ABSTRACT At short circuit, the solar module produces electric current but no voltage.

At open circuit, the solar module produces voltage but no current. Electric power is defined as the product of the current and the voltage. Hence, for both short circuit and open circuit, the solar module produces no power. Somewhere in between these two operating points is the Maximum Power point of the solar module where the maximum power possible is being generated. In this experiment the student is to find the values of voltage and respective current generated by the modules, find the power, and plot graphs. For the first experiment, no light is allowed to reach the solar module. DC power supply was used to supply energy to the system. The voltage is increase by a step of 0.25 and 0.5 until 2.75V and the respective current readings was recorded. The maximum voltage must not exceed 3.0V to avoid damaging the solar module. For second experiment where light is directed toward the solar module, the resistance was changed, and respective voltage and current readings is taken. The characteristic curve is interpreted and to find the open circuit voltage, short circuit current and maximum power point is determined from graph power against voltage. For the third setup, the effect of light intensity and concentration is studied by changing the angle of incidence and distance of the source of light onto the solar module. From result, photocurrent is highest when the light strike solar module perpendicularly and at the shortest distance between solar module and the light source.

OBJECTIVES The objectives of the experiment are as given: To study the dark characteristic curve of solar module To study light characteristic curve of solar module by changing the resistance To study effect of distance and angle of incidence of the light source to the unit photocurrent.

THEORY Solar cells are composed of various semiconducting materials. Semiconductors are materials, which become electrically conductive when supplied with light or heat, but which operate as insulators at low temperatures.Over 95% of all the solar cells produced worldwide are composed of the semiconductor material Silicon (Si). As the second most abundant element in earth`s crust, silicon has the advantage, of being available in sufficient quantities, and additionally processing the material does not burden the environment. To produce a solar cell, the semiconductor is contaminated or "doped". "Doping" is the intentional

introduction of chemical elements, with which one can obtain a surplus of either positive charge carriers (p-conducting semiconductor
Figure 1 Model of crystalline solar cell

layer)

or

negative

charge

carriers

(n-

conducting semiconductor layer) from the semiconductor material. If two differently contaminated semiconductor layers are combined, then a so-called p-n-junction results on the boundary of the layers. At this junction, an interior electric field is built up which leads to the separation of the charge carriers that are released by light. Through metal contacts, an electric charge can be tapped. If the outer circuit is closed, meaning a consumer is connected, then direct current flows. Silicon cells are approximately 10 cm by 10 cm large (recently also 15 cm by 15 cm). A transparent anti-reflection film protects the cell and decreases reflective loss on the cell surface.

PROCEDURE:

Figure 2 Schematic diagram for dark side

Part 1 Dark IV Curve 1. The apparatus is set up as shown in figure 2 by connecting the solar module to the DC power supply in "forward direction".( i.e. the positive terminal of the DC power supply to the positive terminal of the solar module and the negative terminal of the DC power supply to the negative terminal of the solar module) 2. The solar cell is covered completely with a piece of paper to ensure absence of light. 3. The voltage of the DC power supply is adjusted to different voltages (in 0.5 volt steps between 0 and 1.5 volts, and in 0.25 volt steps between 1.5 and 2.75 volts). 4. The dark voltage and current value is recorded. 5. The data is placed in Microsoft Excel and current vs voltage curve is plotted.

DC Power Supply

Figure 3 schematic diagram for light side

Part 2 Light IV Curve I. Controlling the resistance from variable resistor 1. The apparatus is set up as shown in Figure 3. 2. The solar cell is set facing towards a source of artificial light, such as a spotlight.(Should be about 30cm) 3. The Short Circuit Current ( by having maximum resistance) and Open Circuit Voltage (by disconnecting the variable resistor) are measured. 4. The resistance of the variable resistor is increased, until the maximum resistance in the variable resistor 5. The current and voltage is recorded. 6. The data is placed in Microsoft Excel 7. Current vs voltage curve and Power vs voltage is plotted.

II.

Changing the incident angle of the artificial light

Figure 4 Circuit schematic diagram and experiment setup

1. The apparatus is set up as shown in Figure 4. 2. The solar panel is positioned using a protractor at position 0 from left (perpendicular to the light source). 3. The solar panel is adjusted to 0 angle from left with the reference of protractor. 4. The angle of artificial light facing the solar panel is increased by 10 until reach 90. 5. The value of current is recorded. 6. Step 3 till step 5 is repeated from 90 from the right until decrease to 0. 7. The mean current is calculated from the left and right current.. 8. The data is placed in Microsoft Excel. 9. The current vs angle and current vs cosine angle curve is plotted.

III.

Changing the distance of the artificial light towards the solar panel

Figure 5 circuit diagram and experiment setup

1. The circuit is set as in the diagram above ( Ammeter is in series, Voltmeter parallel). 2. The solar panel is set facing towards a source of artificial light. 3. The distance of the artificial light towards the solar panel is set to 0.50m by using a ruler. 4. The distance is increased by 0.10m until reached 1.50m. 5. The value of current is recorded for each distance. 6. The data is placed in Microsoft Excel 7. The current vs distance is plotted.

DATA COLLECTION: Part 1 Dark IV Curve

Voltage (V) 0.50 1.00 1.50 1.75 2.00 2.25 2.50 2.75 Part 2 Light IV Curve I.

Current (Amp) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.06 0.35 1.37 3.00

Controlling the resistance from variable resistor

Resistance () 0.00 0.30 0.50 1.00 2.00 3.00 5.00 10.00 20.00 50.00 100.00

Voltage (V) 0.09 0.37 0.46 0.84 1.67 2.04 2.1 2.16 2.18 2.19 2.19 2.19

Current (A) 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.58 0.43 0.21 0.11 0.04 0.02 0

II.

Changing the incident angle of the artificial light Angle, () 0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 90.00

Left current (mA) 0.40 0.37 0.36 0.32 0.29 0.25 0.22 0.16 0.10 0.04

Right current (mA) 0.40 0.40 0.38 0.36 0.31 0.24 0.20 0.15 0.09 0.05

Mean current (mA) 0.40 0.39 0.37 0.34 0.30 0.25 0.21 0.16 0.10 0.05

III.

Changing the distance of the artificial light towards the solar panel

Distance (m) 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00 1.10 1.20 1.30 1.40 1.50

Current (mA) 0.36 0.27 0.20 0.15 0.12 0.10 0.08 0.07 0.06 0.05 0.04

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Part 1 Dark IV Curve

Current versus Voltage

3.50 3.00 2.50

Current (I)

2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 -0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00

Voltage (V)

From the graph, we can see that, there is no current flow from voltage reading of 0.5 to 1.75 V. The current then increases exponentially when the voltage further increase to 2.75 V The use of Dark IV curves in solar cell analysis relies on the principle of superposition. That is, in the abscence of resistive effects, that the light IV curves is the dark IV curve shifted by the light generated current. A second problem is that in dark IV measurements the current is flowing in the opposite direction and the current paths are different. The change in the current path causes a lower series resistance in the dark measurements to the light measurements.

Part 2 Light IV Curve I. Controlling the resistance from variable resistor

Current vs Voltage
0.8 0.7 0.6

current

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

voltage

Power vs Voltage
1.40 1.20 1.00

MPP

Power

0.80 0.60 0.40 0.20 0.00 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Voltage

For current vs. voltage graph, we can see the current constant at 0.7A although the voltage increases from 0 V to 1.67 V. After that, the current started to decrease to 0.58A when the voltage further increase until 0A is recorded when the voltage is at 2.19V. When there is no current drain, the solar module has an open-circuit voltage of approx. 2.19 volts (R = ). An individual silicon solar cell typically has an open-circuit voltage of 0.5 0.6 volts. If we short-circuit the solar module (R = 0 ), the maximum current (short-circuit current) flows. In result of the characteristic curve, the short circuit current amounts to about 0.7A. The maximum power point "MPP" refers to the point at which the solar module can output its maximum power at a specific level of irradiation. MPP obtained from this experiment is1.22 Watt.

II.

Changing the incident angle of the artificial light

Current vs Angle
0.45 0.40 0.35 0.30 0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00

Current (I)

Angle ()

Current vs Cosine angle

0.45 0.40 0.35 0.30 0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20

Current (I)

Cosine angle ()

The current vs. angle graph shows from angle of 0o to 90o, the current shows uniform decrement which is from 0.4A to 0.04A. This shows that, current produced by the solar cell is inversely proportional to the angle of incidence. The greater the angle of incidence, the lower the current produced. This is because the greater the angle of incidence, the lower the light intensity. Since, the light intensity decreases, the current produced by the photovoltaic cell also decreases. For current vs. cosine angle of incidence graph, it shows irregular pattern of the relationship between the two variables. The deviations may occurred due to the ideal cosine law are caused by fluctuations in the cone of light

III.

Changing the distance of the artificial light towards the solar panel

Current vs Distance
0.40 0.35 0.30

Current (I)

0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60

Distance (m)

Current vs Inverse Squared Distance

0.40 0.35 0.30

Current (I)

0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50

Inverse Squared Distance (m-2)

The shape of the Current vs. Distance graph is a result of how light intensity from a point source diminishes over distance. From the graph, we can see that as the distance of the light source increases, the current decreases. The current should increase as a 1/d2 relation, because the intensity of the light striking the surface decreases as a 1/ d2 relation.

You may not see this exact relation here because we are not dealing with a perfect point light source. The current is inversely proportional with the intensity or brightness of the light, assuming that the voltage is held constant. The sensitivity of the output current and power with light distance makes it essential to maintain the same light intensity for all future lab measurements. Keeping the distance between the bulb and PV module constant when comparing measurements, or keeping the angle of the PV module and sunlight constant through all measurements will meet these criteria.

CONCLUSIONS The result of the experiment shows that we managed to achieve our objective in this experiment. We managed to obtain the characteristic curved of the dark solar module, which is increasing exponentially. We also managed to obtain the characteristic curve of the light solar module by changing the resistance. Besides, we have study the effect of the distance and angle of the light source to the photocurrent unit. The relationship can be seen clearly on the result and the graph generated. As a conclusion, we managed to complete our experiment successfully.