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When was solar energy invented
When was solar energy invented
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Photovoltaic cells are solid state devices that convert light directly into electricity. Photovoltaic literally means “light electricity.” These devices can be commonly found providing power for small scale devices such as calculators, watches, and small radios. However, they are not limited to small scale systems. They are also used to power satellites, communications equipment, houses and many other things, especially in remote locations where a power grid is not readily available. In isolated locations the only power attainable comes from the sun. The sun shines approximately 1000 watts of energy per square meter of the planets surface, which if harnessed could power any city.
The commercial development of the photovoltaic cell took more then a hundred years to begin. A french physicist Edmond Becquerel first described the photovoltaic effect in 1839. At the age of 19 Becquerel found that certain materials when exposed to light produced small measurable currents. Henrich Hertz also studied the effect in solids in the 1870's and he managed to produce photoelectric cells with an efficiency of about 1%. In the 1940's the new Czochralski process made generating highly pure crystalline silicon possible and furthermore made commercializing photovoltaic cells an option. Development really started however, in 1954 when Bell Laboratories used the Czochralski process to produce a 4% efficient crystalline silicon cell, which was essentially for application in space. This was the beginning of photovoltaic cells.
Photovoltaic cells generally consist of five layers. Two of these layers are semiconductors and the remaining three are merely for protection and to aid absorption of light. The top layer is generally a glass cover for protection against the elements since photovoltaic cells are used outside. Underneath this is an anti-reflective coating. Since most photovoltaic cells are made of silicon and silicon is reflective this prevents the photons from merely being bounced off the cell and allows the highest amount of absorption possible. These two layers are secured with a transparent adhesive. Transparent, obviously, so the photons can pass through it. Surrounding the entire cell is a metallic grid on top and a metal contact on bottom.
The two layers of semiconductor are the most important. Semiconductors are materials that have electrical conductivity intermediate between the high conductivity of metals and the low conductivity of insulators. Conductivity is decided by how many free electrons are available to carry charge, and in turn how tightly electrons are bound to the parent atom.
In the early 1800’s, Italian chemist Luigi Brugnatelli invented the process of electroplating . He used an invention called the Voltaic Pile (originally discovered by Allessandro Volta). The voltaic pile is a machine that provides a steady stream of electricity, the first device of its kind. Brugnatelli described what he did as taking an object and applying electricity to it while taking on the visual characteristics of a specified metal. Potassium Cyanide wasn’t included in this process until four decades later. John Wright is accredited with that processional addition. His process was the first to include an electric current which passed through a tank of water. The official patent for electroplating...
Solar energy is energy taken from the light that reaches earth's surface from the sun. There are four different kinds of solar energy, which are active solar systems, passive solar systems, photovoltaic cells and concentrating power systems. An active solar systems is a system that captures solar energy by mechanical means. Common active solar systems are often in buildings or homes. Some examples are roof collectors and water heating. Low Intensity and high variability have limited the use of active solar energy in Canada. A pass...
The Solyndra Company, founded in 2005 by Christian Gronet, designed, manufactured, and sold a unique type of solar panels. They were termed “solar photovoltaic (PV) systems” and were designed for large, flat to low sloped commercial building roofs. The panels were designed to have the best performance when mounted horizontally and to be installed very close together so that they covered a much higher percentage of the roof top thus producing more electricity than the typical flat panel solar panels by comparison. This was created through the production by absorbing light from all directions including indirect and reflected light as well as direct sunlight when combined with a white roof. This was due to the design of having rolled its copper indium gallium selenite or CIGS into a cylindrical shape. Each tube had 40 of them in each 1-meter-by-2-meter panel (Solyndra, 2008).
The first term that I noted during the movie was Conductive Polymers. Conductive polymers are almost always organic meaning a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. These polymers have extended delocalized bonds which are bonds found in a molecule that do not belong to a single atom or covalent bond. They are conjugated systems of double bonds and in a aromatic systems. The conjugated systems are atoms covalently bonded with alternating single and double bonds. When the electrons are removed or added into the valence bands the electrical conductivity increases. The conductive polymer has a low conductivity until the electron is removed from the valence band called (p-doping) or (n-doping) until it becomes more conductive. The movement of the charges is what is responsible for electrical conductivity. These polymers are plastic which are organic polymers and with mechanical properties such as flexibility and elasticity.
Thin solid films were probably first obtained in 1838 by electrolysis. They were systematically prepared by Faraday in 1857.
The Effect of Intensity on the Power of Solar Cells This experiment involves changing the intensity of light falling on different cells and measuring their power outputs. Higher intensity of light means that there are more photons hitting the surface of the cell per unit area per second. The more hit the cell, the more rapidly the electrons move across the p-n junction, so the larger the emf produced. If the rate of movement of electrons is inhibited, then the greater the rate of supply of photons (intensity), the more will not successfully excite an electron, so the lower the efficiency of the cell.
Photovoltaic electrical energy is the result of the “photoelectric effect”, a phenomena that occurs when metals are exposed to sunlight. The photovoltaic effect results in both a voltage and a current, the two ingredients for electricity’s generation. This is defined as a clean energy mechanism as the source of the energy is the sun and results in electrical energy being generated without the “products of combustion: Carbon Dioxide CO2” as is the case with fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil). It’s ad...
Wilhelm Hallwachs discovered that combining copper and cuprous oxide produced a photosensitive material in 1904. In the next year, Albert Einstein completed his work on the photoelectric effect and presented his paper on it. However, it was William G. Bailley of Carnegie Steel who created the present basic design of the solar panel consisting of copper coils and an insulated box. The period after the Second World War saw increased demand for solar power as energy needs went up and supplies could not keep up. There was an explosion of passive solar buildings in the country and that spurred more investments into the solar industry. It was at Bell Labs that the silicon photovoltaic cell was developed by Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson. It was the first cell that stored enough energy to run contemporary electric
The main purpose of green nanotechnology has been to develop clean technologies that would minimize potential human and environmental health risk. Also, to encourage replacement of existing products with the clean technologies that is more environmentally friendly. There are many benefits of using green nanotechnologies as the new solution for energy in both their current availability and their current development. Over the new few decades, the highest growth opportunities will come from application of nanomaterials for making better use of existing resources. Nanotechnologies will help reduce weight of carbon emission in transportation utilizing nanocomposite materials that quickly diffuses across the automotive and aerospace industries. Applications of nanotechnologies will result in a global annual savings of 8000 tons of carbon dioxide, which will rise even further to over millions tons by 2020. But, let’s focus on the positive effects of Green Nanotechnology in Solar.
According to Mr. Solar.com, “this type of energy production, known as the Photovoltaic Effect, is achieved by solar panels converting sunlight into energy. Solar panels are made up of several individual solar cells, composed of layers of silicon, phosphorous (which provides the negative charge), and boron (which provides the positive charge). Solar panels absorb the sunlight’s photons and by doing so initiate an electric current, producing electrons. The resulting energy generated from photons striking the surface of the solar panel allows electrons to be knocked out of their atomic orbits and released into an electric field generated by the solar cells, which then pull these free electrons into a DC or directional current.” This electricity then proceeds to a mechanical room beneath our house to a charge controller, which regulates the amount of energy sent to our 24V batteries to be stored.
Duke Energy. n. d. a. d. a. d. 10 April 2014. http://www.duke-energy.com/about-energy/generating-electricity/nuclear-how.asp>. “How do solar cells work?” Physics.
I am certain that all have heard of the terms greenhouse gases, fossil fuels, and global warming. Have you ever questioned what will happen if nothing is done about the environmental problems facing the world today? What if I answer you that, we can merely use the power from the sun to power up our entire planet without the use of harmful energy sources, which affect our atmosphere? The power from the sun is what we call solar power. Solar power is the energy that comes from the sun as light and heat energy, and then it is later converted into electrical energy through solar panels (Nelson, 2008).
The photovoltaic effect, electricity can be created directly from sunlight. Some semi-conductor materials that are exposed to sunlight can create electron-hole pairs, which can be collected to produce electricity. This occurs when photons have energy above a certain threshold. These photons have shorter wavelengths. In silicon, the threshold for electron-hole production is in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
There are formulas to calculate electrical conductivity and resistivity. Conductivity is defined as the inverse of resistivity (a high conductivity means a low resistance), I=V/R or current equals voltage over resistance. This is known as Ohm’s Law. Electrical resistance is calculated by the formula, R=V/I or resistance equals voltage over current. Ohm’s law however does not hold true if temperature changes. Materials that obey Ohm’s law are known as ohmic or linear because the potential difference across it varies linearly with the current. In addition, whether or not a material obeys Ohm’s law its resistance can be described in bulk resistivity. Furthermore, over sizable ranges of temperature, this temperature depe...
Solar Cell Experiment Aim: To see how individual factors affect the output of a solar cell. Factors affecting the output of a solar cell: This experiment is going to be performed in the confines of a school laboratory, and so the complexity and cost of the experiment(s) should reflect this. However, to see how different factors affect the solar cell output, I will need to perform at least two experiments. The question is, which ones? · Distance from the light source will affect the solar cell output, because intensity of light on the solar cell will decrease, the further away from the light the cell is.