MPE–514

Energy Conversion

Chapter 3
Solar Thermal Conversion
 Direct Solar Conversion
Thermal Photovoltaic
• Utilizing the energy from • The radiant energy is
the sun as thermal energy converted directly into
(Heat) electric energy
• The device used to • The device used for
collect the energy is conversion is called a
usually called “a solar photovoltaic cell
Collector” (simply PV cell)
• A kind of storage is • Cells are arranged in
always needed (fluid tank, modules (panels), arrays
rock bed, chemical and string
reaction, phase change) • Batteries are the usual
storage medium
 Thermal Conversions
• Conversion is performed in two steps:
• Collection & Storage
• In any collection device, a dark surface is exposed to
solar radiation so that the radiation is absorbed.
• A part of the absorbed radiation is transferred to a
fluid like air or water.
• When no optical concentration is done, the
collecting device is called a flat-plate collector.
• When the radiation is focused on the absorbing
surface, the collecting device is called a
concentrating collector.
 Flat-Plate Collector
• The flat-plate collector forms the heart of any solar
energy collection system operating at low and
medium temperature range, 100 ºC above ambient.
• It is a special kind of heat exchanger that transfers
solar radiant energy into sensible heat of a working
fluid.
• The flat-plate collector is simple in design, has no
moving parts and requires little maintenance.
• The collector also uses both beam and diffuse
radiation and does not require tracking of the sun.
 Elements of a Flat-Plate Collector
1

2
1) Glass cover
2) Absorber plate
3
3) Thermal insulation
4) Outer box
4
• A flat and dark absorbing plate, normally metallic upon which the
short wave solar radiation falls and is absorbed.
• Tubes, channels or passages attached to the absorbing surface to
circulate the fluid required to remove the thermal energy from the plate.
• Thermal insulation is provided at the back and sides of the absorber plate
in order to minimize the heat losses.
• A transparent cover (one or two sheets) of glass or transparent plastic
placed at the top, to reduce the upward heat loss from the absorber
plate.
• A weather tight container encloses the above components.
 Solar Air Heater
• The construction of an air heater is similar to that of a liquid
flat-plate collector except for the passage through which the
air flows. The passages have to be made larger in order to
keep the pressure drop within manageable limits
 Concentrating Collectors
• When temperatures higher than 100 ºC are required, the solar
radiation has to be concentrated
• A concentrating collector consists of a concentrator and a
receiver.
• The concentrator is a mirror reflector having a certain shape
that focuses the sunlight onto its axis where it is absorbed on
the surface of the absorber and transferred to the fluid
flowing through it.
 Solar Thermal Applications
• Water heating
• Space heating (Active – Passive)
• Power generation
• Space cooling and refrigeration
• Distillation
• Drying
• Cooking
Teaching Assignment #1
 Photovoltaic Conversion
• The phenomenon of producing voltages and currents from
radiant energy is known as the photovoltaic effect.
• Photovoltaic converters are semiconductor devices that
convert part of the incident solar radiation directly into
electrical energy.
• These converters are commonly called solar cells or PV
cells.
• Their advantages are that they have no moving parts,
require little maintenance and work satisfactorily with
beam or diffuse radiation.
• The most common photovoltaic cells are made of single
crystal silicon. The cells are thin wafers about 300 m in
thickness and 3 to 6 cm in diameter sliced from a single
crystal of doped silicon. An antireflection coating of SiO
(Silicon Oxide) having a thickness of about 0.1 m is put on
the top surface
 Working Principle
• Incident solar radiation can be considered as discrete energy
units called photons. The energy of a photon is a function of
the frequency of the radiation () and is given by Plank’s
constant (h) by
• E = h. 
• The product of the frequency and the wavelength  is the
speed of light C
• C=
• Thus, the most energetic photons are those of high
frequency and short wavelength.
• An atom of silicon in the crystal lattice absorbs a photon of
the incident solar radiation. If the energy of the photon is
high enough, an electron from the outer shell of the atom is
freed.
• This process results in the formation of a hole-electron pair,
a hole where there is a lack of an electron, and an electron
out in the crystal structure.
• The hole-electron pair normally disappears
spontaneously as electrons recombines with holes.
• The recombination process can be reduced by building into
the cells a potential barrier, a thin layer or junction across
which a static charge exists.
• This barrier is created by doping the silicon on one side of
the barrier with very small amounts (of the order of one part
in 106) of boron to form p-silicon, which has a deficiency of
electrons in its outer shell, and that on the other side of the
barrier with phosphorus to form n- silicon, which has an
excess of electrons in its outer shell.
• The barrier exhibits the free migration of electrons, leading
to a building up of electrons in the n-silicon layer and a
deficiency of electrons in the p-silicon layer.
• If these layers are connected by an external circuit,
electrons (i.e. current) will flow through that circuit.
• Thus, free electrons created by absorption of photons are
in excess in the n-silicon and flow through the external
circuit to the p-silicon.
• Electrical contacts are made by metal bases on the bottom
of the cell and by metal fingers (grid or meshes) on the top
layer, which must be largely uncovered to allow penetration
of photons.
• Electrodes are usually made from Ti-Ag solder.
• The current from the cell may pass directly through the
load, or it may be changed first by the power- conditioning
equipment to alternating current at voltage and current
levels different from those provided by the cell.
• Other sub-systems that may also be used include energy-
storage devices such as batteries, and concentrating lenses or
mirrors that focus the sunlight onto a smaller and hence less
costly semiconductor cell.
• If concentration is employed, a tracking subsystem may be
required to keep the array pointed at the sun throughout the
day.
 Efficiency and Characteristics
• Conversion efficiencies obtained for silicon cells range
between 10 and 15%.
• An important property of the material affecting the
conversion efficiency is the band gap energy (Eg).
• Photons of sunlight having energy (E) less than the band gap
energy are not usefully absorbed.
• Photons having E>Eg have their energy partially utilized
with the quantity (E-Eg) being wasted as heat
• Pmax = Vm Im

• Pideal = Voc Isc

max  ImVm
IT A
c
ImVm
F.F. 
Voc I sc

 max  (F.F.)V .oc I

I A T c
sc
 System Design Procedure
• Estimate Loads and its profile
• Assess Radiation at site
• Determine system Voltage
• Calculate number of Panels
• Apply safety margins
• Calculate number of arrays and strings
• Calculate inverter and battery capacity
 Solar PV system sizing
• 1. Determine power consumption demands
• find out the total power and energy consumption of all loads
that need to be supplied by the solar PV system :
• 1.1 Calculate total Watt-hours per day for each
appliance used.
Add the Watt-hours needed for all appliances together to get
the total Watt-hours per day which must be delivered to the
appliances.

2.Calculate total Watt-hours per day needed from

the PV modules.
Multiply the total appliances Watt-hours per day times
3.(the energy lost in the system) to get the total Watt- hours
per day which must be provided by the panels.
 2. Size the PV modules
• Different size of PV modules will produce different
amount of power.
• To find out the sizing of PV module, the total peak watt
produced needs.
• The peak watt (Wp) produced depends on size of the PV
module and climate of site location.
• We have to consider “panel generation factor” which is
different in each site location. For EGY, the panel
generation factor is 3.43. To determine the sizing of PV
modules, calculate as follows:
 2. Size the PV modules
• 2.1 Calculate the total Watt-peak rating needed for PV modules
Divide the total Watt-hours per day needed from the PV modules (from item
1.2) by 3.43 to get the total Watt-peak rating needed for the PV panels
needed to operate the appliances.
• 2.2 Calculate the number of PV panels for the system
Divide the answer obtained in item 2.1 by the rated output Watt-peak of
the PV modules available to you.
• Increase any fractional part of result to the next highest full number and
that will be the number of PV modules required.
• Result of the calculation is the minimum number of PV panels. If more PV
modules are installed, the system will perform better and battery life will be
improved. If fewer PV modules are used, the system may not work at all
during cloudy periods and battery life will be shortened.
 3. Inverter sizing
• An inverter is used in the system where AC power output is
needed.
• The input rating of the inverter should never be lower than the total
watt of appliances.
• The inverter must have the same nominal voltage as your
battery.
• For stand-alone systems, the inverter must be large enough to
handle the total amount of Watts you will be using at one time.
• The inverter size should be 25-30% bigger than total Watts of
appliances. In case of appliance type is motor or compressor then
inverter size should be minimum 3 times the capacity of those
appliances and must be added to the inverter capacity to handle
surge current during starting.
• For grid tie systems or grid connected systems, the input rating of
the inverter should be same as PV array rating to allow for safe and
efficient operation.
 4. Battery sizing
• The battery type recommended for using in solar PV system
is deep cycle battery. Deep cycle battery is specifically
designed for to be discharged to low energy level and rapid
recharged or cycle charged and discharged day after day for
years. The battery should be large enough to store sufficient
energy to operate the appliances at night and cloudy days. To
find out the size of battery, calculate as follows:
 • 4.1 Calculate total Watt-hours per day used by
appliances.
• 4.2 Divide the total Watt-hours per day used by 0.85 for
battery loss.
• 4.3 Divide the answer obtained in item 4.2 by 0.6 for
depth of discharge.
• 4.4 Divide the answer obtained in item 4.3 by the
nominal battery voltage.
• 4.5 Multiply the answer obtained in item 4.4 with days of
autonomy (the number of days that you need the system to
operate when there is no power produced by PV panels) to
get the required Ampere-hour capacity of deep-cycle battery.
Battery Capacity (Ah) = Total appliances Watt-hours per day x Days of
autonomy
(0.85 x 0.6 x nominal battery voltage)
 5- Solar charge controller
sizing
• The solar charge controller is typically
rated against Amperage and Voltage
capacities.
• Select the solar charge controller to match the
voltage of PV array and batteries and then
identify which type of solar charge controller
is right for your application.
• Make sure that solar charge controller has
enough capacity to handle the current from
PV array.
• For the series charge controller type, the
sizing of controller depends on the total PV
input current which is delivered to the
controller and also depends on PV panel
configuration (series or parallel
configuration).
• According to standard practice, the sizing of
solar charge controller is to take the short
circuit current (Isc) of the PV array, and
multiply it by 1.3
• Solar charge controller rating = Total short
circuit current of PV array x 1.3
 Example
• A house has the following electrical appliance
usage:
• One 18 Watt fluorescent lamp with electronic
ballast used 4 hours per day.
• One 60 Watt fan used for 2 hours per day.
• One 75 Watt refrigerator that runs 24 hours per day
with compressor run 12 hours and off 12 hours.
• The system will be powered by 12 Vdc, 110 Wp PV
module.
1. Determine power consumption
demands
Total appliance use = (18 W x 4 hours)
+ (60 W x 2 hours)
+ (75 W x 24 x 0.5
hours)
= 1,092 Wh/day

Total PV panels energy needed = 1,092 x

1.3
=
1,419
.6
Wh/d
ay.
 2. Size the PV panel
1. Total Wp of PV panel capacity needed = 1,419.6 / 3.4
= 413.9 Wp

2. Number of PV panels needed = 413.9 / 110

= 3.76 modules
Actual requirement = 4 modules

So this system should be

powered by
at least 4 modules of 110 Wp PV
module.
 3. Inverter sizing
• Total Watt of all appliances = 18 + 60 + 75 = 153 W
• For safety, the inverter should be considered 25-
30% bigger size.

• The inverter size should be about 190 W or

greater.
 4. Battery sizing
• Total appliances use = (18 W x 4 hours) + (60 W x 2
hours) + (75 W x 12 hours)
• Nominal battery voltage = 12 V
• Days of autonomy = 3 days
• Battery capacity = [(18 W x 4 hours) + (60 W x 2
hours) + (75 W x 12 hours)] x 3 /(0.85 x 0.6 x 12)
• Total Ampere-hours required 535.29 Ah
• So the battery should be rated 12 V 600 Ah
for 3 day autonomy.
 5. Solar charge controller
sizing
• PV module specification
Pm = 110 Wp Vm = 16.7 Vdc
Im = 6.6 A Voc = 20.7 A
Isc = 7.5 A
• Solar charge controller rating = (4 strings x
7.5 A) x 1.3 = 39 A
• So the solar charge controller should
be rated 40 A at 12 V or greater.
The owner of a small cabin would like to convert his home to
PV power. He has the following loads and associated run times
Equipment Number Power (W) Run time (h)
Lighting 8 25 10
Stereo 1 45 4
Refrigerator 1 1200 4
Water pump 1 400 3
Alarm clock 2 5 12
Computer 1 250 5
Printer 1 170 1
Outdoor safety lights 4 50 8
Answering machine 1 15 12
Coffee pot 1 1200 1

Design the system using 50 W, 12 V PV panels assuming no

storage and 5 hours of sunshine per day. The system voltage is
60 V. (find the total number of panels, number or arrays,
number of panels in each array, number of strings, and number
of arrays in one string)”