PHY 105 LECTURER NOTES

SOLAR ENERGY

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the sun that has been harnessed by humans since

ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation along with secondary

solar resources account for most of the available renewable energy on earth. All other

renewable energies other than geothermal derive their energy from energy received from the

sun. Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar

depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight. Active solar techniques

include the use of Photovoltaic Modules (Solar cells) (Solar to Electrical) and Solar Thermal

Collectors (Solar to Thermal) with suitable equipment to convert sunlight into useful outputs.

Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with

favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally

circulate air.

Important features of Solar Energy:

1. SUN the source of ‘Solar energy’ is a huge, glowing sphere of hot gas with 1.4 million

kilometer diameter. Most of this gas is hydrogen (about 70%) and helium (about 28%).

2. Due to Nuclear fusion reaction of Hydrogen with Helium internal temperatures reach

over 20 million Kelvin.

3. The resulting loss of mass due to fusion is converted into about 3.8 × 1020 MW of

electromagnetic energy (power) that radiates outward from the surface into space.

4. The spectrum of solar radiation is close to that of a blackbody @ 5800 K.

5. The amount of energy reaching the surface of the Earth every hour is greater than the

amount of energy used by the Earth's population over an entire year.

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Terms used in Solar Energy: Irradiance, Irradiation & Insolation

Irradiance: is the rate at which radiant energy is incident on a surface per unit area

(W/m2) and is represented by the symbol G.

Irradiation: is the incident energy per unit area (J/m2) on a surface –determined by

integration of irradiance over a specified time, usually an hour or a day.

Insolation: is a term used to indicate ‘Solar Energy Irradiation’. (An abbreviation for

‘Incident Solar Radiation’).

While solar irradiance is most commonly measured, a more common form of radiation

data, solar Insolation is the total amount of solar energy received at a particular location

during a specified time period, often in units of kWh/(m2-day). While the units of solar

Insolation and solar irradiance are both a power density (for solar Insolation the "hours"

in the numerator are a time measurement as is the "day" in the denominator), solar

Insolation is quite different than the solar irradiance as the solar Insolation is the

instantaneous solar irradiance averaged over a given time period. Solar Insolation data

is commonly used for simple PV system design while solar radiance is used in more

complicated PV system performance evaluation which calculates the system

performance at each point in the day.

Extra Terrestrial &Terrestrial Solar Radiation:

While the solar radiation incident on the Earth's atmosphere which is known as

Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation is relatively constant, the radiation at the Earth's surface

which is known as Terrestrial Solar Radiation varies widely due to:

i. Atmospheric effects, including absorption and scattering.

ii. Local variations in the atmosphere, such as water vapor, clouds, and pollution.

iii. Latitude of the location and

iv. Season of the year and the time of day.

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The above effects have several impacts on the solar radiation received at the Earth's surface.

These changes include:

1. Variations in the overall power received, the spectral content of the energy and the

angle from which light is incident on a surface.

2. In addition, a key change is that the variability of the solar radiation at a particular

location increases dramatically. The variability is due to both local effects such as

clouds and seasonal variations, as well as other effects such as the length of the day at

particular latitude.

3. Desert regions tend to have lower variations due to local atmospheric phenomena such

as clouds. Equatorial regions have low variability between seasons.

4. As solar radiation makes its way toward the earth’s surface, some of it is absorbed by

various constituents in the atmosphere, giving the terrestrial spectrum an irregular,

bumpy shape.

5. The terrestrial spectrum also depends on how much atmosphere the radiation has to

pass through to reach the surface. This is explained by a term called Air Mass Ratio.

Characteristics of Solar Radiation & Radiation Spectrum

The characteristics of Solar Radiation are best explained with the help of the solar spectrum

plots which give data on intensity as spectral content. These characteristics are normally shown

at Extra Terrestrial (above the atmosphere) level and at Terrestrial level (sea level) in

comparison with a standard, a Black body at 5800 k. The solar spectrum typically extends from

the IR to the UV region, wavelength range from 3 μm to 0.2 μm. But the intensity is not

uniform.

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A typical solar spectrum, as a plot of spectral irradiance vs. wavelength, is shown in Figure 1

below. The area under the curve gives the total areal intensity and this is approximately 1.35

kW/m2. In this context let us define a commonly used term ‘Solar Constant’.

Solar constant: The Sun-Earth distance varies about the mean distance by around 1.7 percent.

At the mean distance of 149.5 million km which is known as one Astronomical Unit (AU),

the solar flux outside the earth’s atmosphere is 1.353 kW/m2, which is a quantity known as the

Solar Constant.

The solar spectrum can be approximated by a black body radiation curve at temperature of

approximately 5800 ⁰C. There is also a difference in the spectra measured at the top of the

atmosphere and at the surface, due to atmospheric scattering and absorption. It can also be seen

that as solar radiation makes its way towards the earth’s surface, some of it is absorbed by

various constituents in the atmosphere, giving the terrestrial spectrum an irregular, bumpy

shape.

Figure 1: Typical solar spectrum at the top of the atmosphere and at sea level. The

difference is the radiation absorbed/scattered by the atmosphere. The Spectrum of a

black body at 5800 ⁰C is also superimposed.

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Also shown are the areas under the actual solar spectrum that corresponds to wavelengths

within the ultraviolet UV (7%), visible (47%), and infrared IR (46%) portions of the spectrum.

The visible spectrum, which lies between the UV and IR, ranges from 0.38 μm (violet) to 0.78

μm (red).

Air Mass Ratio: The terrestrial spectrum also depends on how much atmosphere the radiation

has to pass through to reach the surface. As shown in the Figure 2 below, under the simple

assumption of a flat earth the air mass ratio can be expressed as:

= 1/ Sin β (β = the altitude angle of the sun as shown below)

Thus an air mass ratio of 1 (designated “AM1”) means, the sun is directly overhead. By

convention, AM0 means no atmosphere i.e. it is the extra-terrestrial solar spectrum. Often, an

air mass ratio of 1.5 is assumed for an average solar spectrum at the earth’s surface.

Figure-2: The air mass ratio m is a measure of the amount of atmosphere the sun’s rays

must pass through to reach the earth’s surface. For the sun directly overhead, m = 1.

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As sunlight passes through more and more atmosphere i.e. as the ‘air mass’ ratio increases,

less energy arrives at the earth’s surface and the spectrum shifts somewhat towards longer

wavelengths. This impact of the atmosphere on incoming solar radiation for various air mass

Ratios is shown in the Figure 3 below.

Figure 3: Solar spectrum for extra-terrestrial (m = 0), for sun directly overhead (m = 1),

and at the surface with the sun low in the sky, m = 5.

Geometry of the Earth and Sun:

Earth’s orbit around the Sun: The earth revolves around the sun in an elliptical orbit, every

365.25 days making one rotation a day around its own NS axis. The eccentricity of the ellipse

is small and the orbit is, in fact, quite nearly circular. The point at which the earth is nearest the

sun, the perihelion, occurs on January 2, at which point it is a little over 147 million

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kilometres away. At the other extreme, the aphelion, which occurs on July 3, the earth is about

152 million kilometres from the sun. This variation in distance is given by the following

relationship:

d = 1.5 × 108 [1 + 0.017 sin {360(n − 93)/365}] km

Where n is the day number, with January 1 as day 1 and December 31 being day number 365.

Each day, as the earth rotates about its own axis, it also moves along the ellipse. If the earth

were to spin only 3600 in a day, then after 6 months, our clocks would be off by 12 hours. That

is, at noon on day 1 it would be the middle of the day, but 6 months later noon would occur in

the middle of the night. To keep synchronized, the earth needs to rotate one extra turn each

year, which means that in a 24-hour day the earth actually rotates by 360.990. As shown in the

figure below (Figure 4) the plane swept out by the earth in its orbit is called the ecliptic plane.

The earth’s spin axis is currently tilted 23.45◦ with respect to the ecliptic plane and that tilt is,

of course, what causes our seasons. On March 21 and September 21, a line from the center of

the sun to the center of the earth passes through the equator and everywhere on earth we have

12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of night, hence the term equinox (equal day and night). On

December 21, the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the inclination of the North Pole

reaches its highest angle away from the sun (23.45◦), while on June 21 the opposite occurs

(summer solstice).

Important terms in Earth’s orbit around the sun:

Solstice: Either of the two times in the year, the summer solstice (June 21st) and the winter

solstice ( December 21st), when the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon,

marked by the longest and shortest days.

Equinox: The time or date (twice each year) at which the sun crosses the equator, when day

and night are of equal length (21st September and 21st March).

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Figure 4: The tilt of the earth’s spin axis with respect to the ecliptic plane is what causes

our seasons. “Winter” and “Summer” are designations for the Solstices in the Northern

Hemisphere.

Solar Look Angles:

We all know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west and reaches its highest point

sometime in the middle of the day. For our solar photovoltaic power requirements, it is quite

useful to predict exactly where in the sky the sun will be at any location, at any time, on any

day of the year. We can use this information of Solar Look Angles (like solar declination δ,

altitude angle βN, Azimuth angle etc) to fix up the best tilt angle (orientation) for solar

modules so as to expose them to the highest insolation.

Atmospheric effects on Solar Radiation:

Atmosphere has several effects on solar radiation on Earth’s surface. The major effects for our

Solar Cell applications are:

1. A reduction in the power of the solar radiation due to absorption, scattering and

reflection in the atmosphere.

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 2. A change in the spectral content of the solar radiation due to greater absorption or

scattering of radiant energy at some wavelengths.

3. Introduction of a diffused or indirect component into the solar radiation.

Local variations in the atmosphere (such as water vapour, clouds and pollution) have additional

effects on the incident power, spectrum and directionality.

Means for capturing solar energy:

(1) Direct heating systems: On roof water heating systems; solar furnaces; concentrating solar

thermal power (CSTP) plants, etc.

(2) Photosynthesis (PS): creates biomass, total of 200 EJ of fuel (Shell estimate) could be

produced by hydrothermal conversion. PS is 12% efficient as a theoretical maximum, but most

plants give 0.1– 6%7. Growing biofuel crops also suffers from competition with food crops for

fertile land, hence if we used all the available arable land in the UK (i.e. grew no food at all but

turned each acre over to biofuel crops) we could only match around 10% of our fuel as is

currently made from crude oil.

(3) Photovoltaic.

Solar Radiation Measurement and Instrumentation:

Creation of solar energy data base at different locations is very important to select suitable

locations for setting up of solar power plants. We will study three such important instruments

which measure solar radiation for setting up of Solar Radiation Data bases

(i) Pyranometer: Total (direct and diffuse) radiation

(ii) Pyrheliometer: Direct radiation at normal incidence

(iii) Shading-ring pyranometer: Diffuse radiation.

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Pyranometer:

This instrument measures the total radiation arriving from all directions, including both direct

and diffuse components i.e. it measures all of the radiation that is of potential use to a Solar

Energy collecting system. This instrument also known as solarimeter is generally mounted in

a horizontal position away from tall objects so that the 2π field of view of the instrument covers

the entire sky. It responds equally to the energy in all wavelengths.

The most important part of a pyranometer (or pyrheliometer) is the detector that responds to

incoming radiation. The most accurate detectors use a stack of thermocouples, called a

thermopile, to measure how much hotter a black surface becomes when exposed to sunlight

relative to a White surface. They incorporate a sensor surface that consists of alternating black

and white segments as shown in Figure 5 below.

Figure 5: (a) A thermopile-type, black-and-white pyranometer (also known as ‘Eppley’

Pyranometer in USA)

Pyrheliometer

The pyrheliometer has a small field of view, around 6°, and tracks the sun continuously and

thus measures the direct normal beam radiation. Since the field of view is larger than the 0.53°

subtended by the solar disk, the reading is higher than the true direct flux by a few percent.

Data collected by pyrheliometers are especially important for focusing collectors since their

solar resource is pretty much restricted to just the beam portion of incident radiation. Hence
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Pyrheliometer measurements are also needed to predict the performance of tracking

concentrator photovoltaic systems. Pyrheliometer stations are relatively rare. For example,

among the approximately 100 stations that record solar radiation in the United States, only

about 18 record direct normal insolation. Figure 6 below shows a pyrheliometer with filters.

Figure 6: Pyrheliometer Shading-

Shading-ring pyranometer

A ring-shaped hoop sunshield is added to a pyranometer to exclude direct sunlight and thereby

permits measurement of the diffuse components. When this reading is subtracted from that of

a standard pyranometer, the result is the direct solar radiation. To keep the obstruction of the

sky small, the ring is made narrow, shading only about 5°, and the position of the ring is

changed every few days as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Pyranometer with a shade ring to measure diffuse radiation

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 BASIC SEMICONDUCTOR PHYSICS

Photo-Voltaic use semiconductor materials to convert sunlight into electricity. The technology

for doing so is very closely related to the solid-state technologies used to make transistors,

diodes, and all of the other semiconductor devices. The starting point for most of the world’s

current generation of photovoltaic devices, as well as almost all semiconductors, is pure

crystalline silicon (tetravalent). Germanium is another tetravalent element and that too is a

semiconductor but not useful in PV. Elements that play important roles in photo-voltaic are

Silicon, Boron, Phosphorus, Gallium, Arsenic, Cadmium, and Tellurium. Gallium and arsenic

are used in GaAs solar cells, while cadmium and tellurium are used in CdTe cells.

Both Silicon and Germanium are intrinsic semiconductors. To increase the conductivity of

intrinsic semi-conductors, controlled quantities of specific impurity atoms like boron (trivalent:

three valence electrons in the outer orbit) and phosphorus (pentavalent: five valence electrons

in the outer orbit) are added to silicon to make them extrinsic semiconductors. This process is

known as doping. Trivalent Impurity atoms (valency less than that of the semi-conductor) enter

the semi-conductor lattice and become electron acceptor sites known as Holes. These holes

have an energy level within the band gap, but near the valence band. These holes which are

effectively positively charged also move through the material as free charge carriers. Such a

material is called a p-type material, having holes as majority carriers and electrons as minority

carriers. P-type of material is called Acceptor since it accepts electrons.

Similarly when Pentavalent impurity atoms (valency greater than that of the semiconductor)

are added then an n-type material results, which has electrons as majority carriers and holes as

minority carriers. N-type of semiconductors are called Donors since they donate electrons.

Silicon has 14 protons in its nucleus, and so it has 14 orbital electrons as well. As shown in the

figure below, its outer orbit contains four valence electrons i.e. it is tetravalent. Those valence

electrons are the only ones that matter in electronics, so it is common to draw silicon as if it
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has a +4 charge on its nucleus and four tightly held valence electrons, as shown in Figure 8

below.

Figure 8: Silicon has 14 protons and 14 electrons as in (a). Convenient shorthand is

drawn in (b), in which only the four outer electrons are shown, spinning around a

nucleus with a +4 charge.

In pure crystalline silicon, each atom forms covalent bonds with four adjacent atoms in a three-

dimensional tetrahedral pattern shown in Figure 9 (a) below. For convenience, that pattern is

drawn as if it were all in a plane, as in the Figure 9 (b) below.

Figure 9: (a) Crystalline silicon forms a three-dimensional tetrahedral structure (b) but

it is easier to draw it as a two-dimensional flat array.

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The Band Gap Energy:

At absolute zero temperature, silicon is a perfect electrical insulator. There are no free electrons

to roam around as there are in metals. As the temperature increases, some electrons will gain

enough energy to free themselves from their nuclei, making themselves available to flow as

electric current. The warmer it gets, the more electrons are there to carry current, so its

conductivity increases with temperature (in contrast to metals, where conductivity decreases).

That change in conductivity with temperature is used to advantage to make very accurate

temperature sensors called thermistors. Silicon’s conductivity even at normal temperatures is

very low, and so it is referred to as a semiconductor. As we will see, by adding minute quantities

of other materials, the conductivity of pure (intrinsic) semiconductors can be greatly increased.

Quantum theory describes the differences between conductors (metals) and Semiconductors

(e.g., silicon) using energy-band diagrams such as those shown in the figure below. Electrons

have energies that must fit within certain allowable (discrete) energy bands. The top energy

band is called the conduction band, and it is those electrons within this region that contribute

to current flow. As shown in Figure 10, the conduction band for metals is partially filled, but

for semiconductors at absolute zero temperature, the conduction band is empty. Even at room

temperature, only about 1 out of 1010 electrons in silicon exists in the conduction band.

Figure 10: Energy bands for (a) metals and (b) semiconductors. Metals have partially

filled conduction bands, which allow them to carry electric current easily.

Semiconductor at absolute zero temperature have no electrons in the conduction band,

which makes them insulators.

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The gaps between allowable energy bands are called forbidden gaps, the most important of

which is the gap separating the conduction band from the highest filled band below which is

known as the valence band. The energy that an electron must acquire to jump across the

forbidden band from valence band to the conduction band is called the Band-gap energy,

designated Eg. The units for bandgap energy are electron-volts (eV), where one electron-volt

is the energy that an electron acquires when its voltage is increased by 1V (1eV = 1.6 × 10−19J).

The band-gap energy Eg for silicon is 1.12 eV, which means an electron needs to acquire that

much energy to free itself from the electrostatic force that ties it to its own nucleus i.e. to jump

into the conduction band from its valence band.

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 PHOTOVOLTAIC

Introduction:

The scientific community has shown keen attention to studies in the twenty-first century that

concentrate on clean, renewable energy sources that promote sustainable economic growth.

Scientific research communities discovered some alternatives sources of renewable energies

devoid of environmental pollution amongst which are solar, wind, tidal and geothermal energy.

Solar cells possess some exceptional features such as low noise pollution, high-stability,

reliable, robust, long-lasting and cost-effective fabrication process. Therefore, by transforming

solar energy into usable energy without negative impact on the environment, the photovoltaic

(PV) sectors are anticipated to offer a long-term solution to the energy and environmental

concerns.

PV Solar cells are devices that use semiconductor materials to transform solar radiation into

electrical energy. Electrons flow through semiconductor materials because of the photoelectric

effect. PV solar cells function as a variable current source since their output is proportionate to

the quantity of photons received. But the expenses associated with PV devices were a problem;

conversion power efficiency (PCE) and operational lifetime. Currently, research is

concentrated on identifying the materials that will overcome these challenges.

History of PV Solar Cells:

The PV solar cells are basically used in power generation, because they convert the sunlight

energy into electrical energy. Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel achieved the first successful solar-

to-electric conversion in 1839. Willoughby Smith found that selenium exhibited

photoconductivity in 1873. The earliest photovoltaic cell concept was proposed by Charles

Fritts and developed via selenium wafers in 1883. The theory of photoelectric effect formulated

by Albert Einstein in 1905, provided an explanation on how light removes electrons from metal
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surfaces. He later won the Nobel Prize in recognition of this effort. When Jan Czochralski

created a method to manufacture a single-crystal Si in 1918, he set the foundation for solar

cells produced based on Si. PV began in 1954 at bell laboratories, a developed crystalline solar

cells based on Si produces a 4.5% PCE. The PCE of solar cells begin to increase up to 11% in

1958, and 14% in 1960, but the production price was high.

The research communities showed a keen interest on emerging new materials that can show

both PV properties and affordable fabrication of the device. Thus, the emergence of new

materials such as Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) and

Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) solar cells, which are known as second generation solar cells. The

1990s brought the emergence of third generation solar cells which are basically dye-sensitized

solar cells. The OPV cells were first introduced in 2000. Hence, the quest of finding new solar

cells materials that readily available and affordable fabrication of the device by the research

communities keep increasing.

2.1.1 Operational Principle of PV Devices

When light (photons) is absorbed by the semiconductor material in a photovoltaic cell, it

produces pairs of exiton (electrons and holes), in which the exiton are collected to produce

current. In order to generate electricity, the PV materials are basically doped to form the p-n

junction which has a potential difference, thereby allowing current to flow in one direction.

The diffusing length play a vital role in the efficiency of the solar cells. For a photon to be

considered semiconducting, its energy (hυ) must be at least ≥ band gap energy (Eg) of the

material. In conclusion, a photovoltaic (PV) is only a device that uses semiconductor materials

to convert sunlight energy into electricity.

Solar cell is basically a PN Junction diode with special construction features so that the

impinging Photons from Solar energy liberate adequate Electron hole pairs for generation of
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electric current form the Solar cell. Let us now see what happens in the vicinity of a p–n

junction when it is exposed to sunlight. As photons are absorbed, hole-electron pairs are

formed. If these mobile charge carriers reach the vicinity of the junction, the electric field in

the depletion region will push the holes into the p-side and push the electrons into the n-side,

as shown in the figure below. Thus p-side accumulates holes and the n-side accumulates

electrons, which creates a voltage that can be used to deliver current to a load. When an external

load is connected the electrons that are getting collected flow from n-side through the load to

p-side and recombine with the holes in the p- side as shown in Figure 11 and 12.

Figure 11: when photons create hole–electron pairs near the junction, the electric field

in the depletion region sweeps holes into the p-side and sweeps electrons into the n-side

of the cell.

If electrical contacts are attached to the top and bottom of the cell, electrons will flow out of

the n-side into the connecting wire, through the load and back to the p-side as shown in the

figure below. Since wire cannot conduct holes, it is only the electrons that actually move around

the circuit. When they reach the p-side, they recombine with holes completing the circuit. By

convention, positive current flows in the direction opposite to electron flow, so the current

arrow in the figure shows current going from the p-side to the load and back into the n-side.

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(Compare this with a conventional P-N junction when used as a forward biased Diode in which

current flows in the opposite direction).

Figure 12: Electrons flow from the n-side contact, through the load, and back to the p-

side where they recombine with holes. Conventional current I is in the opposite

direction.

Development of PV Solar Cells

In principle, PV solar cells must comply with the following:

1. The ability to absorb incident light: Before light can be transformed into electric

current, it must be absorbed. Light absorption is a property of the core material that is

utilized to create the solar cell and is connected to the material's absorption spectrum,

which aligns with the AM1.5 spectrum.

2. The ability to produce pairs of electrons and holes: Following the process of light

absorption comes the creation of photocarriers. With the energy obtained from the

absorption of light, solar cells must have the ability to convert this absorption light to

generate exiton (electron and hole). The type of solar cell is determined by this

procedure.

3. The ability to move the charges: The motion of the generated excitons via the solar cells

in the form of electricity. The photogenerated electron and hole will recombine in the

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 absence of any driving force. The internal electric field in solar cell helps in moving the

electrons and holes to prevent recombination for effective collection.

The three generations of solar cell technology that comprise the fundamental advancements in

PV solar cells are as follows:

Si-based wafers, belong to first generation PV solar cells, which have good PCE up to 22%.

The crystalline Si, and Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) are first generation PV solar cells, which are

occupying more than 80% of installed solar panels today globally, though the efficiency of

such PV solar cells has a theoretical maximum limit as stated by Shockley & Queisser.

However, because electronic grade Si-based solar cell modules are expensive, the industries

need new materials and procedures that can reduce costs and provide equal efficiency (NREL,

2019). Si typically has the ability to absorb visible and infrared spectrum of light due to its

indirect bandgap energy of 1.12 eV. As a result, researchers developed a new solar cells

materials which are thin-film-based.

The emergence of PV solar cells developed from thin film (thickness of about 1 µm) materials

are regarded as second generation PV solar cells. This means that less semiconductor material

is needed to make solar cells, which lowers production costs (either by chemical vapor

deposition or vacuum assistance) by more than half when compared to their Si counterparts.

The primary difference lies in the fact that the semiconductor material used in the former cell

has an indirect band gap instead of a direct band gap. Third generation PV solar cells are the

result of the search for more affordable, reliable, and abundant PV solar cell materials.

By increasing efficiency and lowering production costs through low-cost processing methods,

third-generation solar cells aim to minimize the drawbacks of earlier PV generations. PV Solar

cells such as PSCs, tandem cells, DSSCs, and QDSCs, are the foundation of third-generation

photovoltaic solar cells. The first solar cells to use a perovskites materials, demonstrating 3.8%
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of effective PSCs using a liquid electrolyte. This efficiency was further increased to 6.5% by

employing the solid-state process preparation due to corrosive nature of liquid electrolyte.

Production costs were further decreased by third-generation PV solar cells.

Important and Basic concepts of Solar cells:

1. A solar cell or photovoltaic (PV) cell is a device that converts solar energy into

electricity by the photovoltaic effect. A material or device that is capable of converting

the energy contained in the photons of solar energy into an electrical current is said to

be photovoltaic. Photovoltaic normally denoted by abbreviation PV is the field of

technology and research related to the application of solar cells to harness solar energy.

2. Generally, the term Solar Cell is reserved for devices intended specifically to capture

solar energy from sunlight, while the term Photovoltaic Cell is used when the source is

unspecified.

3. Basically, Photovoltaic generation of power is caused by radiation that separates

positive and negative charge carriers in an extrinsic semiconductor material. When this

happens in the presence of an electric field, these charges can be pulled/pushed to the

nearby metal electrodes to produce a current in an external circuit. Such fields exist

permanently at p-n junctions as ‘built-in’ electric fields and provide the required e.m.f.

for useful power production.

4. In the case of Solar cells, the impinging radiation is the solar radiation and the required

electric field is provided by a suitably designed p-n junction.

5. The term cell in photovoltaic cells or solar cells is a misnomer in the sense that it is the

‘current’ that is produced by the radiation photons and not a ‘voltage’. The cell itself

provides the source of electromagnetic force (voltage). It is to be noted that

photoelectric devices are electrical current sources driven by a flux of radiation. A

majority of photovoltaic cells are silicon semi-conductor p-n junction devices.

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 6. It is very important to know that all impinging photons also can not release the

electrons from the atoms to become charge carriers. A photon with short enough

wavelength and high enough energy only can cause an electron in photovoltaic material

to break free of the atom that holds it.

7. A solar cell (also known as a photovoltaic cell or PV cell) is defined as an electrical

device that converts light energy into electrical energy through the photovoltaic effect.

A solar cell is basically a p-n junction diode. Solar cells are a form of photo electric

cell, defined as a device whose electrical characteristics – such as current, voltage or

resistance vary when exposed to light.

8. Individual solar cells can be combined to form modules commonly known as solar

panels. The common single junction silicon solar cell can produce a maximum open-

circuit voltage of approximately 0.5 to 0.6 volts. By itself this isn’t much – but we

should remember that these solar cells are tiny. When combined into a large solar panel,

considerable amount of renewable energy can be generated.

Important Formulae

1. Air mass ratio m = h2/h1 = 1/ sin β

Where h1 = path length through the atmosphere with the sun directly overhead, h2 = path length

through the atmosphere to reach a spot on the surface, and β = the altitude angle of the sun (see

Figure 13) below.

2. Solar declination, δ: The angle formed between the plane of the equator and a line drawn

from the center of the sun to the center of the earth is called the solar declination, δ, it varies

between the extremes of ± 23.45◦, as a simple sinusoid with a period of 365-days.

δ = 23.45 Sin [360 / 365] (n − 81)]

Where n is the day number, with January 1 as day 1 and December 31 being day number 365.

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3. The altitude angle βN is the angle between the sun at solar noon and the local horizon

directly beneath the sun. Altitude angle βN is given by:

βN = 90◦ − L + δ

Where L is the Latitude of the site and δ is the Solar declination angle

4. Tilt angle: Is that would make the sun’s rays perpendicular to the module at noon and given

by:

Tilt angle = 90 – βN

5. Altitude angle β: Is the angle between the sun at any given time and the local horizon directly

beneath the sun. The azimuth angle φS is the angle between the true South and the sub point

of the sun on the local horizontal. These are depicted clearly in the figure below.

Figure 13: Azimuth of the sun.

The following two equations allow us to compute the altitude and azimuth angles of the sun.

Sinβ = CosL Cosδ CosH + SinL Sinδ

SinφS = Cosδ SinH / Cosβ

Since the inverse of a sine is ambiguous, sin x = sin (180 − x), we need a test to determine

whether the azimuth is greater than or less than 900 away from south. Such a test is:
23
If Cos H ≥ Tan δ / TanL, then |φS| ≤ 900; otherwise |φS| > 900

Notice that time in these equations is expressed by a quantity called the hour angle, H.

6. The ‘Hour angle’: Is the number of degrees that the earth must rotate before the sun will be

directly over the local meridian (line of longitude).

7. Energy of a Photon is given by: E = hν

Where ‘E’ is the energy of a photon (J) ‘h’ is Planck’s constant (6.626 × 10−34 J-s) and ‘ν’ is

the frequency (hertz) of light. Further the speed, frequency and wavelength of light are related

by the equation:

c = λν

Where ‘c’ is the speed of light (3 × 108 m/s), ‘v’ is the frequency (hertz), ‘λ’ is the wavelength

(m).

24
 WIND ENERGY

Wind energy is one of the most abundantly available and exploitable forms of renewable

energy like Solar. Winds blow from a region of high atmospheric pressure to one of low

atmospheric pressure. The difference in pressure is caused by (a) the fact that the earth’s

surface is not uniformly heated by the sun and (b) the earth’s rotation. Essentially wind

energy is a byproduct of solar energy, available in the form of Kinetic energy of air. Wind

power has been in use for centuries before the invention of steam engine in sailing ships,

pumping water and grinding grain. Subsequently economic utilization of fossil fuels has

pushed its use into back seat. However Denmark which lacked adequate fossil fuels and

water resources pioneered in the development of wind mills for the Generation of electricity

in 1890s. Subsequently worldwide interest in developing wind power plants has grown due

to the depletion of fossil fuels, the effects of world wars and the push to reduce

environmental pollution. Further, the aviation technology resulted in an improved

understanding of forces acting on the blades moving through air. This resulted in the

development of wind turbines with two or three blades. Then onwards by the efforts of

countless scientists and engineers from various disciplines, today we have viable

technologies to tap wind power in very cost effective and efficient way.

Types of wind turbines:

Wind turbines can be broadly classified in to two types according their axis of

Rotation.

(1) Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT): Can further be divided into three types:

- Dutch type grain-grinding wind mills

- Multi blade water pumping wind mills

- High-Speed propeller type wind mills

(2) Vertical axis wind turbines: Come in two different designs.

- Savonious rotor and Darrieus rotor

25
In the above types, HAWT High-Speed propeller type wind mills are the type most

commonly used today for Wind Turbines in Electrical Power generation and is the main

content in this course. However for completeness and comparison where ever necessary a

brief introduction to the other four types is also given here.

Dutch Wind mills:

Originally developed in Denmark for grain grinding they operate on the thrust exerted by

wind and are called Thrust operated Wind mills (as against our High Speed Propeller type

wind mills which operate on Lift Force just like Aero-planes). The blades which are

generally four are inclined at an angle to the plane of rotation. The blades are made of sails

or wooden slats as shown in the Figure 1 below. The blades are oriented in the direction of

the wind manually.

Figure 1 : Dutch wind mill and Multiblade water pumping wind mill

Multi blade Water-Pumping Wind mills:

Water pumping wind mills have large number of blades, generally wooden or metallic slats

driving a reciprocating pump. As the mill has to be placed directly over a well, the criterion

for site selection is water availability and not windiness. Therefore, the mill must be able

to operate at slow winds. The large number of blades give a high Torque, required for
26
driving a centrifugal pump, even at low winds. Hence sometimes these are called fan –

mills. The blades are made of flat steel plates working on the thrust of wind. The orientation

is generally achieved by a ‘tail vane’.

High Speed Propeller type wind Machines:

The Horizontal Axis wind Turbines that are used today for Electrical Generators do not

operate on Thrust force. They operate mainly on the Aerodynamic forces that Develop

when wind flows around a blade of aerofoil design. Wind turbines that operate on Thrust

are inherently less efficient. To understand how a modern wind turbine works, let us first

see how an aerofoil/blade works. For an understanding of the blade which works on the

principle of aerofoil let us give the following basic definitions related to the blade and the

aerodynamic forces that act on it to give the rotation.

Basic Definitions related to a Blade/Aerofoil:

Aerofoil: A structure with curved surfaces designed to give the most favorable ratio of lift

to drag in flight, used as the basic form of the wings, fins, and tail planes of most aircraft.

Leading edge: This is the point at the front of the aerofoil that has maximum curvature.

Trailing Edge: This is defined similarly as the point of maximum curvature at the rear of

the aerofoil.

Chord Line: This is a straight line connecting the leading and trailing edges of the aerofoil

as shown in Figure 2.

Chord Length: Chord Length, is the length of the chord line of the blade and is the

characteristic dimension of the aerofoil section.

Blade length: Is the height of the blade.

27
 Figure 2: Cross section of an Aerofoil.

Pitch angle (α): The angle between the chord of the aerofoil section and the plane of

rotation, also called as ‘setting angle’.

Relative Velocity: The velocity of the air flow relative to the blade.

Angle of Inclination (I): The angle between the relative velocity vector and the plane of

rotation.

Angle of incidence (i): The angle between the relative velocity vector and the chord line

of the aerofoil. It is also called ‘angle of attack’. It is clear that i = I – α.

Lift force: It is the component of aerodynamic force in the direction perpendicular to the

relative wind. It is given by FL = (ρ Ab ω2 CL)/2 Newton, where CL is the dimensionless lift

co-efficient and Ab is the blade area in square meters.

Drag force: It is the component of aerodynamic force in the direction of relative wind. It

is given by FD = (ρ Ab ω2 CD)/2 Newton, where CD is the dimensionless lift co-efficient and

Ab is the blade area in square meters.

Total force (F): The total aerodynamic force of a blade is the vector sum of the lift force

and the drag force.

Relative velocity: The velocity of air flow relate to the blades.

𝜔
⃗ = 𝜐+𝑢
⃗

28
The Savonious Rotor:

It is a simple vertical axis wind turbine that works on the Thrust force of wind. It is drum

cut into two halves and attached to the two opposite sides of a vertical shaft as shown in

the Figure 3 below. As the wind blowing into the structure meets with two different

surfaces, one convex and one concave, the forces exerted on the two surfaces are different

thus giving the Rotor a Torque.

Figure 3: The Savonious Rotor

The Darrieus Rotor:

This is a Vertical axis Lift force operated device invented by G.J. Darrieus of U.S.A. Two

or more flexible blades are attached to a vertical shaft as shown in the Figure 4 below. The

blades bow outwrads, taking approximately the shape of a parabolaid and are of

symmetrical aerofoil section. For this machine the Torque is zero when the rotor is

stationary. Hence the starting torque is provided by an electrical machine which initially

runs as a Motor and then as a Generator.

29
 Figure 4: The Darrieus Rotor

Power contained in wind:

Power contained in wind is given by the kinetic energy of the flowing air mass per unit

time. That is, the kinetic energy in air of mass “m” moving with speed V is given by the

following in SI units:

Kinetic Energy= ½(mv2) joules (1)

The power in moving air is the flow rate of kinetic energy per second.

Therefore:

Power=1/2(mass flow rate per second)V2 (2)

If we let P = mechanical power in the moving air

ρ= air density, kg/m3 (at 15 ◦C and 1 atmosphere, ρ = 1.225 kg/m3)

A = area swept by the rotor blades, m2

V = velocity of the air, m/s

Then, the volumetric flow rate is A·V, the mass flow rate of the air in kilograms per second

is ρ·A·V, and the power is given by the following:

1 1
P = 2 (𝜌𝐴𝑣). 𝑣 2 = 𝜌𝐴𝑣 3 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑠 (3)
2

30
This is the power in the upstream wind. It varies linearly with the density of the air sweeping

the blades, and with the cube of the wind speed. All of the upstream wind power cannot be

extracted by the blades, as some power is left in the downstream air which continues to

move with reduced speed. Two potential wind sites are compared in terms of the specific

wind power expressed in watts per square meter of area swept by the rotating blades. It is

also referred to as the power density of the site, and is given by the following expression:

1
Specific Power of the site = 𝜌𝑣 3 watts per m2 of the rotor swept area (4)
2

2. Efficiency limit for wind energy conversion:

The actual power extracted by the rotor blades is the difference between the upstream and

the downstream wind powers. That is, using Equation (2):

1
P0 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 . {𝑣 2 − 𝑣0 2 } (5)
2

Where P0 = Mechanical power extracted by the rotor, i.e., the turbine output Power

V = upstream wind velocity at the entrance of the rotor blades

V0 = downstream wind velocity at the exit of the rotor blades.

The air velocity is discontinuous from V to V0 at the “plane” of the rotor blades in the

macroscopic sense (we leave the aerodynamics of the blades which is beyond our scope).

The mass flow rate of air through the rotating blades is, therefore, derived by multiplying

the density with the volume of air flow per second which is equal to the product of Turbine

Area (A) and average velocity [(V+V0)/2]. That is:

𝑣+ 𝑣0
Mass flow rate = 𝜌. 𝐴. (6)
2

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 The mechanical power extracted by the rotor, which is driving the electrical generator, is

therefore:

1 𝜈 + 𝜈0
P0 = [𝜌. 𝐴. ] . (𝜈 2 − 𝜈0 2 ) (7)
2 2

The above expression can be algebraically rearranged (by multiplying and dividing the first

term in the square brackets by ‘V‘ and the second term in normal brackets by V2):

𝑣 𝑣 2
1 (1 + 0 )[1 − ( 0 ) ]
3 𝑣 𝑣
Po = 2 𝜌. 𝐴. 𝑣 . (8)
2

The power extracted by the blades is customarily expressed as a fraction of the upstream

wind power as follows:

1
Po = 2 𝜌. 𝐴. 𝑣 3 . 𝑐𝑝 (9)

𝑣 𝑣 2
(1 + 0 )[1 − ( 0 ) ]
𝑣 𝑣
Cp = (10)
2

Where And Cp is the fraction of the upstream wind power, which is captured by the rotor

blades. The remaining power is discharged or wasted in the downstream wind. The factor Cp

is called the power coefficient of the rotor or the rotor efficiency. For a given upstream wind

speed, the value of Cp depends on the ratio of the downstream to the upstream wind speeds,

that is (V0/V). The plot of power coefficient versus (V0/V) shows that Cp is a single, maximum-

value function (Figure-1). It has the maximum value of 0.59 when the (V0/V) is one-third. The

maximum power is extracted from the wind at that speed ratio, when the downstream wind

speed equals one-third of the upstream speed. Under this condition:

32
 1
Pmax = 2 𝜌. 𝐴. 𝑣 3 . 0.59 (11)

Some Relevant Terms and their Definitions:

Solidity:

Solidity of a wind Rotor is the ratio of the projected blade area to the area of the wind

intercepted. The projected blade area does not mean the actual blade area. It is the blade area

met by the wind or projected in the direction of the wind. The Solidity is defined as the ratio

of the solid area to the swept area of the blades. The modern 2-blade turbine has low solidity

ratio. Hence, it requires little blade material to sweep large areas. In our course we will be

studying ‘Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT)’ alone and for them solidity lies between

0.01 to 0.1. Solidity has a direct relationship with Torque and speed. High solidity rotors have

high torque and low speed. Low solidity rotors on the other hand, have high speed and low

torque and are typically suited for electrical power generation.

Rotor Swept Area:

As seen in the power equation, the output power of the wind turbine varies linearly with the

rotor swept area. For the horizontal axis turbine, the rotor swept area is given by:

𝜋
A = 4 𝐷2 (13)

Where ‘D’ is the rotor diameter.

The wind turbine efficiently intercepts the wind energy flowing through the entire swept area

even though it has only two or three thin blades with solidity between 5 to 10 percent.

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Tip speed ratio:

The tip speed ratio (TSR denoted by λ) of a wind turbine is given by:

λ = (2πRN)/V (14)

Where ‘λ’ is the TSR (non-dimensional), ‘R’ is the radius of the swept area (in meters), ‘N’ is

the rotational speed in revolutions per second and ‘V’ is the wind speed (without rotor

interruption in meters/second). In high speed horizontal axis rotors and Darrieus rotors, the

outer tip actually turns much faster than the wind speed owing to the aerodynamic shape.

Consequently, the TSR can be as high as 9. It can be said that high solidity rotors have in

general low TSRs and vice versa.

Power Coefficient:

The power coefficient Cp of a wind energy converter is given by:

Cp = (Power output from the wind turbine)/(Power contained in the wind) (15)

The power coefficient differs from the efficiency of a wind machine in the sense that the latter

includes losses in mechanical transmission, electrical generation etc. whereas the former is just

the efficiency of conversion of wind energy into mechanical energy of the shaft. In high- speed

horizontal-axis machines the theoretical maximum power coefficient is given by the Betz limit.

34