Since the beginning of time we have all existed in no small measure from the abundance of the sun. Solar energy provides the impedance to start the cycle of growth on our earth. It provides many bands of light and heat to grow vegetation. And in turn the vegetation manufactures carbon dioxide in the daytime, to constantly and in perfect balance clean and replenish the oxygen that allows all living things on this earth to survive and flourish.
It is a natural progression to harness solar energy to create cool clean electricity. This technology has been available to the human race from the genesis of time.
It’s incredible that we’ve come this far. We can catch the Sun’s radiant light energy and convert it into electrical energy. It’s nothing new of course. Nature has been capturing the energy in light for millions of years. Each leaf is a form of solar cell, producing energy for plants and trees to grow in a chemical process known as Photosynthesis.
SPACE AGE TECHNOLOGY – Solar cells, also known as Photo Voltaic Cells, were rapidly developed to provide electrical energy for space missions. The beauty of solar cells is that provided the Sun shines, they keep on producing free electricity. Well, sort of free. Solar panels are still expensive to manufacture. It is the high purchase price and installation cost that effectively limits their use.
There are many types of solar cell. Polycrystaline (more than one crystal), monocrystaline and thin film. Monocrystaline is presently the most efficient at converting light energy into electricity. Sometimes as high as 20% but more usually 15%. A monocrystaline cell is made from a thin slice cut from a single crystal of silicon. A grid of metal is then embedded over the wafer ending in the contacts and other layers added. Thin film cells are plated onto a plate of glass. They are much cheaper to produce, but only around 5% efficient and heavy. Vehicle designers will normally want to capture as much energy as possible for a given area and weight.
A single cell is not of much practical use, producing less than a volt. Several cells have to be connected in a series of cells to produce a useable voltage. The voltage increases proportionally. 10 cells connected in series will produce about 7.5 volts. 20 cells 15 volts and so on. A number of cells (a battery) linked and mounted together is known as a solar panel.
“The supply of solar energy is both without limit and cost;
solar energy will pour down on us long after we run out of fossil fuels.”
Charles Fritts, 1886, inventor of the first selenium solar panel.
HOW MUCH POWER – The Sun’s energy reaching the surface of our planet is roughly 1 kilowatt per square meter. Before entering our atmosphere it is about 20% more: 1.2 kilowatts. That’s why astronauts always look so bright. At 15% efficiency 10 panels each measuring 1meter by 1 meter would power 1 1/2 bars on an electric heater. 20 panels would power an electric kettle. This of course assumes that the sun is shining.
“What is often considered the first genuine solar cell was built around 1883 by Charles Fritts, who used junctions formed by coating selenium (a semiconductor) with an extremely thin layer of gold… These early solar cells, however, still had energy-conversion efficiencies of less than 1 percent. This impasse was finally overcome with the development of the silicon solar cell by Russell Ohl in 1941. Thirteen years later three other American researchers, G.L. Pearson, Daryl Chapin, and Calvin Fuller, demonstrated a silicon solar cell capable of a 6-percent energy-conversion efficiency when used in direct sunlight.” – Encyclopedia Britannica
“Solar panel” describes two types of devices that collect energy from the sun:
Solar photovoltaic modules use solar cells to convert light from the sun into electricity.
Solar thermal collectors use the sun’s energy to heat water or another fluid such as oil or antifreeze.
A solar panel or battery converts the sun’s energy to electricity. Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin invented the first sun energy battery in 1954. The inventors created an array of several strips of silicon (each about the size of a razorblade), placed them in sunlight, captured the free electrons and turned them into electrical current. Bell Laboratories in New York announced the prototype manufacture of a new solar battery.
Bell had funded the research. The first public service trial of the Bell Solar Battery began with a telephone carrier system (Americus, Georgia) on October 4 1955.
Sun Energy Battery – In 1954, G.L. Pearson, C.S. Fuller, and D.M. Chapin invented the first solar panel battery.
Materials and efficiency
Various materials have been investigated for solar cells. There are two main criteria – efficiency and cost. Efficiency is a ratio of the electric power output to the light power input. Ideally, near the equator at noon on a clear day, the solar radiation is approximately 1000 W/m² (Watts/Meters squared). So a 10% efficient module of 1 square meter can power a 100 W light bulb. Costs and efficiencies of the materials vary greatly. By far the most common material for solar cells (and all other semiconductor devices) is crystalline silicon. Crystalline silicon solar cells come in three primary categories:
Single crystal or monocrystalline wafers made using the Czochralski process. Most commercial monocrystalline cells have efficiencies on the order of 14%; the SunPower cells have high efficiencies around 20%. Single crystal cells tend to be expensive, and because they are cut from cylindrical ingots, they cannot completely cover a module without a substantial waste of refined silicon. Most monocrystalline panels have uncovered gaps at the corners of four cells.
Poly or multicrystalline made from cast ingots – large crucibles of molten silicon carefully cooled and solidified. These cells are cheaper than single crystal cells, but also somewhat less efficient. However, they can easily be formed into square shapes that cover a greater fraction of a panel than monocrystalline cells, and this compensates for their lower efficiencies.
Ribbon silicon formed by drawing flat thin films from molten silicon and has a multicrystalline structure. These cells are typically the least efficient, but there is a cost savings since there is very little silicon waste since this approach does not require sawing from ingots.
Comprehensive in house testing has developed a Solar Panel that significantly increases the capture of the sun’s energy to deliver more consistently.
With the comprehensive use of glass both in absorption and a directed reflection of the Solar light, we can maximize the sun power. Most commercial Solar panels in commercial production today use between 12% – 15% of the available light produced by the Sun.
We have designed a panel named Solar “Turbo”. This new design uses 18% – 20% of the available sunlight and is ready to produce 32% more electrical energy than convention technologies. This is accomplished by increasing the aspect angle of the available sunlight. In addition Solar “Turbo” reflects and concentrates the sunlights on the PV cells to expand the electrical generations. Those two factors produces electricity at faster rate and for longer period of time. This will energize the Power of Sun to enhance the livability of human kind on this planet. The theory is replicated congruently from the focus of the sunlight as demonstrated in a Sterling Engine, making the solar cells actively produce more electricity as the sun travels through the sky.
For all enquires please direct your questions to the following principals:
Elliot Yehia
E-Mail: ellioty01@hotmail.com