Module 2

• Solar Radiation Geometry: Flux on a plane surface, latitude, declination

angle, surface azimuth angle, hour angle, zenith angle, solar altitude angle,
expressions for the angle between the incident beam and the normal to a
plane surface (No derivation) local apparent time, apparent motion of sun,
day length, numerical problems.
• Solar Thermal Systems: Flat plate collector, Evacuated Tubular Collector,
Solar air collector, Solar concentrator, Solar distillation, Solar cooker,
Thermal energy storage systems, Solar Pond, Solar Chimney (Tower).
• Solar Photovoltaic Systems: Introduction, Solar cell Fundamentals,
Characteristics and classification, Solar cell: Module, panel and array
construction.

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 Solar Radiation Geometry
• Latitude (Angle of Latitude), (Ø) The latitude of a location on earth’s surface is
the angle made by radial line, joining the given location to the center of the earth,
with its projection on the equator plane as shown in Fig.
• The latitude is positive for northern hemisphere and negative for southern
hemisphere.

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 •Both longitude and latitude are angles measured with the center of the earth as
an origin.
•A longitude is an angle from the prime merdian, measured to the east
(longitudes to the west are negative). Latitudes measure an angle up from the
equator (latitudes to the south areREPP
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negative).
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• Declination, (δ) It is defined as the angular displacement of the sun from the
plane of earth’s equator.
• An angle that gives the position of a point in space in relation to earth.
• It is positive when measured above equatorial plane in the northern hemisphere.

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• Hour Angle, (ω) The hour angle at any moment is the angle through which the
earth must turn to bring the meridian of the observer directly in line with sun’s
rays.

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• At any moment, it is the angular displacement of the sun towards east or west of local
meridian (due to rotation of the earth on its axis).
• The earth completes one rotation in 24 hours. Therefore, one hour corresponds to 15° of
rotation.
• At solar noon, as sunrays are in line with local meridian, hour angle is zero. It is +ve in
the forenoon and –ve in the afternoon. Thus at 06:00 hrs it is +90° and at 18:00 hrs it is
–90° as shown in Fig.

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• Inclination Angle (Altitude), (α) The angle between
sun’s ray and its projection on horizontal surface is
known as inclination angle.
• Zenith Angle, (θz) It is the angle between sun’s ray
and perpendicular (normal) to the horizontal plane.
• Solar Azimuth Angle (γs) It is the angle on a
horizontal plane, between the line due south and the
projection of sun’s ray on the horizontal plane.

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• Slope (Tilt Angle), (β) It is the angle between inclined plane surface, under
consideration and the horizontal. It is taken to be +ve for the surface sloping
towards south.
• Surface Azimuth Angle, (γ) It is the angle in horizontal plane, between the line
due south (OS) and the horizontal projection of normal to the inclined plane
surface (OQ). It is taken as +ve when measured from south towards west.

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• Local Apparent (Civil) Time: Solar time is measured with reference to solar
noon, which is the time when the sun is crossing observer’s meridian.
• At solar noon the sun is at the highest position in the sky. The sun traverses each
degree of longitude in 4 minutes (as earth takes 24 hours to complete one
revolution). The standard time is converted to solar time by incorporating two
corrections, as follows:
Solar time = Standard time ± 4 (Lst – Lloc) (min) + E (min)
where Lst and Lloc are the standard longitudes used for measuring standard time of
the country and the longitude of observer’s location, respectively.
• The (+ve) sign is used if the standard meridian of the country lies in western
hemisphere (with reference to prime meridian) and (–ve) if that lies in the eastern
hemisphere.
• E is the correction arising out of the variation in the length of the solar day due to
variations in earth’s rotation and orbital revolution, and is called equation of time.

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 Solar Thermal Systems -Introduction
• Solar energy can be utilized directly by two technologies: namely (i) Solar
Thermal and (ii) Solar Photovoltaic.
• Solar thermal systems provide thermal energy for various processes.
• Solar energy is best suited for low-grade thermal applications.
• Required for heating air for comfort and hot water for washing, cleaning and
other domestic and industrial needs.
• Even in high temperature heating applications a significant amount of fuel can
be saved by using solar energy for preheating (up to about 180 °C).
• Due to this reason, manufacturing of solar water heaters has become a thriving
industry in several countries, especially Australia, Israel, USA and Japan. Solar
thermal energy is also being utilized in drying and process industries.

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 Solar Collectors
• Solar power has low density per unit area.
• Hence it is to be collected by covering large ground area by solar thermal collectors.
• Solar thermal collector essentially forms the first unit in a solar thermal system.
• It absorbs solar energy as heat and then transfers it to heat transport fluid efficiently.
• The heat transport fluid delivers this heat to thermal storage tank / boiler / heat
exchanger, etc., to be utilized in the subsequent stages of the system.

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 Classification

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 Performance Indices
• The important performance indices of a solar collector are: (i) collector efficiency,
(ii) concentration ratio and (iii) temperature range. The performance of a solar
collector is evaluated on the basis of these features.
• Collector efficiency is defined as the ratio of the energy actually absorbed and
transferred to heat transporting fluid by the collector (useful energy) to the energy
incident on the collector.
• Concentration ratio (CR) is defined as the ratio of the area of aperture of the system
to the area of the receiver. The aperture of the system is the projected area of the
collector facing (normal) the beam.
• Temperature range is the range of temperature to which the heat transport fluid is
heated up by the collector.

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 Liquid Flat Plate Collector
• A flat plate collector is placed at a
location in a position such that its
length aligns with line of longitude
and suitably tilted towards south to
have maximum collection.
• The positioning of the collector is
shown in Fig.

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• The constructional details of a simple flat
plate collector are shown in Fig.
• The basic elements in a majority of these
collectors are:
• transparent cover (one or two sheets)
of glass or plastic
• blackened absorber plate usually of
copper, aluminium or steel,
• tubes, channels or passages, in thermal
contact with the absorber plate. In
some designs, the tubes form integral
part of absorber plate.
• weather tight, insulated container to
enclose the above components

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• A liquid, most commonly, water is used as heat transport medium from collector
to next stage of the system.
• However, sometimes mixture of water and ethylene glycol (antifreeze mixture)
are also used if the ambient temperatures are likely to drop below 0°C during
nights.
• As solar radiation strikes on specially treated metallic absorber plate, it is
absorbed and raises its temperature.
• The absorber plate is usually made from a metal sheet ranging in thickness from
0.2 to 1 mm.
• The heat is transferred to heat transfer liquid circulating in the tube (or
channels), beneath the absorber plate and in intimate contact with it.
• The metallic tubes range in diameter from 1 to 1.5 cm.

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• The metal most commonly used, both for absorber plate, the tubes and the header
pipes is copper, but other metals and plastics have also been tried.
• In the bottom and along the sidewalls, thermal insulation, provided by 2.5 to 8-cm
thick layer of glass wool, prevents heat loss from the rear surface and sides of the
collector.
• The glass-cover permits the entry of solar radiation as it is transparent for incoming
short wavelengths but is largely opaque to the longer infrared radiation reflected
from the absorber.
• As a result, heat remains trapped in the airspace between the absorber plate and
glass cover.
• The glass cover also prevents heat loss due to convection by keeping the air
stagnant.
• The glass cover may reflect some 15 per cent of incoming solar radiation, which
can be reduced by applying anti reflective coating on the outer surface of the glass

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 Flat Plate Air Heating Collector (Solar
Air Heater, Solar Air Collector)
• A solar air-heating collector is
similar to a liquid flat plate
collector with change in
configuration of absorber and
tube (riser) as shown in Fig.

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 • A schematic cross-section of a conventional flat-plate collector for heating
air (commonly referred to as a solar air heater) is shown Fig.
• The construction of such a collector is essentially similar to that of a liquid
flat-plate collector except for the passages through which the air flows.

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 Focusing Type Or Concentrating Collectors
• These are the collectors which focus the solar energy to a line or point, at which
point concentrated heat energy, is transferred to working fluid.
• The construction and operation of focusing collectors is entirely different from
flat plate collectors.
• Unlike the flat plate collects, these use only the beam solar radiation.
Types of Concentrating Collectors
• These can be divided into two categories- line focusing type and point focusing.
• Generally, in practice line focusing types are used, in which the solar energy is
focused on a tube carrying the fluid.
• In point focusing type, the energy is focused to a point (like the focal point), for
which a paraboloid is used. Point focusing is not widely used.

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 • The different types of concentrating collectors are:-
• Parabolic collector
• Mirror strip collector
• Fresnel lens collector
• Paraboloid collector
• Compound parabolic concentrator

• Parabolic Collector

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 Parabolic Collectors
• It is a parabolic or semi-cylindrical device with a highly reflecting front surface.
• The highly reflecting surface may be obtained by many ways. As a simple way,
mirrors can be arranged in a parabolic form to focus on to a small heater or the
reflecting surface may be obtained by using plastic aluminised plates, or an
extremely highly polished aluminium sheet.
• Even silver can be used to obtain the polished surface.
• Though, silver is a very good reflector, but because of rapid corrosion on exposure
to atmosphere silver is not used, and another reason is it is costlier.

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• The collector consists of a concentrator and a receiver.
• The concentrator shown is a mirror reflector having the shape of a cylindrical
parabola.
• It focuses the sunlight onto its axis where it is absorbed on the surface of the absorber
tube and transferred to the fluid flowing through it.
• A concentric glass cover around the absorber tube helps in reducing the convective
and radiative losses to the surroundings.
• In order that the sun's rays should always be focused onto the absorber tube, the
concentrator has to be rotated. This
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Paraboloid Collector or Point focusing Collector:
• It uses a paraboloid dish structure in which either
curved mirrors are provided, or the dish itself is
made of a strong reflective surface.
• The suns rays are focused from the surface to a
point, which is the focal point of the paraboloid.
• In this, the heat concentrated at the focal point is
transferred to an absorber.
• The absorber is made of zirconium-copper alloy
and coated with black-chrome selective layer.
The working fluid flows through the absorber
with the pipes attached to it.
• The structure is designed so as to track the
system such that the dish will always face the
sun.

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 Solar Distillation (Desalination Of
Water)

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 Solar Pond
• A solar pond is a system for
collection and storage of solar
energy.
• It can be natural or artificial.
• Artificial solar ponds are more
effective and economical, since
they are designed to meet the
requirements.
• The principle of solar pond is the
Absorption of solar energy by the
bottom-most layer of salt water.
The heat losses/ transmission are
reduced by a non-convective
fresh water layers at the top.
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• It is a mass of shallow water about 1 to 2
meters deep with a large collection area.
• It contains dissolved salts to generate stable
high density gradient at the bottom.
• Below this layer a thick durable plastic
liner is laid. This layer is made of butyl
rubber, black polyethylene and hypalon
reinforced with nylon mesh.
• Salts like magnesium chloride, sodium
chloride or sodium nitrate are dissolved in
the water concentration up to 30% at the
bottom to zero at the top.

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• A solar pond has three zones. The top zone is
the surface zone, or UCZ (Upper Convective
Zone), which is at atmospheric temperature
and has little salt content.
• The bottom zone is very hot, 70°– 85° C, and
is very salty. It is this zone that collects and
stores solar energy in the form of heat, and
is, therefore, known as the storage zone or
LCZ (Lower Convective Zone).
• Separating these two zones is the important
gradient zone or NCZ (Non-Convective
Zone). Here the salt content increases as
depth increases, thereby creating a salinity or
density gradient.

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• If we consider a particular layer in this
zone, water of that layer cannot rise, as
the layer of water above has less salt
content and is, therefore, lighter.
• Similarly, the water from this layer
cannot fall as the water layer below has a
higher salt content and is, therefore,
heavier.
• This gradient zone acts as a transparent
insulator permitting sunlight to reach the
bottom zone but also entrapping it there.
The trapped (solar) energy is then
withdrawn from the pond in the form of
hot brine from the storage zone.

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 The various operational problems associated with solar pond.
• Establishing the Salt Concentration Gradient
• Wind-induced Waves
• Effect of Rain
• Biological Growth
• Fouling Due to Dirt and Leaves
• Effect of Bottom Reflectivity

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 Thermal Energy Storage
• Thermal-energy storage (TES) systems are equivalent of an electrical battery which
stores electrical energy.
• Thermal-energy storage systems utilize essentially three basic modes. These
include sensible-heat storage, latent heat storage, and quasi-latent heat storage.
• In the sensible heat storage systems, the heat is simply stored by increasing the
temperature of a solid or liquid.
• The storage of thermal energy as latent heat occurs in an isothermal process and
occurs as the material undergoes a phase change, usually from a solid to a liquid.
Such a phase change is accompanied by the absorption (charging) or the release
(discharging) of relatively large amounts of thermal energy.

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 Sensible Heat Storage
• In the sensible heat storage, thermal energy is stored in certain materials using
their specific heat.
• Three different types of sensible heat storage systems are discussed here.
• Packed Bed Energy Storage

•The materials" used for the bed (rock, stones)

should have a high specific heat, thus
increasing the thermal energy storage capacity
of the unit.
•Commonly used storage materials include
rocks, pebbles, aluminium oxide, silicon oxide,
and magnesium oxide. Of these, silicon oxide
has the highest specific heat.

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 Liquid Storage System
• Many liquids can also be used for sensible storage systems.
• Water can be successfully used as the medium of storage. For water heating
and space heating systems hot water storage tanks are generally used.
• The storage capacities range from few hundred litres to thousands of litres.
• For liquid thermal storage, tanks made of steel, concrete or GFRP (Glass
Fibre Reinforced Plastic) are widely used.
• These tanks are properly insulated using glass wool or mineral wool to
minimize the heat losses. For better results even underground storage can
also be is used, where the earth itself acts as the better insulator.

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Salt Eutectics
• Certain molten inorganic salts are useful
for sensible heat storage systems.
• These can be used for storing
temperature above 300°C.
• An eutectic mixture of Sodium nitrite
NaNO2 (40%W) NaNO3 (7%W) and
Potassium nitrite KNO2 (53%) is useful
salt.
• This salt solution has a low melting point
of 145°C and can be used for storing
temperatures of the order of 400 to
450°C.
• For higher temperature ranges (around
800°C), sodium hydroxide having a
melting point 320°C can be used.
• However,
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this salt is highly corrosive and
REPP DKB, ME, VCET, Puttur 35
difficult to handle and store.
 Latent Heat Storage Or Phase Change
Energy Storage
• The transition from solid to liquid or from liquid to vapour is a type of energy
storage called Latent heat storage, in which no temperature range is involved.
• It is possible for both sensible and latent heat storage to occur in the same
material

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 Parameters Affecting the Performance of a Flat Plate
Collector
Selective Surface
• Selective surfaces help in higher absorption and lesser emissivity of heat
energy.
• Hence higher the quality of the selective surface coating better is the
performance of the collector.
• The η of the collector can be maximized by coating the absorber plate by
materials which will absorb maximum amount of radiation but emit
minimum amount of radiation. Such a coating is known as selective coating.
• The commercially used selective coating are copper oxide on copper and
nickel black on galvanized iron .
Insulation of the collector unit:
• Better insulation of the collector units minimize the thermal losses, hence it
improves the collector performance.
Type of cover:
• For flat plate collector, a cover that allows maximum solar radiation to the
absorber and minimum heat losses is essential.
• Performance improves with a good radiation transmitting and low heat loss
cover.
• In a FPC normally one or two glass covers are used to prevent convective,
reflective and refractive losses.
Type of Absorber:
• An absorber with maximum surface area exposed to the radiation (like
corrugated type) will give a good performance. Generally liquid collector will
have better performance since they use tubes. In air collectors the
performance can be improved with the use of fins attached to the absorber,
and/ or with corrugated surface.
Fluid inlet temperature:
• From the experimental studies the efficiency [η] will decrease with the
increase in inlet temp. This is because, as the inlet temp of the fluid
increases the loss from the collector increases due to increase in the
temperature difference between the collector and the atmosphere. This
increase in loss decreases the output resulting in reduced efficiency [η].
Other factors:
• Other factors like incident solar flux, position of the collector, number
of covers, cleanliness of the cover, etc., also affect the performance of a
FPC
 Solar Cookers
• Solar cooker cook the food by using the energy radiated by the Sun.
• Sunlight isn’t hot enough to heat water or food. Here, solar cookers convert light
energy into concentrated heat energy, and this energy is used for cooking food.
• Solar cooker works on the principle that sunlight warms the pot, which is used for
cooking the food.
• Now, this warming of the pot occurs by converting light energy to heat energy.
• Concave mirrors are used in these types of cookers because these mirrors reflect
sunlight into a single focal point.
• Here, the mirror focuses sun rays onto a receiver such as a cooking pan.
• A solar cooker lets the UV light rays in and then transforms them into longer
infrared light rays that cannot escape.
• Infrared radiations have the energy to make the water, fat, and protein molecules
in food vibrate energetically and heat up.

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 Working Principle
• Concentrating Sunlight - A mirror surface with high specular reflection is used
to concentrate and channelize light from the sun into a small cooking space.
• Converting Light Energy to Heat Energy - The concentrated sunlight is focused
onto a receiver such as a cooking pan. The interaction between the light energy
and the receiver material helps to convert light into heat by a process
called conduction.
• Trapping Heat Energy - To make sure to retain as much heat as possible,
minimize the effects of convection by isolating the air inside the cooker from the
external air. Placing a glass lid on the cooking pot enhances light absorption from
the top and reduces the loss of heat through convection.

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 Box-Type Solar Cooker
• The most commonly used form of solar cooker is the box-type solar cooker. A
box-type solar cooker consists of the following components:
• Black Box – The box is an insulated metal or wooden box which is painted black
from the inside to absorb more heat.
• Glass Cover – A cover made of two sheets of toughened glass held together in an
aluminium frame is used as a cover for box B.
• Plane Mirror reflector – The plane mirror reflector is fixed to box B with the
help of hinges. The mirror reflector can be positioned at any desired angle to the
box. The mirror is positioned so as to allow the reflected sunlight to fall on the
glass cover of the box.
• Cooking Containers – A set of aluminium containers blackened from the outside
are kept in box B.

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• The solar cooker is placed in sunlight and a plane mirror reflector is adjusted in a
way such that the strong beam of sunlight enters the box through the glass sheet.
The blackened metal surfaces in the wooden box absorb infra-red radiations from
the beam of sunlight and the heat produced raises the temperature of a blackened
metal surface to about 100°C.
• The food absorbs heat from the black surface and gets cooked. The thick glass
sheet does not allow the heat to escape and thus, helps in raising the temperature
in the box to a sufficiently high degree to cook the food.

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Advantages of Solar Cooker
• Solar cookers use no fuel. This saves cost as well as the environment by not
contributing to pollution.
• Reduces carbon footprint by cooking without carbon dioxide-based fuels.

Disadvantages
• Solar cookers are less useful in cloudy weather.
• Some solar cookers take longer to cook food than a conventional stove or an oven.
• Some solar cookers are affected by strong winds which can slow the cooking
process.
• It might get difficult to cook some thick foods such as large roasts and loaves of
bread.

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 Evacuated Tube Collectors
• The evacuated tube collector (ETC) consists of a number of sealed glass tubes
which have a thermally conductive copper rod or pipe inside allowing for much
high thermal efficiency and working temperature compared to the flat plate solar
collectors even during a freezing cold day.
• The Evacuated or Vacuum tubes collector, also referred as Vacuum Tube Solar
Water Heater, consists of a number of rows of parallel transparent glass tubes
connected to a header pipe and where the heat transfer fluid (usually 50%
Propylene Glycol) circulates and absorb heat generated by tubes.
• These glass tubes are cylindrical in shape. Therefore, the angle of the sunlight is
always perpendicular to the heat absorbing tubes which enables these collectors to
perform well even when sunlight is low such as when it is early in the morning or
late in the afternoon, or when shaded by clouds.

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• Evacuated tube collectors are made up of a single or multiple rows of parallel,
transparent glass tubes supported on a frame. Each individual tube varies in
diameter from between 1" (25mm) to 3" (75mm) and between 5′ (1500mm) to 8′
(2400mm) in length depending upon the manufacturer.
• Each tube consists of a thick glass outer tube and a thinner glass inner tube,
(called a “twin-glass tube”) or a “thermos-flask tube” which is covered with a
special coating that absorbs solar energy but inhibits heat loss.
• The tubes are made of borosilicate or soda lime glass, which is strong, resistant to
high temperatures and has a high transmittance for solar irradiation.
• Inside the each glass tube, a flat or curved aluminium or copper fin is attached to a
metal heat pipe running through the inner tube. The fin is covered with a selective
coating that transfers heat to the fluid that is circulating through the pipe. This
sealed copper heat pipe transfers the solar heat via convection of its internal heat
transfer fluid to a “hot bulb” that indirectly heats a copper manifold within the
header tank.

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• These copper pipes are all connected to a common manifold which is then
connected to a storage tank, thus heating the hot water during the day.
• The hot water can then be used at night or the next day due to the insulating
properties of the tank.
• The insulation properties of the vacuum are so good that while the inner tube may
be as high as 150°C, the outer tube is cooler to touch.
• However, the downside is that they can be a lot more expensive compared to
standard flat plate collectors.
• Evacuated tube solar collectors are well suited to commercial and industrial hot
water heating applications and can be an effective alternative to flat plate
collectors for domestic space heating, especially in areas where it is often cloudy.

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 Solar Chimney

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• Solar chimneys are utilized to regulate the temperature of a building's interior and to
provide ventilation. They are practically vertical, hollow containers linked both to the
interior and the exterior of a building and they are considered a green and cost-
efficient solution to maintain the temperature inside a structure at the desired levels.
• A solar chimney is a technology that can be used to enhance the ventilation of a
residential or commercial structure.
• Solar chimney, the sun’s natural heat warms the air in the chimney, causing it to rise
and create a draft that moves the hot air out of the structure. This heating process
causes the cooler air from below to be pulled into the chimney for heating while the
hot air is released from the top. The act of pulling in cooler air creates air movement,
which provides ventilation in the structure.
• One of the most important things to consider when preparing for a solar chimney is
placement. The solar chimney must be placed on the roof of a structure in an area that
is naturally hit by the sun’s rays. The best scenario is to place the chimney in an area
that gets hit when the sun is strongest in the afternoon.
• The size of the solar chimney is another important consideration—the larger the
chimney is, the more effective it will be.
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 Solar Photovoltaic System
• Photovoltaic is the field of technology and research related to the devices which
directly convert sunlight into electricity.
• The solar cell is the elementary building block of the photovoltaic technology.
• Solar cells are made of semiconductor materials, such as silicon.
• One of the properties of semiconductors that makes them most useful is that their
conductivity may easily be modified by introducing impurities into their crystal lattice.
• Photovoltaic cell (PV cell) also called solar cell, is an electrical device that converts
the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect.
• The photovoltaic conversion basically involves the release of free electrons by the
action of photons from the solar energy on the semiconductor material.
• These free electrons are made to flow as electrical energy in a circuit to do work.
• The flow of current is achieved by the creation of an electron hole pair (a pair of
opposite charges) and flow through an external electrical circuit.
 Photovoltaic Effect
• The photovoltaic effect is a process that generates voltage or electric current in
a photovoltaic cell when it is exposed to sunlight. It is this effect that makes solar
panels useful, as it is how the cells within the panel convert sunlight to electrical
energy.
• The photovoltaic effect occurs in solar cells.
• These solar cells are composed of two different types of semiconductors - p-type
and n-type, that are joined together to create a p-n junction.
• By joining these two types of semiconductors, an electric field is formed in the
region of the junction as electrons move to the positive p-side and holes move to
the negative n-side.
• This field causes negatively charged particles to move in one direction and
positively charged particles in the other direction
• Light is composed of photons, which
are simply small bundles
of electromagnetic radiation or energy.
These photons can be absorbed by a
photovoltaic cell.
• When light of a suitable wavelength is
incident on these cells, energy from the
photon is transferred to an atom of the
semiconducting material in the p-n
junction.
• Specifically, the energy is transferred to
the electrons in the material. This
causes the electrons to jump to a higher
energy state known as the conduction
band. This leaves behind a "hole" in the
valence band that the electron jumped
up from.
 Working /Operation of a solar cells/PV cell
Following are the important steps involved in the working principle of a solar cell:
• Generation of electron-hole pairs in the cell by the absorbed solar Light.
• Separation of electron- hole charges by a potential gradient in the solar cell.
• Removal of charges from the cell and supplied to external load.
In order to perform the above processes, a solar cell consists of the following parts:
• Semiconductor to create electron-hole pairs by absorbing sunlight.
• Junction to create potential gradient.
• Electrodes to store charges
Step 1) Generation of electron-hole pairs:
• Semiconductors like silicon, cadmium sulphide, are used for the purpose of
absorbing the sunlight.
• Semiconductors have two bonds, valence bond and conduction bond.
• The valence bond is completely filled by electrons and they are at lower energy
level.
• But conduction bond has deficiency of electrons and they are at higher energy
level.
• Due to the absorption of solar radiation, the electrons of valence bonds get excited
and they jump to conduction band.
• In this way holes are created in the valence bond and electrons are generated in the
conduction band. Thus, electron-hole are created in the solar cell.
Step 2) Separation of electron-hole pairs:
• There must be potential gradient to separate electron-hole charges from solar cell.
It can be achieved by creating p-n junction.
• N-type semiconductor is obtained by doping one side of the semiconductor
material by phosphorus.
• P-type semiconductor is obtained by doping other side of the same semiconductor
material by boron.
• Thus, the potential gradient is obtained by making the solar cell as a sandwich of
two types of semiconductor, p-type and n-type.
• This potential gradient is sufficient to separate electron-hole charges, and cause a
flow of direct electric current in the external load.
Step 3) Removal of charges from cell and supplied to external Load:
• It is achieved by using metal electrodes on front and back side of the solar cell
panel.
 Solar Cell Characteristic
• The performance of a solar cell is also dependent on the current-voltage (V-I)
characteristics of the solar cell. A typical V-I Characteristic of a solar cell is
shown in figure.
• The current Isc obtained at zero voltage is termed as a short circuit current, and
the voltage (Voc) obtained with an open circuit is called the open circuit voltage.
• The e.m.f. generated by the
photovoltaic cell in the open circuit,
i.e. when no current is drawn from it is
denoted by VOC(V-open circuit).
• This is the maximum value of e.m.f.
• When a high resistance is introduced in
the external circuit a small current
flows through it and the voltage
decreases.
• The voltage goes on falling and the
current goes on increasing as the
resistance in the external circuit is
reduced.
• When the resistance is reduced to zero
the current rises to its maximum value
known as saturation current and is
denoted as I , the voltage becomes
• The product of open circuit voltage VOC and short circuit current ISC is
known a ideal power.
Ideal Power = VOC× ISC
• The maximum useful power is the area of the largest rectangle that can be
formed under the V-I curve. If Vm and Im are the values of voltage and
current under this condition, then
Maximum useful power = Vm× Im
• The ratio of the maximum useful power to ideal power is called the fill
factor
Fill Factor=
Application of PV Cells

• Solar Power Farms

• Off-Grid Power
• Rooftop Solar Panels
• Satellites
• Domestic
• Telecom industry
• Water pump
• Traffic signals
• Street Lights
• CCTVs
• Commercial building system
Advantages of Solar cell:
• It uses renewable energy
• No pollution so it is environment friendly
• It lasts for many years
• No maintenance cost
Disadvantages of Solar cell:
• Energy is not produced during rainy, cloudy days and during night times.
• Cost of installation is high.
 Solar PV Module
• A bare single cell cannot be used for outdoor
energy generation by itself. It is because:
• the output of a single cell is very small
and
• it requires protection (encapsulation)
against dust, moisture, mechanical shocks
and outdoor harsh conditions.
• By using two sheets of ethylene vinyl acetate
(EVA) at either side. EVA is a good electrical
insulator, transparent material and has very
low water absorption.
• The encapsulate cannot provide rigidity to the
module, for which glass is provided at the
front side of the module.
• At the rear side of the module a hard polymer
material, typically, polyvinyl fluoride is used.
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 Solar PV Panel
• Several solar modules are connected in series/parallel to increase the
voltage/current ratings.
• By connecting the PV modules in series, it will increase the voltage of PV system
and the current will remain constant.
• When cells are connected in parallel, the voltage remains same, and internal
resistance decreases, hence the current increases.

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 Solar PV Array

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