1.

INTRODUCTION

During last university examination, there was a massive power cutoff due to the shortage
of power in our state Rajasthan. It irritated me a lot because during university exams the
temperature was approx 46 degree centigrade and we were having no alternative options
to run cooler or fans. At that time the idea strikes in my mind that why not to use the
alternative source of energy which is abundant in nature and that alternative abundant
energy is solar energy. In the day we can use solar energy to run the tube lights and fans
as well as to charge the battery for night. Charged battery can be used with inverter
circuit to run the fan and tubelight at night time during power cutoff.
Hence we decided to make the minor project on the usage of abundant renewable source
of energy that is solar energy. In our project we are converting solar energy into
electrical energy via solar cell or Photovoltaic cell. The electrical energy, so generated
will be regulated to run two electric motors. These motors will provide motion to solar
bot and thus bot will move as like robot .Secondly the electrical energy obtained from
solar panel can be regulated using regulatory circuit and then can be used in a variety of
electronics field to run electronics circuit like microcontroller based project, mobile
charger , FM receiver etc

2. SOLAR ENERGY

Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the Sun, has been harnessed by humans since
ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with
secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and
biomass, account for most of the available renewable energy on Earth.
The Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the
upper atmosphere. Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is
absorbed by clouds, oceans and land masses. The spectrum of solar light at the Earth's
surface is mostly spread across the visible and near-infrared ranges with a small part in
the near-ultraviolet.
Earth's land surface, oceans and atmosphere absorb solar radiation, and this raises their
temperature. Warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises, causing
atmospheric circulation or convection. When the air reaches a high altitude, where the
temperature is low, water vapor condenses into clouds, which rain onto the Earth's
surface, completing the water cycle. The latent heat of water condensation amplifies
convection, producing atmospheric phenomena such as wind, cyclones and anti-cyclones.
Sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land masses keeps the surface at a typical
temperature of 14 °C. By photosynthesis green plants convert solar energy into chemical
energy, which produces food, wood and the biomass from which fossil fuels are derived.
The total solar energy absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses is
approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year

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Solar energy can be used for a lot of purpose, but from the electrical point of view solar
energy can be used in two ways to generate the electricity.
In first method we can use solar energy to heat water to form steam and then to run
turbine connected to a dynamo system. The second method directly converts the solar
energy into the electrical energy through solar cell

3. SOLAR CELL AND SOLAR PANEL

A solar cell is a device that converts the energy of sunlight directly into electricity by the
photovoltaic effect. Sometimes the term solar cell is reserved for devices intended
specifically to capture energy from sunlight, while the term photovoltaic cell is used
when the light source is unspecified. Assemblies of cells are used to make solar panels,
solar modules, or photovoltaic arrays. Photovoltaics are the field of technology and
research related to the application of solar cells in producing electricity for practical use.
The energy generated this way is an example of solar energy (also called solar power).

A solar cell made from a monocrystalline silicon wafer

1. Photons in sunlight hit the solar panel and are absorbed by semiconducting
materials, such as silicon.
2. Electrons (negatively charged) are knocked loose from their atoms, allowing them
to flow through the material to produce electricity. Due to the special composition
of solar cells, the electrons are only allowed to move in a single direction.
Complementary positive charges, called holes, are also created and flow in the
opposite direction to the electrons.
3. An array of solar cells converts solar energy into a usable amount of direct current
(DC) electricity.

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Photo generation of charge carriers

When a photon hits a piece of silicon, one of three things can happen:
1. The photon can pass straight through the silicon — this (generally) happens for
lower energy photons,
2. The photon can reflect off the surface,
3. The photon can be absorbed by the silicon, if the photon energy is higher than the
silicon band gap value. This generates an electron-hole pair and sometimes heat,
depending on the band structure.
When a photon is absorbed, its energy is given to an electron in the crystal lattice.
Usually this electron is in the valence band, and is tightly bound in covalent bonds
between neighboring atoms, and hence unable to move far. The energy given to it by the
photon "excites" it into the conduction band, where it is free to move around within the
semiconductor. The covalent bond that the electron was previously a part of now has one
fewer electron — this is known as a hole. The presence of a missing covalent bond
allows the bonded electrons of neighboring atoms to move into the "hole," leaving
another hole behind, and in this way a hole can move through the lattice. Thus, it can be
said that photons absorbed in the semiconductor create mobile electron-hole pairs.
A photon need only have greater energy than that of the band gap in order to excite an
electron from the valence band into the conduction band. However, the solar frequency
spectrum approximates a black body spectrum at ~6000 K, and as such, much of the solar
radiation reaching the Earth is composed of photons with energies greater than the band
gap of silicon. These higher energy photons will be absorbed by the solar cell, but the
difference in energy between these photons and the silicon band gap is converted into
heat (via lattice vibrations — called phonons) rather than into usable electrical energy.

Charge carrier separation

There are two main modes for charge carrier separation in a solar cell:
1. drift of carriers, driven by an electrostatic field established across the device
2. Diffusion of carriers from zones of high carrier concentration to zones of low
carrier concentration (following a gradient of electrochemical potential).
In the widely used p-n junction solar cells, the dominant mode of charge carrier
separation is by drift. However, in non-p-n-junction solar cells (typical of the third
generation solar cell research such as dye and polymer solar cells), a general electrostatic
field has been confirmed to be absent, and the dominant mode of separation is via charge
carrier diffusion.

The p-n junction

Main articles: semiconductor and p-n junction the most commonly known solar cell is
configured as a large-area p-n junction made from silicon. As a simplification, one can
imagine bringing a layer of n-type silicon into direct contact with a layer of p-type
silicon. In practice, p-n junctions of silicon solar cells are not made in this way, but rather
by diffusing an n-type dopant into one side of a p-type wafer (or vice versa).
If a piece of p-type silicon is placed in intimate contact with a piece of n-type silicon,
then a diffusion of electrons occurs from the region of high electron concentration (the n-

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type side of the junction) into the region of low electron concentration (p-type side of the
junction). When the electrons diffuse across the p-n junction, they recombine with holes
on the p-type side. The diffusion of carriers does not happen indefinitely, however,
because charges build up on either side of the junction and create an electric field. The
electric field creates a diode that promotes charge flow, known as drift current that
opposes and eventually balances out the diffusion of electron and holes. This region
where electrons and holes have diffused across the junction is called the depletion region
because it no longer contains any mobile charge carriers. It is also known as the space
charge region.

Connection to an external load

Ohmic metal-semiconductor contacts are made to both the n-type and p-type sides of the
solar cell, and the electrodes connected to an external load. Electrons that are created on
the n-type side, or have been "collected" by the junction and swept onto the n-type side,
may travel through the wire, power the load, and continue through the wire until they
reach the p-type semiconductor-metal contact. Here, they recombine with a hole that was
either created as an electron-hole pair on the p-type side of the solar cell, or a hole that
was swept across the junction from the n-type side after being created there.
The voltage measured is equal to the difference in the quasi Fermi levels of the minority
carriers, i.e. electrons in the p-type portion and holes in the n-type portion.

Equivalent circuit of a solar cell and Symbol of solar cell

Equivalent circuit of a solar cell Symbol of a solar cell

To understand the electronic behavior of a solar cell, it is useful to create a model which
is electrically equivalent, and is based on discrete electrical components whose behavior
is well known. An ideal solar cell may be modeled by a current source in parallel with a
diode; in practice no solar cell is ideal, so a shunt resistance and a series resistance
component are added to the model. The resulting equivalent circuit of a solar cell is
shown on the left. Also shown, on the right, is the schematic representation of a solar cell
for use in circuit diagrams.

Light-absorbing materials
Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)
All solar cells require a light absorbing material contained within the cell structure to
absorb photons and generate electrons via the photovoltaic effect. The materials used in

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solar cells tend to have the property of preferentially absorbing the wavelengths of solar
light that reach the Earth surface. However, some solar cells are optimized for light
absorption beyond Earth's atmosphere as well. Light absorbing materials can often be
used in multiple physical configurations to take advantage of different light absorption
and charge separation mechanisms.

Photovoltaic panels are normally made of either silicon or thin-film cells:

Many currently available solar cells are configured as bulk materials that are
subsequently cut into wafers and treated in a "top-down" method of synthesis (silicon
being the most prevalent bulk material).
Other materials are configured as thin-films (inorganic layers, organic dyes, and organic
polymers) that are deposited on supporting substrates, while a third group are configured
as nanocrystals and used as quantum dots (electron-confined nanoparticles) embedded in
a supporting matrix in a "bottom-up" approach. Silicon remains the only material that is
well-researched in both bulk (also called wafer-based) and thin-film configurations.

Bulk
These bulk technologies are often referred to as wafer-based manufacturing. In other
words, in each of these approaches, self-supporting wafers between 180 to
240 micrometers thick are processed and then soldered together to form a solar cell
module.

Crystalline silicon

Basic structure of a silicon based solar cell and its working mechanism.
By far, the most prevalent bulk material for solar cells is crystalline silicon (abbreviated
as a group as c-Si), also known as "solar grade silicon". Bulk silicon is separated into
multiple categories according to crystallinity and crystal size in the resulting ingot,
ribbon, or wafer.
1. Monocrystalline silicon (c-Si): often made using the Czochralski process. Single-
crystal wafer cells tend to be expensive, and because they are cut from cylindrical
ingots, do not completely cover a square solar cell module without a substantial
waste of refined silicon. Hence most c-Si panels have uncovered gaps at the four
corners of the cells.
2. Poly- or multicrystalline silicon (poly-Si or mc-Si): made from cast square ingots
— large blocks of molten silicon carefully cooled and solidified. Poly-Si cells are
less expensive to produce than single crystal silicon cells, but are less efficient.

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 US DOE data shows that there were a higher number of multicrystalline sales
than monocrystalline silicon sales.
3. Ribbon silicon is a type of multicrystalline silicon: it is formed by drawing flat
thin films from molten silicon and results in a multicrystalline structure. These
cells have lower efficiencies than poly-Si, but save on production costs due to a
great reduction in silicon waste, as this approach does not require sawing from
ingots.

Thin films
The various thin-film technologies currently being developed reduce the amount (or
mass) of light absorbing material required in creating a solar cell. This can lead to
reduced processing costs from that of bulk materials (in the case of silicon thin films) but
also tends to reduce energy conversion efficiency (an average 7 to 10% efficiency),
although many multi-layer thin films have efficiencies above those of bulk silicon wafers.
They have become popular compared to wafer silicon due to lower costs and advantages
including flexibility, lighter weights, and ease of integration.

Solar panel
A single solar cell is not of much practical use, producing less than a volt. Several
cells have to be connected in a series of cells to produce a useable voltage.
The voltage increases proportionally. 10 solar cells connected in series will
produce about 7.5 volts. 20 cells 15 volts and so on. A number of cells (a
battery) linked and mounted together is known as a solar panel.

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4. CIRCUIT DISCRIPTION

Our circuit consists of 2 parts:-

a) Solar bot
b) Regulated power supply using solar panel

4.1 SOLAR BOT

ABOUT SOLAR BOT

Solar bot is based on the beam robotics which is explained as follows

BEAM is an acronym standing for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, and Mechanics:
Biology -- It's tough to beat 4 billion years of evolution; the world around us is a
wonderful source of inspiration and education.
Electronics -- It kind of goes without saying, but this is what we'll use to drive our
creations. BEAM robotics, though, strives for rich behaviors from simple circuits. Here's
the key: simple and understandable circuits, surprisingly complex in behavior.

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Aesthetics -- This just means your creations should look good. Besides, if a design looks
"clean," it's more likely to work (and easier to test / debug) than a design that's tangled
and unruly.
Mechanics -- This is the less-than-obvious secret of many successful BEAM bots with a
clever mechanical design, you can reduce the complexity of the rest of your robot
(reducing the number of motors and sensors, for example).
BEAM robotics basically starts from 3 philosophical tenets:
• Use minimalist electronics This keeps complexity from "snowballing", and keeps
costs down
• Recycle & reuse components out of techno scrap this keeps things cheap, and
avoids a lot of trips to parts stores; virtually all the parts required to make a
BEAM robot can be found in broken electronics (ovens, walkman's, CD players,
VCRs, pagers...).
• Solar power your critter if possible while less powerful than even a small battery
(and, up-front, more expensive), solar cells last for years; solar-powered BEAM
bots don't require constant battery replacements or down-time for battery
recharging.

WORKING OF SOLAR BOT

The circuit of SOLAR BOT is as shown above and its working is as explained –
Solar Panel provides the dc voltage. A capacitor is applied in parallel to the solar panel.
The capacitor will start charging up to the zener voltage i.e. 3.6 volt. Motor are connected
parallel to each other. First terminal of the motor are connected to the 2N3906 transistor
and the other terminal of the motor are connected to the 2k2 register and the 2N3904
switch transistor. Zener diode is connected in between the 2N3906 transistor and the
ground terminal.
The capacitor voltage will come across the zener diode. When the capacitor will get
charged up to zener voltage than the zener diode will act as short circuit and the current
starts flowing through 2k2 register. This will firstly switch on the 2N3906 transistor and
the 2N3906 transistor will act as short circuit. As a result the 2N3904 transistor will get
switch on and act as a short circuit. Finally the motor will find the conduction path via
2N3904 transistor. The motor are arranged in such a way that they provide motion to the
solar bot.

4.2 Regulated Power Supply Using Solar Panel :-

The circuit consists of an oscillator transistor and a regulator transistor. The solar panel
charges the battery when sunlight is bright enough to produce a voltage above 1.9v. A
diode is required between the panel and the battery as it leaks about 1mA from the battery
when it is not illuminated. The regulator transistor is designed to limit the output voltage
to 5v. This voltage will be maintained over the capability of the circuit, which is about
10mA. The oscillator transistor must be a high-current type as is turned on for a very
short period of time to saturate the core of the transformer. This energy is then released as

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a high-voltage pulse. These pulses are then passed to the electrolytic and appear as a 5v
supply with a capability of about 10mA. If the current is increased to 15mA, the voltage
drops to about 4v.The transformer is wired so that it gives POSITIVE feedback. The
transistor turns on via the 1k resistor and this produces expanding flux in the core. The
flux cuts the turns of the secondary winding and produces a voltage that ADDS to the
turn on voltage and the transistor is turned on MORE. The transistor gets fully turned ON
and the current through the primary becomes a maximum. The core becomes saturated
and although the flux is a maximum, it is not expanding flux and thus the secondary
produces no voltage (only the voltage and current supplied by the battery).The voltage
and current into the base of the transistor is reduced and this reduces the current through
the primary.

The flux now begins to collapse and this produces a voltage in the secondary of an
opposite polarity. This turns the transistor OFF and the magnetic flux collapses quickly
and produces a high voltage. This voltage is passed through the diode and charges the
electrolytic. The circuit operates at approx 50 kHz and the pulses quickly charge the
electrolytic. The 15k resistor has 3 k 3 "trimmer" resistors to enable you to adjust the
output to exactly 5v or slightly above 5v. Microcontrollers will work up to 5.5v but some
will freeze at 5.6v, so be careful. The output voltage is monitored at the join of the 15k
resistor (and 3k3) and the 2 k 2 resistors. The voltage at this point is exactly 0.63v
(630mV) and at this voltage the regulator transistor turns ON and robs the oscillator
transistor with "turn-on" voltage. When a load is placed on the output of the circuit, the
voltage across the electrolytic drops and the regulator turns off slightly. This allows the

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oscillator transistor to operate "harder" and send pulses of energy to the electrolytic to
charge it. If the load is removed, the current consumption for the circuit is about 3.5mA.
This is the quiescent current for the circuit. The output current is limited as each mA
requires about 5mA from the battery. At 15mA output, the current required from the
battery is about 75mA. That's why we need a high-current capability transistor for the
oscillator. A BC 547 transistor will not work, as it is not capable of passing a high
Current. The solar panel will deliver about 10 - 15mA on bright sunlight, so any load on
the output must be as small as possible.

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5. DATA SHEET

5.1 TRANSISTOR BC547

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5.2 TRANSISTOR BC338

Switching and Amplifier Applications

• Suitable for AF-Driver stages and low power output
stages

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• Complement to BC327/BC328
5.3
T
R
A
NS
IS
T
O
R

2N3904

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NPN General Purpose Amplifier
1) This device is designed as a general purpose Amplifier and switch.
2)The useful dynamic range extends to 100 mA
as a switch and to 100 MHz as an amplifier.

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15
16
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5.4TRANSISTOR 2N3906

PNP switching transistor

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5.5DIODE 1N4004

• Reverse Voltage: 50 to 1000V

• Forward Current: 1.0A
• High forward surge capability
• High temperature soldering guaranteed: 350°C/10

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5.6DIODE 1N4148

FEATURES
.The 1N4148 is high-speed switching diodes fabricated in planar technology, and
encapsulated in hermetically sealed leaded glass SOD27
· High switching speed: max. 4 ns
· Continuous reverse voltage:max. 75 V
· Repetitive peak reverse voltage:max. 100 V
· Repetitive peak forward current: max. 450 mA.

APPLICATIONS
· High-speed switching .

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6. PROJECT COST

S. No. Name & Specification of Component Quantity Cost/ Piece Total

(in Rs) Cost
(in Rs)
1. Transistor 2N 3904 NPN 1 10 10
2. Transistor 2N 3906 PNP 1 10 10
3. Transistor BC 547 NPN 1 10 10
4. Transistor BC 338 PNP 1 15 15
5. Capacitor 4700 μF 16V 1 15 15
6. Capacitor 100 μF 16V 1 8 8
7. Diode 1N4004 1 2 2
8. Zener Diode 3.6 Volt 1 5 5
9. Diode 1N4148 1 2 2
10. Solar Panel 4 Volt , 100 mA 1 1 500
11. Resistors 2.2 kΩ(0.25W) CFR 2 1 2
12. Resistor 15 kΩ (0.25W) CFR 1 1 1
13. Resistor 1 kΩ 0.25W) CFR 1 1 1
14. POT 10 kΩ 1 10 10
15. ON-OFF switch 2 5 10
16. Hook-up Wire 1 20 20
17. Soldering Wire 1 35 35
18. Motor 2 20 40
19. Bread Board 1 80 80
20. Multimeter 1 85 85
20. GP-PCB 1 35 35
21. Insulated Copper Wire role 0.25 mm dia 1 10 10
22. Ferrite Rod 10 mm dia , 5cm long 1 15 15
23. Rechargeable Cell 1.2 Volt 1 25 25
24. Acrylic Sheet 1 40 40
25. Fevi Quick 2 10 20
26. M- Seal 1 20 20
1026
7. ADVANTAGES AND APPLICATIONS

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1. Most readily available form of energy.
2. It is renewable form of energy, clean and their applications are pollution free.
3. After installation of the system to use solar energy its cost and maintenance is
minimum as compared to other sources of the energy.
4. Solar energy can be used in minute scale for heating houses , cooking food, heating
water etc
5. Solar energy can be used for generating a certain amount of electricity for household
or personal use.
6. In industrial settings, solar energy has been successfully used in desalinating seawater
to produce fresh water for human consumption, and conversely, in producing sea salt
in desalination plants.
7. Solar enery is totally environment friendly energy, clean, safe, noise free and
pollution free energy.

8. LIMITATIONS

1. The Solar Cells and Solar Panels that are needed to harness solar energy tend to
be very expensive when we first purchase them.
2. Solar power cannot be harnessed during a storm, on a cloudy day or at night.
3. The availability of the solar radiation is not uniform through out the earth and that
causes a hindrance in the constant and uniform production of electric energy.
4. The degree of intensity of the sun’s rays decreases and increases with the time in
a day and this increases hindrance in the constant and uniform production of
electric energy.
5. The efficiency of the solar cell, up to till today’s date is very less and which is a
great limitation of the solar energy.

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CONCLUSION

The project development period was really a very enriching and informative experience
for us. We got the feel of the field by making our project. We had learnt various practical
applications of the commonly used electronic devices besides learning their processes.
We have concluded that solar power and regulated power supply using solar panel can be
extensively used in electronic circuits and instruments because the electronic circuits
generally operates upto voltage range of 12 volts, consume very small amount of current
and which can be easily generated from a small solar panel. Even the controlling of the
high voltage electrical appliances can be easily achieved from the voltage generated from
the solar panel because the high voltage circuit and its controlling electronic can be
easily isolated through the relays. The whole experience in this project development
session was worthwhile as in this period we learnt that how to implement my theoretical
knowledge practically, how the electronics can be used to control the electrical
appliances.

REFRENCES

1. Wikipedia <www.wikipedia.com>
2. Google <www.google.com>
3. Electronics for you <www.electronicsforu.com >
4. Datasheet Catalogue< www.datasheetcatalogue.com >
5. Datasheets for you<www.datasheet4u.com>
6. www.talkingelectronics.com
7. www.solarbotics.com

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