Introduction

Design building and testing of calculating circuit for solar panelsSolar panel internship report Masroor khanFme batch 20Dated august November 2014

IntroductionEnergy is ultimate form of currency no nation can progress with Out energy whether is electrical ,chemical , wind or solar. Even living organism cant live without energy . ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) is form of chemical energy require by living organism to do there regular activities.Solar energy is cheapest and easiest form of energy available in earth.But unfortunately we are getting only 0.54% from solar in form of solar cell(electricity).

Industrial problem at solar tech-intl Lahore

Problem I involved in internshipComparison of power generation of 2 different type of solar panelUnder same environmental condition.

Problem definition

Comparisons of two different types of commercial solar panels i.e.Tesla solar panel Sharp Using power calculating circuit design build and tested by me.

Aim

To find out which solar panel is more efficient in term of power generation.

Objective

To design electronic circuit for comparison that can simultaneous read current and voltage and calculate power for these two solar panel individually.Circuit can be used for all type of solar panel. Crystalline ,mono or thin film solar panel

Activities undertakenStudy of Solar panel. Mono, Polycrystalline or Thin FilmPlanning of experiments.Design of electronic circuit.Comparison / analyses.Result /conclusion.

Polycrystalline Silicon Solar CellsThe first solar panels based on polycrystalline silicon, which also is known as polysilicon (p-Si) and multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si). Unlike mono crystalline-based solar panels, polycrystalline solar panels do not require the Czochralski process. Raw silicon is melted and poured into a square mold, which is cooled and cut into perfectly square wafers.

Advantages Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Cells The process used to make polycrystalline silicon is simpler and cost less

Polycrystalline solar panels tend to have slightly lower heat tolerance than mono crystalline solar panels.

Disadvantages Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Cells The efficiency of polycrystalline-based solar panels is typically 13-16%.Lower space-efficiency.

Circuit design and key modules Voltage measuring module one for each moduleCurrent measuring module one for each moduleExternal clock for synchronization time DS1302Pic microcontroller e.g. pic18f452C programing Power calculationMax current and time at which it generated Max power and the time at which it generated

Circuit working principleIn below slid circuit diagram the solar panel are simulated as solar 1 and solar 2 and battery as battery. The microcontroller use in this circuit is 18f452 also this circuit has DS1302 chip use for clock the three button are used to edit the menu and set the limit for on grid and off grid limit and see the power produce by the panel later.

Circuit diagram

ResultTesla efficiency is 85% 250 watt panel.Sharp efficiency is 78% average 250 watt panel.Per day power generation by tesla is 250 * 4.4 =1100 watt/dayPer day power generation by sharp is 250*4 =1000 watt/day

ConclusionTesla is more efficient as compare sharp polycrystalline solar panel

Pic microcontroller code in cCode for pic microcontroller.docx

Solar panel type other than poly crystalline In the following slides different type of solar panel and their advantages and disadvantages are given

Mono crystalline Silicon Solar CellsSolar cells made of mono crystalline silicon (mono-Si), also called single-crystalline silicon (single-crystal-Si)Mono crystalline solar cells are made out of silicon ingots, which are cylindrical in shape. To optimize performance and lower costs of a single mono crystalline solar cell, four sides are cut out of the cylindrical ingots to make silicon wafers

Advantages Mono crystalline SiliconMono crystalline solar panels have the highest efficiency rates since they are made out of the highest-grade silicon

Mono crystalline silicon solar panels are space-efficient

Monocrystalline solar panels live the longest

Disadvantages Mono crystalline Silicon Mono crystalline solar panels are the most expensiveIf the solar panel is partially covered with shade, dirt or snow, the entire circuit can break downThe Czochralski process is used to produce mono crystalline. A significant amount of the original silicon ends up as waste.Mono crystalline solar panels tend to be more efficient in warm weather.Performance suffers as temperature goes up, but less so than polycrystalline solar panels

Thin-Film Solar Cells (TFSC)Depositing one or several thin layers of photovoltaic material onto a substrate is the basic gist of how thin-film solar cells are manufactured. They are also known as thin-film photovoltaic cells (TFPV). The different types of thin-film solar cells can be categorized by which photovoltaic material is deposited onto the substrate. Amorphous silicon (a-Si) Cadmium telluride (CdTe) Copper indium gallium selenide (CIS/CIGS) Organic photovoltaic cells (OPC)

Thin-Film Solar Cells (TFSC)Depending on the technology, thin-film module prototypes have reached efficiencies between 713% and production modules operate at about 9%. Future module efficiencies are expected to climb close to the about 1016%

Advantages Thin-Film Solar Cells (TFSC) Mass-production is simple. This makes them and potentially cheaper to manufacture than crystalline-based solar cells.Can be made flexible, which opens up many new potential applications.High temperatures and shading have less impact on solar panel performance.In situations where space is not an issue, thin-film solar panels can make sense.

Disadvantages Thin-Film Solar Cells (TFSC) Thin-film solar panels are in general not very useful for in most residential situations. They are cheap, but they also require a lot of space. SunPower`s mono crystalline solar panels produce up to four times the amount of electricity as thin-film solar panels for the same amount of space.Low space-efficiency also means that the costs of PV-equipment (e.g. support structures and cables) will increase.Thin-film solar panels tend to degrade faster than mono- and polycrystalline solar panels, which is why they typically come with a shorter warranty