Renewable Energy Sources

MET404
 Solar PV Electric Conversion System
Introduction:
Direct conversion of solar energy into electrical energy by
means of photovoltaic effect,
PV effect is generation of electromagnetic force as a
result of the absorption of ionizing radiation,
The devices used for this purpose are SOLAR CELLS,
These cells are connected either in series or parallel to
form a solar module to increase electric power output.
Combination of solar module on a single panel is called
solar array.

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 Solar PV Electric Conversion System
Introduction:
PV cells are made of semiconductors that generate
electricity when they absorb light,
As photons are absorbed free electric charges are
generated which can be collected on contacts applied
to the surfaces of the semiconductors,
Theoretical efficiency of PV cell is around 25% but in
practical conditions their efficiency is around 12%,
PV cells are more efficient at lower temps and their
efficiency decreases with increase in operating temps.
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 PV System: Components
Solar cell array,
Load leveller,
Storage system, and
Tracking system.
Solar cells are connected either in series/parallel to form
modules.
These modules are hermitically sealed for protection
against corrosion, moisture, pollution and weathering.
Combination of suitable modules constitutes an array.
1 m2 of array kept facing south can produce 0.5 kWh

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 Semiconductors
Categories:
Intrinsic Semiconductors:
Pure semiconductors,
Extrinsic Semiconductors:
When pure semiconductors are doped with acceptors or
donors.
Doping involves adding dopant atoms to an intrinsic
semiconductor, which changes the electron and hole
carrier concentrations of the semiconductor at thermal
equilibrium.
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 Semiconductors

Intrinsic
Donor atoms Acceptor atoms
semiconductor
Phosphorus, Boron,
Group IV Silicon,
Arsenic, Aluminium,
semiconductors Germanium
Antimony Gallium
Aluminum
phosphide, Selenium, Beryllium, Zinc,
Group III-V Aluminum Tellurium, Cadmium,
semiconductors arsenide, Gallium Silicon, Silicon,
arsenide, Gallium Germanium Germanium
nitride

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 n-type Semiconductors
N-type semiconductors have a larger electron
concentration than hole concentration.
The term n-type comes from the negative charge of the
electron.
In n-type semiconductors, electrons are the majority
carriers and holes are the minority carriers.
N-type semiconductors are created by doping an
intrinsic semiconductor with donor impurities.
A common dopant for n-type silicon is phosphorus.
In an n-type semiconductor, the Fermi level is greater
than that of the intrinsic semiconductor and lies closer
to the conduction band than the valence band.

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 Band structure of n-type Semiconductors

Dark circles in the conduction band are electrons and light

circles in the valence band are holes. The image shows that the
electrons are the majority charge carrier

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 n-type Semiconductors
As opposed to n-type semiconductors, p-type
semiconductors have a larger hole concentration than
electron concentration.
The term p-type refers to the positive charge of the hole.
In p-type semiconductors, holes are the majority carriers
and electrons are the minority carriers.
P-type semiconductors are created by doping an intrinsic
semiconductor with acceptor impurities.
A common p-type dopant for silicon is boron.
For p-type semiconductors the Fermi level is below the
intrinsic Fermi level and lies closer to the valence band
than the conduction band.

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 Band structure of p-type Semiconductors

Dark circles in the conduction band are electrons and light

circles in the valence band are holes. The image shows that the
holes are the majority charge carrier.

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 Extrinsic Semiconductors
Extrinsic semiconductors are components of many
common electrical devices.
A semiconductor diode (devices that allow current in only
one direction) consists of p-type and n-type
semiconductors placed in junction with one another.
Most semiconductor diodes use doped silicon or
germanium.
Transistors (devices that enable current switching) also
make use of extrinsic semiconductors.
Field-effect transistors (FET) are another type of
transistor which amplify current implementing extrinsic
semiconductors.

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 p-n Junction

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 p-n Junction
A pn junction is a boundary or interface between two types of
semiconductor material, p-type and n-type, inside a single
crystal of semiconductor.
The "p" (positive) side contains an excess of holes, while the
"n" (negative) side contains an excess of electrons.
The p-n junction is created by doping (growing a layer of
crystal doped with one type of dopant on top of a layer of
crystal doped with another type of dopant).
pn junctions are elementary "building blocks" of most
semiconductor electronic devices such as diodes, transistors,
solar cells, LEDs, and integrated circuits.

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 p-n Junction: Properties
The pn junction possesses some interesting
properties that have useful applications in modern
electronics.
A p-doped and n-doped semiconductor is relatively
conductive.
But the junction between them can become depleted
of charge carriers, and hence non-conductive,
depending on the relative voltages of the two
semiconductor regions.

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 p-n Junction: Properties
By manipulating this non-conductive layer, pn
junctions are commonly used as diodes {circuit
elements that allow a flow of electricity in one
direction but not in the other (opposite) direction}.
Bias is the application of a voltage across a pn
junction; forward bias is in the direction of easy
current flow, and reverse bias is in the direction of
little or no current flow.

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 p-n Junction: Equilibrium or Zero Bias

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 p-n Junction: Equilibrium or Zero Bias
In a pn junction, without an external applied voltage,
an equilibrium condition is reached in which a
potential difference is formed across the junction.
This potential difference is called built-in potential
Vbi.
After joining p-type and n-type semiconductors,
electrons from the n region near the pn interface
tend to diffuse into the p region leaving behind
positively charged ions in the n region and being
recombined with holes, forming negatively charged
ions in the p region.

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 p-n Junction: Equilibrium or Zero Bias
Likewise, holes from the p-type region near the pn
interface begin to diffuse into the n-type region,
leaving behind negatively charged ions in the p
region and recombining with electrons, forming
positive ions in the n region.

The regions near the pn interface lose their

neutrality and most of their mobile carriers, forming
the space charge region or depletion layer.

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 p-n Junction: Equilibrium or Zero Bias
The electric field created by the space charge region
opposes the diffusion process for both electrons and
holes.

The space charge region is a zone with a net charge

provided by the fixed ions (donors or acceptors) that
have been left uncovered by majority carrier
diffusion.

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 p-n Junction: Equilibrium or Zero Bias

A pn junction in thermal equilibrium with zero-bias voltage applied. Electron

and hole concentration are reported with blue and red lines, respectively. Gray
regions are charge-neutral. Light-red zone is positively charged. Light-blue
zone is negatively charged. The electric field is shown on the bottom, the
electrostatic force on electrons and holes and the direction in which the
diffusion tends to move electrons and holes.
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 p-n Junction: Equilibrium or Zero Bias

A pn junction in thermal equilibrium with zero-bias voltage applied.

Under the junction, plots for the charge density, the electric field, and the
voltage are reported.
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 p-n Junction: Forward Bias
In forward bias, the p-type is connected with the
positive terminal and the n-type is connected with the
negative terminal.
The holes in the p-type region and the electrons in the
n-type region are pushed toward the junction and start
to neutralize the depletion zone, reducing its width.
The positive potential applied to the p-type material
repels the holes, while the negative potential applied
to the n-type material repels the electrons

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 p-n Junction: Forward Bias
With increasing forward-bias voltage, the depletion
zone eventually becomes thin enough that the zone's
electric field cannot counteract charge carrier motion
across the pn junction, which as a consequence
reduces electrical resistance.
The electrons that cross the pn junction into the p-
type material (or holes that cross into the n-type
material) will diffuse into the nearby neutral region.
The amount of minority diffusion in the near-neutral
zones determines the amount of current that may flow
through the diode
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 p-n Junction: Forward Bias
With increasing forward-bias voltage, the depletion
zone eventually becomes thin enough that the zone's
electric field cannot counteract charge carrier motion
across the pn junction, which as a consequence
reduces electrical resistance.
The electrons that cross the pn junction into the p-
type material (or holes that cross into the n-type
material) will diffuse into the nearby neutral region.
The amount of minority diffusion in the near-neutral
zones determines the amount of current that may flow
through the diode
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 p-n Junction: Forward Bias
The average length an electron travels through the p-type
material before recombining is called the diffusion length, and
it is typically on the order of micrometers.

Although the electrons penetrate only a short distance into the

p-type material, the electric current continues uninterrupted,
because holes (the majority carriers) begin to flow in the
opposite direction.

The total current (the sum of the electron and hole currents) is
constant in space, because any variation would cause charge
build up over time (this is Kirchhoff's current law).
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 p-n Junction: Forward Bias

PN junction operation in forward-bias mode, showing reducing depletion

width. Both p and n junctions are doped at a 1e15/cm3 (0.00016C/cm3)
doping level, leading to built-in potential of ~0.59 V. Reducing depletion
width can be inferred from the shrinking charge profile, as fewer dopants
are exposed with increasing forward bias. Different quasi-fermi levels for
conduction band and valence band in n and p regions (red curves)

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 p-n Junction: Reverse Bias
Connecting the p-type region to the negative terminal
of the battery and the n-type region to the positive
terminal corresponds to reverse bias.

If a diode is reverse-biased, the voltage at the cathode

is comparatively higher than at the anode.

Therefore, very little current will flow until the diode

breaks down

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 p-n Junction: Reverse Bias

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 p-n Junction: Reverse Bias
Because the p-type material is now connected to the
negative terminal of the power supply, the 'holes' in
the p-type material are pulled away from the junction,
leaving behind charged ions and causing the width of
the depletion region to increase.

Likewise, because the n-type region is connected to

the positive terminal, the electrons will also be pulled
away from the junction, with similar effect.

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 p-n Junction: Reverse Bias
This increases the voltage barrier causing a high
resistance to the flow of charge carriers, thus allowing
minimal electric current to cross the pn junction.

The increase in resistance of the pn junction results

in the junction behaving as an insulator.

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 Solar PV Cell

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 Solar V Cell

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 References

G.D. Rai, Non-Conventional Energy Sources,

Fourth Edition, 2011, Khanna Publications.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrinsic_semiconducto
r#P-type_semiconductors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%E2%80%93n_juncti
on

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 Thank You

Dr. M Mohan Jagadeesh Kumar

Assistant Professor
MNIT Jaipur