INDEX

SR. CHAPTER NAME

NO

1 INTRODUCTION

2 WORKING PRINCIPLES AND OPERATION

2.1 Battery Storage
2.2 Inverters
3 SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY
3 .1 Application Of Solar Photovoltaic
System
3 .2 Solar Electric Power Generation: Solar
Photo-Voltaic
3 .3 Solar Cell Principles

4 CHARGE CONTROLLER
5 DESIGN AND FABRICATION
6 TEST AND RESULT
Efficiencies Of Solar Panel
7 GLOBAL ENERGY RESOURCES
Advantages & Disadvantages
Solar Lighting System
8 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF SOLAR
LIGHTING SYSTEM
SR. FIGURE NAME
NO

1.1 SOLAR PANELS

2.1 WORKING PRINCIPLES

3.1 SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY

4.1 CHARGE CONTROLLER

8.1 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF SOLAR

LIGHTING SYSTEM
 ABSTRACT
A solar lighting system which can make a 2400Watt load
continuously for about (7) hours if the battery is fully charged has
been constructed. Here, solar energy is collected with the aid of a
solar panel and thus, a battery is charged during day time with the
help of a simple charging circuit. During night time, this stored
energy is used to light. The device can be used for small-scale
lighting applications in remote areas that are far away from the power
grid. The system has a panel to collect the suns energy, a battery to
store that energy and a light source to use the energy. The system
operates like a bank account. Withdrawals from the battery to power
the light source must be compensated for by commensurate deposits
of energy form the solar panels. If mainline is present without sunlight
then load work from mainline.
 CHAPTER - 1
INTRODUCTION
 Fig.1.1 Solar Panels

These early solar panels were first used in space in 1958.

Solar lighting system is the use of natural light to provide
illumination. Solar lighting system is the technology of obtaining
usable energy from the light of the sun using semi conductor
materials and this is energy efficient lighting technology. Solar
panels are devices that generate power from the sun by converting
sunlight into electricity with no moving parts, zero emissions and no
maintenance. They are used in residential, commercial, institutional
and light industrial applications.

The construction of a solar lighting system serves as a means of

reducing energy imports and dependence upon oil and gas, which
mitigate the risk of fuel-price volatility and supplies energy for
small-scale lighting applications when and where electricity is most
limited and most expensive.
 CHAPTER - 2
WORKING PRINCIPLES AND OPERATION:
 Fig:2.1 Working Principles

The solar energy can be directly converted into electrical energy

by means of photovoltaic effect, i.e. conversion of light into
electricity. Generation of an electromotive force due to absorption of
ionizing radiation is known as photovoltaic effect.
The energy conversion devices which are used to convert
sunlight to electricity by use of the photovoltaic effect are called
solar cells.
Photo voltaic energy conversion is one of the most popular
nonconventional energy source. The photovoltaic cell offers an
existing potential for capturing solar energy in a way that will
provide clean, versatile, renewable energy. This simple device has no
moving parts, negligible maintenance costs, produces no pollution
and has a lifetime equal to that of a conventional fossil fuel.
Photovoltaic cells capture solar energy and convert it directly to
electrical current by separating electrons from their parent atoms and
accelerating them across a one way electrostatic barrier formed by
the function between two different types of semiconductor mater ial.

Battery storage: the simplest means of storage on a smaller

moderate scale is in electric storage batteries, especially as solar cells
produce the direct electric current required for battery charging. The
stored energy can then be delivered as electricity upon discharge. The
common iead acid storage batteries, such as are used in automobiles,
are not ideal for this purpose, but they are probably the best presently
available. Extensive research in progress should lead to the
development of more suitable batteries.
A possible alternative is to use the direct current from solar
cells to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. These
gases would be stored in a suitable form and utilized as needed to
generate electricity in a fuel cell.

Inverters: these are the devices usually solid state, which

change the array DC output to AC of suitable voltage, frequency, and
phase to feed photo voltaically generated power into the power grid
or local load, as shown in figure. These functional blocks are
sometimes referred to as power conditioning.

A general type of inverter circuit which is found best suitable

for the utility application is shown in fig. the current can be used in
two modes: (1) as an inverter changing DC to AC or (2) as a rectifier
changing AC to DC, thus charging the battery.
It is clear that the system photovoltaic offers the option of DC
power, AC power, hydrogen and oxygen fuels in either gas or liquid
forms from which electricity can be generated. The system has many
advantages and disadvantages.
CHAPTER - 3
 SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY:

Fig 3.1 Solar Photovoltaic Array

The solar photovoltaic array consists of an appropriate

number of solar cells connected in series and or parallel to provide
the required current and voltage. The array is so oriented as to collect
the maximum solar radiation throughout the year.

There may be tracking arrays or modules or fixed arrays.

A tracking array is defined as one which is always kept mechanically
perpendicular to the sun array line so that all times it intercepts the
maximum isolation. Such arrays must be physically movable by a
suitable prime mover and are generally considerably more complex
than fixed arrays. A fixed array is usually oriented east west and
tilted up at an angle approximately equal to the latitude of the site.
Thus the array design falls into two broad classes .
application of solar photovoltaic system:
Various solar photovoltaic systems have been developed and
installed at different sites for demonstration and field trial purposes.
The terrestrial applications of these include provision of power
supply to:
1. Water pumping sets for micro irrigation and drinking
water supply,
2. Radio beacons for ship navigation at ports,
3. Community radio and television sets,
4. Cathodic protection of oil pipe lines,
5. Weather monitoring,
6. Railway signaling equipment,
7. Battery charging,
8. Street lighting.
The major application of photovoltaic systems lies in water
pumping for drinking water supply and irrigation in rural areas. The
photovoltaic water pumping system essentially consists of:
(a) A photovoltaic (PV) array,
(b) Storage battery,
(c) Power control equipment,
(d) Motor pump sets, and
(e) Water storage tank.
Solar electric power generation: solar photo-voltaic:

1. The direct conversion of solar energy into electrical

energy by means of the photovoltaic effect, that is the conversion of
light into electricity. The photovoltaic effect is defined as the
generation of an electromotive force as the result of the absorpti on of
ionizing radiation. Energy conversion devices which are used to
convert sunlight to electricity by the use of the photovoltaic effect are
called solar cells. A single converter cell is called a solar or, more
generally, a photovoltaic cell, and combi nation of such cells;
designed to increase the electric power output is called a solar
module or solar array.
2. Photovoltaic cells are made of semiconductors that
generate electricity when they absorb light. As photons are received,
free electrical charges are generated that can be collected on contacts
applied to the surfaces of the semiconductors. Because solar cells are
not heat engines, and therefore do not need to operate at high
temperatures, they are adopted to the weak energy flux of solar
radiation, operating at room temperature. These devices have
theoretical efficiencies are less than half this value, and decrease
fairly rapidly with increasing temperature.

(I) Flat Plate Arrays

3. Where in solar cells are attached with a suitable

adhesive to some kind of substrate structure usually semi rigid to
prevent cells being cracked.
4. This technology springs from the space related
photovoltaic technology and many such arrays have been built in
various power sizes.

(II) Concentrating Arrays:

5. Where in suitable optics, e.g. Fresnel lenses,

parabolic mirrors are combined with photovoltaic cells in an array
fashion. This technology is relatively new to photovoltaic in terms of
hardware development and comparatively fewer such arrays have
actually been built.
 Crystalline silicon modules:
6. Most solar modules are currently produced
from silicon photovoltaic cells . These are typically categorized as
monocrystalline or polycrystalline modules.
Solar cell modules (solar photovoltaic arrays):
7. There may be tracking arrays or modules or fixed arrays.
A tracking array is defined as one which is always kept mechanically
perpendicular to the sun-array line so that all times it intercepts the
maximum insolation. Such arrays must be physically movable by a
suitable prime mover and are generally considerably more complex
then fixed arrays. A fixed array is usually oriented east west and
tilted up at an angle approximately equal to the latitude of the site.
Fixed arrays are mechanically simpler then tracking arrays. Thus the
array designs fall into two broad classes:
8. Flat-plate arrays: Wherein solar cells are attached with a
suitable adhesive to some kind of substrats structure usually semi -
rigid to prevent cells being cracked.
This technology springs from the space -related photovoltaic
technology, and many such arrays have been built in various power
sizes.
9. Concentrating arrays: Wherein suitable option, e.g.
Fresnel lenses, parabolic mirrors, compound parabolic
concentrators(CPC), and others, are combined with photovoltaic cells
in an array fashion. This technology is relatively new to photovoltaic
in terms of hardware development, and comparatively fewer such
arrays have actually been built.

Solar cell principles:

 The photo-voltaic effect can be observed in nature in a variety
of materials, but the materials that have shown the best performance
in sunlight are the semi-conductors as stated above. When photons
from the sun are absorbed in a semiconductor, they create free
electrons with higher energies than the electrons which provide the
bonding in the base crystal. Once these electrons are created, there
must be an electric field to induce these higher energy electrons to
flow out of the semi-conductor to do useful work. The electric field
in most solar cells is provided by a junction of materials which have
different electrical properties.
To obtain a useful power output from photon interac tion in a
semi-conductor three processes are required.
The photons have to be absorbed in the active part of the
material and result in electrons being excited to a higher energy
potential.
The electron-hole charge carrier created by the absorption must
be physically separated and moved to the edge of the cell.
The charge carriers must be removed from the cell and
delivered to a useful load before they loose their extra potential.

Advantages and disadvantages of photovoltaic solar energy

conversion
Advantages:

Direct room temperature conversion of light to electricity

through a simple solid state device.
Absence of moving parts.
Ability to function unattended for long periods as evidence
in space program me.
 Modular nature in which desired currents, voltag es
and power levels can be achieved by mere integration.
Maintenance cost is low as they are easy to operate.
They do not create pollution.
They have a long effective life.
They are highly reliable.
They consume no fuel to operate as the suns energy is
free.
They have rapid response in output to input radiation
changes; no long-time constant is involved, as on thermal systems,
before steady state is reached.
They are easy to fabricate, being one of the simplest of
semi conductor devices.
They can be used with or without sun tracking, making
possible a wide range of application possibilities.
Their principal disadvantages are their high cost, and the
fact that, in many applications, energy storage is required because of
no isolation at night. Efforts are being made world-wide to reduce
costs through various technological innovations.
For completing the above processes, a solar cell consists of:
Semi-conductor in which electron hole pairs are created by
absorption of incident solar radiation.
Region containing a drift field for charge separation, and
Charge collecting front and back electrodes.
CHAPTER - 4
 CHARGE CONTROLLER:

Fig:4.1 Charge Controller

Over charging of some batteries results in loss of

electrolytic, corrosion, plate growth and loss of active material from
the plates, causing reduction in battery life. Also, the repeated failure
to reach full charge also leads to stratification of electrolyte.
Thus, there is a need of charge regulators to optimize the
battery life. Most charge regulators start the charging process with a
high current and reduce it to a very low level when a certain battery
voltage is reached. A digital based charge regulator monitors the
battery current, and voltage computes the level of charge and
regulates the input and output currents so as to avoid both
overcharging and excessive discharge.
CHAPTER - 5
 DESIGN AND
FABRICATION:

The design and fabrication of a typical solar powered fan

can be explained with the help of a block diagram. The block
diagram describes a simple solar powered fan with a manual. Let us
study the block diagram in detail by classifying it into three sections.
I) Input Section

a) Photovoltaic array

II) Storage Section

a) Battery bank

III) Output Section

a) controller

b) Dc Bulb

c) Connecting wires

I) Input Section
The input section includes photovoltaic arrays consisting
of solar cells. The solar cells are connected in parallel to get the
maximum current.
 Type of semi
Number of
conductor used Open circuit Short circuit
arrays Power
for cell voltage current

Silicon 2 36 watt x 2 21v 3.6 ampere

=72 watt

Storage Section:
d) The storage section includes a battery.
e) The characteristics of the battery are as below:

Ampere hour Watt hour Capacity

Type of battery
efficiency efficiency
Lead acid tubular
90 to 95% 70 to 80% 90 AH, 18V
battery

The characteristics of controller are as below:

Low voltage cut off

Over charge disconnect

Operating current : 10 ampere

 2) (iii) Output Section

Output system includes various devices and equipments

used for the distribution of the power.

3) Switch

Manual ON/OFF

4) Wires

Type: 2 core with sleeve

Quantity: 10 meters

High copper rich 10amp wire for minimum power loss.

 CHAPTER - 6

TEST AND RESULT:

Conversion Efficiency and Power Output:

For both practical and theoretical reasons, not all of the

solar radiation energy falling on a solar cell can be converted into
electrical energy. A specific amount of energy is required to produce
a free electron and a hole in a semiconductor. Consequently infrared
radiation of longer wavelength has no photovoltaic effect and energy
radiation with shorter wavelength cannot be completely utilized.
The maximum energy in radiation that is capable of
producing free electrons and holes in silicon is only about 45%. The
maximum practical efficiency for conversion of solar energy into
electrical energy in a silicon solar cell is estimated to be about 10%

Amount of electricity produced

Conversion Efficiency = --------------------------------------------
Total input of solar energy radiation

Efficiencies of solar panel:

Depending on construction, photovoltaic panels can

produce electricity from a range of frequencies of light, but usually
cannot cover the entire solar range (specifically, ultraviolet, infrared
and low or diffused light). Hence much of the incident sunligh t
energy is wasted by solar panels, and they can give far higher
efficiencies if illuminated with monochromatic light. Therefore,
another design concept is to split the light into different wavelength
ranges and direct the beams onto different cells tuned to those ranges.
his has been projected to be capable of raising efficiency
by 50%.
Currently the best achieved sunlight conversion rate (solar
panel efficiency) is around 20.1% in new commercial products

typically lower than the efficiencies of their cel ls
in isolation. The most efficient mass-produced solar panels[disputed
2
discuss] have energy density values of up to 16.22 W/ft (175 W/m2)
 CHAPTER - 7
GLOBAL ENERGY RESOURCES:
Current global energy consumption is 4.1*1020J annually,
which is equivalent to an instantaneous yearly -averaged consumption
rate of 13*1012 W (13 trillion watts, or 13 terawatts TW). Projected
population and economic growth will more than double this glob al
energy consumption rate by the mid -21st century and more than
triple rate by 2100, even with aggressive conservation efforts. Hence
to contribute significantly to global primary energy supply, a
prospective resource has to be capable of providing at le ast 1-10TW
of power for an extended period of time. The threat of climate change
imposes a second requirement on prospective energy resource. They
must produce energy without the emission of additional greenhouse
gases. Stabilization of atmospheric CO2 lev el at even twice their
preanthropogenic value will require amounts of carbon -neutral
energy by mid-century. The needed levels are in excess of 10 TW,
increasing after 2050 to support economic growth for an expanding
population.

The three prominent options to meet this demand for

carbon-neutral energy are fossil fuel use in conjunction with carbon
sequestration, nuclear power, and solar power. The challenge for
carbon sequestration is finding secure storage for the 25 billion
metric tons of CO2 produced annually on earth. At atmospheric
pressure, this yearly global emission of CO2 would occupy 12500
km3, equal to the volume of lake superior, it is 600 times the amount
of CO2 injected every year into oil wells to super productions, 100
times amount of natural gas the industry draws in and out of geologic
storage in the united states each year to smooth seasonal demand, and
20,000 times the amount of CO2 stored annually in Norways
sleipner reservoir. Beyond finding storage volume carbon
sequestration also must prevent leakage. A 1%leak rate would
nullified the sequestration effort in a century, far too short a time to
have lasting impact on climate change. Although many scientists are
optimistic, the success of carbon sequestration on the required scale
for sufficiently long time has not yet been demonstrated. Nuclear
power is a second conceptually viable option. Producing 10TW of
nuclear power would required construction of a new 1 giga -watt-
electric nuclear fission plant somewhere in the world every other day
for the next 50 year. Once that level of deployment was reached, the
terrestrial uranium resource base would be exhausted in 10 years.
The required fuel would the have to be mined from sea water or else
breeder reactor technology would have to be develope d and
disseminated to countries wishing to meet their additional demand in
this way. The third option is to exploit renewable energy sources, of
which solar energy is by far the most prominent. The remaining
global practically exploitable hydroelectric sou rces is less than
0.5TW. the cumulative energy in all the tides and ocean current in the
world amounts to less than 2TW. The total geothermal energy at the
surface of earth,integrated over all the land area of the continents, is
12TW, of which only a small fraction could be practically extracted.
the amount of globally extractable wind power has been estimated by
the IPCC and others to be 2-4TWe.for comparison the solar constant
at the top of the atmosphere is 170,000TW, of which on average,
120,000TW strikes the earth. It is clear that solar energy can be
exploited on the needed scale to meet global energy demand in a
carbon- neutral fashion without significantly affecting the solar
resource.
 Solar energy storage and distribution are critical to match
demand. The amount of produced by covering 0.16% of the earths
land area with 10% efficient solar cell is equal to that produced by
20000 1-GWe nuclear fission plants.

ADVANTAGES OF SOLAR LIGHTING SYSTEM:

Solar cells directly convert the solar radiation into

electricity using photovoltaic effect without going through a thermal
process.
Solar cells are reliable, modular, durable and generally
maintenance free and therefore, suitable even in isolated and remote
areas.
Solar cells are quiet, benign, and compatible with almost
all environments, respond instantaneously with solar radiation and
have an expected life time of 20 or more years.
Solar cells can be located at the place of use and hence no
distribution network is required.

DISADVANTAGES OF SOLAR LIGHTING SYSTEM:

The conversion efficiency of solar cells is limited to 10
percent. Large areas of solar cell modular are required to generate
sufficient useful power.

The present costs of solar cells are comparatively high,

making them economically uncompetitive with other conventional
power generation methods for terrestrial applications, particularly
where the demand of power is very large.
 Solar energy is intermittent and solar cells produce
electricity when sun shines and in proportion to solar intensity.
Hence, some kind of electric storage is required making the whole
system more costly. However, in large installations, the electricity
generated by solar cells can be fed directly into the electric grid
system.
Battery charge level maintenance and discharge limit and
life shortened
 CHAPTER - 8
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF SOLAR LIGHTING SYSTEM

Fig:8.1 Block Diagram Of Solar Lighting System

A Basic Photovoltaic System For Power Generation:

A basic photovoltaic system integrated with the utility grid is
shown in fig. It permits solarly generated electrical power to be
delivered to a local load. It consists of:
Solar array, large or small, which converts the insolation to
useful DC electrical power.
A blocking diode which lets the array-generated power flow
only toward the battery or grid. Without a blocking diode the battery
would discharge back through the solar array during times of no
insolation.
 Battery storage, in which the solarly generated electric energy
may be stored.
Inverter, usually solid state which converts the battery bus
voltage to AC of frequency and phase to match that needed to
integrate with the utility grid. Thus it is typically a DC,AC inverter.
It may also contain a suitable output step up transformer, perhaps
some filtering and power factor correction circuits and perhaps some
power cpnditioning, circuitry to initiate battery charging and to prevent over
charging. Power conditioning may be shown as a separate system functional
block. This block may also be used in figure shown to function as a
rectifier to charge the battery from the utility feeder when needed and
when no insolation was present.
Appropriate switches and circuit breakers, to permit isolating
parts of the system, as the battery. One would also want to i nclude
breakers and fusing protection between the inverter output and the
utility grid to protect both the photovoltaic system and the grid.
 CHAPTER - 10
ABOUT THE PROJECT:

This project is designed to improve existing solar collection

system to provide higher efficiency for lower cost. The existing
system receives sun energy only for new hours, which is really not
economical when compare the cost, which we are spending.
Here the proposed system is designed to observe the sun light
for the available maximum hours, for example 12 hours a day. This
project operates a solar panel to constantly face sun at 90 degrees to
produce maximum voltage. It will move the solar panel from east to
west to correct for the durational movement of the Sun in the sky. The
set of Light Intensify Sensors give the input to the and it operates
Stepper motors with mechanism
 REFERENCE
1. non-conventional energy sources

By - GD RAI

2. non-conventional energy sources

By - Atul Prakashan

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System

4. http://www.sanjaymarketing.com/solarlightingsystem.htm

5. http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/reports/electronic/SOLARLIGHTSYSTEMS.pdf

6. http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/pdf/Trainers%20Textbook%20-
%20Solar%20Lighting%20Systems.pdf