequerel, in
1839, who found that certain materials would produce small amounts of electric
current when exposed to light. In 1905, Albert Einstein described the nature of light
and the photoelectric effect on which photovoltaic technology is based, for which he
later won a Nobel prize in physics. The first photovoltaic module was built by Bell
Laboratories in 1954. It was billed as a solar battery and was mostly just a curiosity as
it was too expensive to gain widespread use. In the 1960s, the space industry began
to make the first serious use of the technology to provide power aboard spacecraft.
Through the space programs, the technology advanced, its reliability was
established, and the cost began to decline. During the energy crisis in the 1970s,
photovoltaic technology gained recognition as a source of power for non-space
applications.

Trisha Banerjee @ 2010

The diagram above illustrates the operation of a basic photovoltaic cell, also called a
solar cell. Solar cells are made of the same kinds of semiconductor materials, such
as silicon, used in the microelectronics industry. For solar cells, a thin
semiconductor wafer is specially treated to form an electric field, positive on one
side and negative on the other. When light energy strikes the solar cell, electrons
are knocked loose from the atoms in the semiconductor material. If electrical
conductors are attached to the positive and negative sides, forming an electrical
circuit, the electrons can be captured in the form of an electric current -- that is,
electricity. This electricity can then be used to power a load, such as a light or a tool.

Trisha Banerjee @ 2010

Principle in brief:-
here we are using the relation
Stefan's cont = 2.43 X 10 (-4) { Vs/ T}

result in joule per sqr meter per sec per quad Kelvin.

Where Vs = Vo +Vs in volts with Vo volts corresponding to work function of photo

cathode and Vs volt corresponding to maximum kinetic energy of photo electrons which
in turn correspond to photons of maximum energy emitted by a black body at
temperature T Kelvin ( temperature of the incandescent filament which acts as a black
body radiator.

Vo= minimum work function , i.e. obtain from the intercept on the Y axis obtain from
the graph of Vs( mV) and T ( in Kelvin)

Vs = voltage of the photovoltaic cell obtain from multimeter.

Here Ro should be calculated properly i.e. (Rg X 3.9 ) ohm , and Rg= Vg/Ig .
And Ig and Vg are obtained carefully which is obtained by just illumination or glow of
the lamp in dark.
Initially we have to measure Rg . So for this power supply should be at minimum , i.e.
fully anticlock.

Trisha Banerjee @ 2010

Precaution:-

1) carefully find out the glow resistance Rg of filament by taking Vg voltage drop
across the filament when Ig is ampere current passes through it and just makes it to
glow.

2) carefully take the readings of Vs through multimeter of photovoltaic cell.

Trisha Banerjee @ 2010