In solar power systems, solar panels are responsible for converting sunlight to electricity. Solar panels provide homeowners with the chance to generate their own energy without pollution or cost.

Solar panels can be made by interwiring solar cells, which are then housed within a weatherproof case. These solar cells generate a small amount of electrical current when they are struck by sunlight. A great enough number of solar cells when combined can produce a significant amount of current. The aggregation of cells also serves as a failsafe; if one cell malfunctions, the others will keep working without any serious disruption.

The newest solar cells are more reliable and productive than ever before. With modern solar cells, you get equal or greater production even with less exposure to sunlight. All solar cells have a specific threshold at which the quantity of sunlight experienced results in electricity generation. Modern cells require less sunlight to produce power than earlier models did.

Modern solar panels produce more electricity in total than older units, and this means that it’s possible to generate enough power for in-home use with fewer panels. For this reason, it’s possible to generate an equal or greater quantity of power while dedicating less roof space and less in the way of startup costs to a solar power generation project. These are some of the most frequently cited reasons why a growing number of people are taking advantage of solar power.

Built-in micro-inverters have been added to recent solar panel designs. In the past, most solar power systems would rely on one large inverter, normally placed near the electrical panel of the home. The Direct Current (DC) electricity generated by the solar panels would be sent to this single inverter, where it would then be converted to the Alternating Current (AC) electricity used in the home.

The trouble with this setup was that a loss of power was almost always experienced as the electricity was transferred along the long wires from the panels to the inverter. Now that the panels themselves have their own micro-inverters, the conversion from DC to AC can be done without the same loss of power.

These additions give solar panels the ability to independently supply electricity right to the home. This means that the entire wiring setup can be much simpler, which lowers any chance of future issues. Homeowners can simply increase the number of panels as needed, building up a solar power system at their own pace. If you would like more info about micro inverters, feel free to visit Solar Micro Inverter.

Advanced solar power panels are worth considering for anyone who is looking into installing a solar power generation system. The most important thing to keep in mind is that these panels will provide more power for less money, allowing users to make use of the free power of the sun for longer than ever before. If you are interested in building your own solar panel, check out this guide Build Your Own Solar Panel.

For another guide to building a diy solar panel, visit  Green DIY Energy.

Technorati Tags: ac electricity, dc electricity, solar cells, solar power generation, solar power systems

Since the invention of the modern silicon solar cell, the performance of solar cells has improved greatly. On April 25, 1954, Bell Labs showed a silicon solar cell to the public for the first time. It had an efficiency of about 6%, meaning that it was able to convert about 6% of the sun’s energy it collected to electricity.

This was a huge improvement over the selenium solar cell, which had been the most common type prior to the introduction of the silicon solar cell. Selenium solar cells only converted about 0.5% of the sun’s energy.

Most research on solar cells since that time has focused mainly on increasing efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs. It’s proven to be possible, using exotic materials, to produce cells with up to 40% efficiency. The production cost for these cells is over 100 times greater than that of the current standard, 8% efficient cells. Reducing production cost may be even more important than improving efficiency in relation to the goal of encouraging more homeowners to switch to solar power.

The total amount of power delivered by the sun under ideal conditions is about 1,000 watts per square meter. This figure is the standard for defining the performance of a specific solar cell. Dust, pollution, elevation, temperature, weather and other variables can have an effect on sunlight intensity. Volcanic eruptions and other similar occurrences can reduce sunlight worldwide for over a year. Solar cells used at a higher elevation generally produce with superior efficiency. This is due to the fact that, as elevation gets higher, the air gets thinner, and the effects of dust and pollution are decreased.

Multicrystalline solar cells are now commercially available, and these output at about 14-19% efficiency. However, as mature technology, this type of cell is thought to be approaching its limit in terms of production capability. Instead, many researchers are more excited about amorphous silicon cells, which are currently about 8% efficient.

Even without any major improvements in solar cell efficiency, the goal of replacing fossil fuel-based power production with solar power is within reach. A little more than 10,000 square miles of land would have to be dedicated to solar panels in order to generate all of the electricity currently produced in the United States. Even now, there is enough unused desert in the US to meet this requirement.

Solar power systems, in order to provide power even when the sun isn’t shining, need to also involve some form of power storage. Many power companies are investigating“smart grid” systems involving the use of battery banks to address this issue. Even during the day, when solar panels are generating electricity, batteries can help with the task of meeting high demand, at times when many people are using their air conditioners.

Since the invention of the first solar cell, solar cell efficiency has improved dramatically, from 0.5% to as high as 40%. In the last few years in particular, they’ve also become a lot more affordable.

If you want to install your own solar power system, you must think about the kind of roof panel that you are going to utilize. More information about roof solar panels is available at Roof Solar Panels.

For the finest guides to building your own solar panels, including detailed instructions and step-by-step videos, go to Build Solar Panel and GreenDIY Energy Review.

Technorati Tags: dust pollution, production capability, solar cell, solar cells, sunlight intensity

Solar panel is a device used to convert solar energy into other forms , such as light energy and heat energy. In this article, we will try to find out the answer of the question…”How do Solar panels work?”

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Solar panel is a term used to describe the devices used for the conversion of solar energy in to other forms of energy like electrical or heat or light. This can be broadly studied under three categories.

1. Panels used to generate electricity

2. Panels used to generate heat

3. Panels used to heat water in homes.

How do solar panels work is nothing but knowing how the above panels work.

Panels used to generate electricity

Solar cells are common examples in this category of electricity generation. They are also known as photovoltaic cells. A combination of individual PV cells forms the Photovoltaic module. A collection of photovoltaic modules, which are tied together with a wire and are so designed to install it in a field readily, is known as photovoltaic panels or simply solar panels. The installation includes the photovoltaic modules, an inverter, a battery all linked to each other with a wire. Depending upon the no of cells and their arrangement there are three types of modules in this viz., crystalline silicon modules, rigid thin-film modules and Flexible thin-film modules.

Panels used to generate heat

The heat in the sun light is collected in this type of panels. They are called Solar thermal collectors. They are specially made to absorb the sunlight to provide the heat. It may appear that they are simple solar hot water panels but in reality they are more complex installations.

Though heat is generated out of sun light in these models, the heat energy is ultimately converted into other type of energy mostly electrical energy as in the case of solar power plants. The heat produced in the solar power plants is used to heat water, which in turn produce stream. A turbine connected to an electrical generator is made to drive for producing electricity.

There are three types of thermal collectors namely; solar parabolic, solar trough and solar towers which are mainly used in solar power plants. In domestic and light industry applications, flat plate and box type panels are used. Apart from that, some more types like evacuated tube, pool or unglazed, air and parabolic dish are some of the other types of panels used. Some advantages of this type of solar panels are getting high temperature enough to generate electricity, higher efficiency of these panels and wide area coverage with the use of inexpensive mirrors

Panels used to heat water in homes

In solar hot water panels, sunlight is used to heat a fluid, which is then transferred to a heat storage vessel. Heating of potable water in the sun light and storing is in hot water tank is a common example of this. How solar panel works is explained below:

Flat absorber plates are placed on the top roofs of the buildings usually residential buildings. These absorbers are coated with darks selective surface which converts the sun’s radiation into heat. The heat so produced is carried by the fluid in the tubes attached to the absorbers. The heat is taken away and stored or used. In the process the fluid gets heated up. To take away its heat and for reuse, the fluid is directed to a heat exchanger, where it gives off its heat and the cooled fluid is reused.

A mechanical pump can be used for circulating the fluid by means of a solar cell. Alternatively the principle of thermo siphon which works on convection can be used to circulate the fluid by mounting the storage vessel higher in the circuit.

How solar panel works lies in the effective use of active solar or passive solar technologies or solar combisystem. While in active solar technology electrical or mechanical devices such as pumps are used, passive solar technology does not employ any other source of energy. Solar combisystem uses the auxiliary non-solar heat source.

Solar panels are mainly used to exploit the potential of solar energy, which is rampant is availability and is cheap to use as no money need to be paid by anybody for the use of sunlight.

In the depleting conventional energy source day by day, solar energy is the right substitute for that. But, for that, we need to be cautious in keeping our environment and thereby the atmosphere clean and un-spoilt. Because, the role of atmosphere in the use of solar energy is that of a filter.

It eliminates certain harmful gases and materials from the sunlight before it reaches the earth’s surface. It acts as a checkpoint. If that is damaged the entire earth will be damaged. Global dimming, global warming etc., are some of the phrases coined by the environmental conscious people to warn the adverse effects of our atmosphere getting into nowadays. Let us be more conscious in not polluting our atmosphere so that not only we, the future generation is also able to derive the advantages of solar energy.

By Jayashree Pakhare Published: 7/31/2007

Technorati Tags: heat energy, keywords, light energy, photovoltaic cells, solar cells, solar hot water, solar power plants, water panels