SAI GOUTHAM GOLIVE

INTRODUCTION TO SOLAR ENERGY

EEE DEPARTMENT, BAPATLA ENGINEERING

COLLEGE, BAPATLA
 Unit – 2
1) what are the different types of solar energy collectors?

solar collectors

concentrated/
Flat plate/ Non
non focussing
focussing type
type

parabolic
Liquid flat plate Solar air heater trough linear fresnel power tower parabolic dish

2) Briefly explain about flat plate collectors with neat sketches?

The flat-plate solar collectors are probably the most fundamental and most studied technology for solar-powered
domestic hot water systems. The overall idea behind this technology is pretty simple. The Sun heats a dark flat surface,
which collect as much energy as possible, and then the energy is transferred to water, air, or other fluid for further use.

These are the main components of a typical flat-plate solar collector:

 Black surface - absorbent of the incident solar energy

 Glazing cover - a transparent layer that transmits radiation to the absorber, but prevents radiative and convective
heat loss from the surface
 Tubes containing heating fluid to transfer the heat from the collector
 Support structure to protect the components and hold them in place
 Insulation covering sides and bottom of the collector to reduce heat losses
The flat-plate systems normally operate and reach the maximum efficiency within the temperature range from 30 to
80 oC (Kalogirou, 2009), however, some new types of collectors that employ vacuum insulation can achieve higher
temperatures (up to 100 oC). Due to the introduction of selective coatings, the stagnant fluid temperature in flat-plate
collectors has been shown to reach 200 oC.
Some advantages of the flat-plate collectors are that they are:

 Easy to manufacture
 Low cost
 Collect both beam and diffuse radiation
 Permanently fixed (no sophisticated positioning or tracking equipment is required)
 Little maintenance
Flat-plate collectors are installed facing the equator (i.e. South oriented in the Northern hemisphere and North oriented
in the Southern hemisphere). The optimal tilt of the collector plate is close to the latitude of the location (+/- 15o). If the
application is solar cooling, the optimum installation angle is Latitude - 10o, so that the solar beam is perpendicular to
the collector during summertime. If the application is solar heating, the optimum installation angle is Latitude + 10o. It
was found however, that for year-round hot water application, the optimum angle is Latitude + 5 o, which provides
somewhat better performance during winter, when the hot water is more needed (Kalogirou, 2009)
Transport fluid options
The flat plate collectors can involve liquid or air heat transport.

Water is one of the common options as liquid fluid due to its accessibility and good thermal properties:
 It has a relatively high volumetric heat capacity
 It is incompressible (or almost incompressible)
 It has a high mass density (which allows using small tubes and pipes for transport)
One disadvantage of water is that it freezes during winter, which can damage the collector or piping system. This can be
managed by draining down the collector at low solar inputs (below a critical insolation threshold). Drain down sensors
are often employed to monitor the system and to ensure complete draining, as pocket water freezing can cause
damage. Refilling the system with water on the next morning also is not perfect. Possible air pockets in the collector can
be a problem, blocking water flow and decreasing system efficiency (Vanek and Albright, 2008).

Antifreeze mixtures can be used instead of pure water to alleviate the above-said problems. The common antifreeze
components are ethylene glycol or propylene glycol. Those chemicals are mixed with water require closed-loop systems
and proper disposal due to toxicity. Nominal antifreeze service like is about 5 years, after which it needs to be replaced.
Air can be used as transport fluid in some designs of flat -plate collectors. This option is better suited to space heating
applications or crop drying. A fan is usually required to facilitate air flow in the system and efficient heat transport.
Certain designs can provide passive (no fan) movement of air due to thermal buoyancy.
Phase-change liquids can also be used with flat-plate collectors. Some refrigerants are included in this group of fluids.
They do not freeze, which eliminates troubles explained above for water, and, due to their low boiling point can change
from liquid to gas as temperature increases. Those fluids can be practical in settings where quick response to rapid
temperature fluctuation is needed.
Collector construction
The key considerations in flat plate collector design are maximizing absorption, minimizing reflection and radiation
losses, and effective heat transfer from the collector plate to the fluids. One of the important issues is obtaining a good
thermal bond between the absorber plate and changes (tubes or ducts containing the heat-transfer fluids). Different
construction designs (shown below) try to address this issue.

The plate - channel assembly may use a variety of methods of component attachment - thermal cement, solder, clips,
clamps, brazing, mechanical pressure applicators. One of the considerations in choosing the assembly method is cost
of labor and materials.
3) Briefly discuss concentrating solar energy collectors with neat sketches?
Various types of concentrating solar collectors are as under:

 Parabolic trough collector.

 Power tower receiver.
 Parabolic dish collector.
 Fresnel lens collector.


Parabolic Trough Collector

It is a line focusing type collector. In this type of collector, the solar radiations falling on the area of
the parabolic reflector are concentrated at the focus of the parabola.


 When the reflector is manufactured in the form of a trough with the parabolic cross-section,
the solar radiations gets focused along a line. An absorber pipe is placed along this line and a
working fluid (usually synthetic oil or water) flows through it.
 When the focused solar radiations fall on the absorber pipe, it heats the fluid to a high
temperature. Then the heat absorbed by the working fluid is transferred to water for producing
steam.

The focus of solar radiations changes with the change in sun’s elevation. In order to focus the
solar radiations on the absorber pipe, either the trough or the collector pipe is rotated
continuously about the axis of the absorber pipe.

 Solar Power Plant Using Parabolic Trough Collector

 These power plants employ an array of parabolic trough collectors installed with sun tracing
device to collect the solar radiations which are used to heat a fluid (water). The general range
of working temperature is between 250oC to 400oC.

This heat is transferred to a storage tank and finally to feed water where the steam is
generated in the steam generator.

This steam is used to drive a turbine coupled to an electric generator. The mechanical
energy produced by the turbine is converted into electrical power by the generator.

The exhaust of the steam turbine is condensed in the condenser with the help of circulating cold
water. The condensate is returned to the boiler with the help of a feed pump.

The parabolic trough collectors are generally preferred over dish collectors because of low cost
and requirement of sun tracking in one plane only.

The system works on the Rankine cycle. The block diagram of the power plant using parabolic trough
collectors is shown in Figure.

Power Tower Receiver

In this collector, the receiver is located at the top of the tower. It has a large number of independently-
moving flat mirrors (heliostats) spread over a large area of ground to focus the reflected solar
radiations on the receiver. The heliostats are installed all around the central tower.
Each heliostat is rotated into two directions so as to track the sun. The solar radiations reflected from
heliostats are absorbed by the receiver mounted on a tower of about 500 m height.

The tower supports a bundle of vertical tubes containing the working fluid. The working fluid in the absorber
receiver is converted into the high-temperature steam of about 600oC – 700oC. This steam is supplied to a
conventional steam power plant coupled to an electric generator to generate electric power.

Parabolic Dish Collector

In these collectors, the receiver is placed at the focal point of the concentrator. The solar beam
radiations are focused at a point where the receiver (absorber) is placed. The solar radiations are collected
in the receiver.

A small volume of fluid is heated in the receiver to a high temperature. This heat is used to run a prime
mover coupled with a generator.

A typical parabolic dish collector has a dish of 6 m diameter. This collector requires two-axis tracking. It can
yield temperatures up to 3000oC.

Due to the limitations of size and the small quantity of fluid, dish type solar collectors are suitable for only
small power generation (up to few kW).
Fresnel Lens Concentrating Collector

 In this collector, a Fresnel lens which consists of fine, linear grooves on the surface of
refracting material of optical quality on one side and flat on the other side is used.
The angle of each groove is so designed that the optical behavior of the Fresnel lens is
similar to that of a common lens. The solar radiations which fall normally to the lens are
refracted by the lens and are focused on a line where the absorber tube (receiver) is placed to
absorb solar radiations.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Power

Advantages

 Solar power is silent, limitless and free.

 It is pollution free. It releases no CO2, SO2 and NO2 gases which are produced in coal-fired
generating stations.
 It does not contribute to global warming.
 Operating costs of solar power plants are very low.

Disadvantages
  Solar electricity is not produced at night. Hence, a complimentary power system is required.
 Solar power is much reduced in cloudy conditions.
 It is very location dependent, only suitable for favorable sun-shine sites.
 Solar power plants require very large ground area.
 At present, solar power is very costly.
 Low thermal efficiency.
 Needs a thermal storage system.

4) Briefly explain the operation and working principle of solar PV technology?

a solar panel works by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms,
generating a flow of electricity. Solar panels actually comprise many, smaller units called
photovoltaic cells. (Photovoltaic simply means they convert sunlight into electricity.) Many cells
linked together make up a solar panel.
Each photovoltaic cell is basically a sandwich made up of two slices of semi-conducting material,
usually silicon — the same stuff used in microelectronics.
To work, photovoltaic cells need to establish an electric field. Much like a magnetic field, which
occurs due to opposite poles, an electric field occurs when opposite charges are separated. To get this
field, manufacturers "dope" silicon with other materials, giving each slice of the sandwich a positive
or negative electrical charge.

Specifically, they seed phosphorous into the top layer of silicon, which adds extra electrons, with a
negative charge, to that layer. Meanwhile, the bottom layer gets a dose of boron, which results in
fewer electrons, or a positive charge. This all adds up to an electric field at the junction between the
silicon layers. Then, when a photon of sunlight knocks an electron free, the electric field will push
that electron out of the silicon junction.
A couple of other components of the cell turn these electrons into usable power. Metal conductive
plates on the sides of the cell collect the electrons and transfer them to wires. At that point, the
electrons can flow like any other source of electricity.

Photovoltaics is the direct conversion of light into electricity at the atomic level. Some materials
exhibit a property known as the photoelectric effect that causes them to absorb photons of light and
release electrons. When these free electrons are captured, an electric current results that can be used as
electricity.

The diagram above illustrates the operation of a basic photovoltaic cell, also called a solar cell. Solar
cells are made of the same kinds of semiconductor materials, such as silicon, used in the
microelectronics industry. For solar cells, a thin semiconductor wafer is specially treated to form an
electric field, positive on one side and negative on the other. When light energy strikes the solar cell,
electrons are knocked loose from the atoms in the semiconductor material. If electrical conductors are
attached to the positive and negative sides, forming an electrical circuit, the electrons can be captured
in the form of an electric current -- that is, electricity. This electricity can then be used to power a
load, such as a light or a tool.

A number of solar cells electrically connected to each other and mounted in a support structure or
frame is called a photovoltaic module. Modules are designed to supply electricity at a certain voltage,
such as a common 12 volts system. The current produced is directly dependent on how much light
strikes the module.

Multiple modules can be wired together to form an array. In general, the larger the area of a module or
array, the more electricity that will be produced. Photovoltaic modules and arrays produce direct-
current (dc) electricity. They can be connected in both series and parallel electrical arrangements to
produce any required voltage and current combination.

How does a photovoltaic solar cell generate electricity?

Photovoltaic cells, through the photovoltaic effect, absorb sunlight and generate flowing electricity.
This process varies depending on the type of solar technology, but there are a few steps common
across all solar photovoltaic cells.

Step 1: Light is absorbed by the PV cell and knocks electrons loose

First, light strikes a photovoltaic cell and is absorbed by the semiconducting material it is made from
(usually silicon). This incoming light energy causes electrons in the silicon to be knocked loose,
which will eventually become the solar electricity you can use in your home.
Step 2: Electrons begin to flow, creating an electrical current

There are two layers of silicon used in photovoltaic cells, and each one is specially treated, or
“doped”, to create an electric field, meaning one side has a net positive charge and one has a net
negative charge. This electric field causes loose electrons to flow in one direction through the solar
cell, generating an electrical current.

Step 3: The electrical current is captured and combined with other solar cells

Once an electrical current is generated by loose electrons, metal plates on the sides of each solar cell
collect those electrons and transfer them to wires. At this point, electrons can flow as electricity
through the wiring to a solar inverter and then throughout your home.

5) List different types of solar cells?

In many roof-integrated applications, strings are encapsulated (usually behind glass) to form a module
(commonly referred to as a 'panel'). The PV panel is the principal building block of a PV system and
any number of panels can be connected together to give the desired electrical output. However, two
types of PV are best deposited as a thin film, and usually sold encapsulated in a polymer bonded to a
substrate that can be used as part of the roofing material.

Here, we only look at commercially available types of PV cell or film, any of which might be found in
a module or film used on an active solar roof. We do not consider:

 Gallium Arsenide cells. Due to their toxicity and potential carcinogenic properties, these are
only used in rare applications such as satellites or demonstration solar-powered cars.
 Organic-based PV solutions that are still under research.

Monocrystalline silicon PV panels

These are made using cells sliced from a single cylindrical crystal of silicon. This is the most efficient
photovoltaic technology, typically converting around 15% of the sun's energy into electricity. The
manufacturing process required to produce monocrystalline silicon is complicated, resulting in
slightly higher costs than other technologies.
Polycrystalline silicon PV panels
Also sometimes known as multicrystalline cells, polycrystalline silicon cells are made from cells cut
from an ingot of melted and recrystallised silicon. The ingots are then saw-cut into very thin wafers
and assembled into complete cells. They are generally cheaper to produce than monocrystalline cells,
due to the simpler manufacturing process, but they tend to be slightly less efficient, with average
efficiencies of around 12%.
Thick-film silicon PV panels
This is a variant on multicrystalline technology where the silicon is deposited in a continuous process
onto a base material giving a fine grained, sparkling appearance. Like all crystalline PV, it is normally
encapsulated in a transparent insulating polymer with a tempered glass cover and then bound into a
metal framed module.
Amorphous silicon PV panels
Amorphous silicon cells are made by depositing silicon in a thin homogenous layer onto a substrate
rather than creating a rigid crystal structure. As amorphous silicon absorbs light more effectively than
crystalline silicon, the cells can be thinner - hence its alternative name of 'thin film' PV. Amorphous
silicon can be deposited on a wide range of substrates, both rigid and flexible, which makes it ideal
for curved surfaces or bonding directly onto roofing materials. This technology is, however, less
efficient than crystalline silicon, with typical efficiencies of around 6%, but it tends to be easier and
cheaper to produce. If roof space is not restricted, an amorphous product can be a good option.
However, if the maximum output per square metre is required, specifiers should choose a crystalline
technology.
Other thin film PV panels
A number of other materials such as cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium diselenide (CIS)
are now being used for PV modules. The attraction of these technologies is that they can be
manufactured by relatively inexpensive industrial processes, certainly in comparison to crystalline
silicon technologies, yet they typically offer higher module efficiencies than amorphous silicon. Most
offer a slightly lower efficiency: CIS is typically 10-13% efficient and CdTe around 8 or 9%. A
disadvantage is the use of highly toxic metals such as Cadmium and the need for both carefully
controlled manufacturing and end-of-life disposal; although a typical CdTe module contains only
0.1% Cadmium, which is reported to be lower than is found in a single AA-sized NiCad battery.

6) Briefly explain the operation and working principle of solar pond?

A solar pond is a solar energy collector, generally fairly large in size, that looks like a pond. This type
of solar energy collector uses a large, salty lake as a kind of a flat plate collector that absorbs and
[1]
stores energy from the Sun in the warm, lower layers of the pond. These ponds can be natural or
[2]
man-made, but generally speaking the solar ponds that are in operation today are artificial.

How they Work

The key characteristic of solar ponds that allow them to function effectively as a solar energy collector
is a salt-concentration gradient of the water. This gradient results in water that is heavily salinated
collecting at the bottom of the pond, with concentration decreasing towards the surface resulting in
cool, fresh water on top of the pond. This collection of salty water at the bottom of the lake is known
as the "storage zone", while the freshwater top layer is known as the "surface zone". The overall pond
[2]
is several meters deep, with the "storage zone" being one or two meters thick.
These ponds must be clear for them to operate properly, as sunlight cannot penetrate to the bottom of
the pond if the water is murky. When sunlight is incident on these ponds, most of the incoming
sunlight reaches the bottom and thus the "storage zone" heats up. However, this newly heated water
cannot rise and thus heat loss upwards is prevented. The salty water cannot rise because it is heavier
than the fresh water that is on top of the pond, and thus the upper layer prevents convection currents
from forming. Because of this, the top layer of the pond acts as a type of insulating blanket, and the
main heat loss process from the storage zone is stopped. Without a loss of heat, the bottom of the
[1]
pond is warmed to extremely high temperatures - it can reach about 90°C. If the pond is being used
to generate electricity this temperature is high enough to initiate and run an organic Rankine
cycle engine.
It is vital that the salt concentrations and cool temperature of the top layer are maintained in order for
these ponds to work. The surface zone is mixed and kept cool by winds and heat loss by evaporation.
This top zone must also be flushed continuously with fresh water to ensure that there is no
accumulation of salt in the top layer, since the salt from the bottom layer diffuses through the saline
gradient over time.Additionally, a solid salt or brine mixture must be added to the pond frequently to
make up for any upwards salt loses.

Applications
The heat from solar ponds can be used in a variety of different ways. First, since the heat storing
abilities of solar ponds are so great they are ideal for use in heating and cooling buildings as they can
[4]
maintain a fairly stable temperature. These ponds can also be used to generate electricity either by
driving a thermo-electric device or some organic Rankine engine cycle - simply a turbine powered by
evaporating a fluid (in this case a fluid with a lower boiling point). Finally, solar ponds can be used for
desalination purposes as the low cost of this thermal energy can be used to remove the salt from
[4]
water for drinking or irrigation purposes.

Benefits and Drawbacks

One benefit of using these ponds is that they have an extremely large thermal mass. Since these
ponds can store heat energy very well, they can generate electricity during the day when the Sun is
shining as well as at night.
Despite being a source of energy, there are numerous thermodynamic limitations as a result of the
relatively low temperatures achieved in these ponds. Because of this, the solar-to-electricity
conversion is fairly inefficient - generally less than 2%. As well, large amounts of fresh water are
necessary to maintain the right salt concentrations all through the pond. This is an issue in places
where fresh water is hard to come by, especially in desert environments. These ponds also do not
work well at high latitudes as the collection surface is horizontal and cannot be tilted to collect more
sunlight.