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The solar charger

A Project submitted by

Mast. Shubham Ramesh Kubal

Roll no - 9242 Exam seat no-

UNDER GUIDANCE OF

Prof. S.M.Rathod

Department of Physics

M.E.S Abasaheb Garware College, Pune.

A Project Submitted inn Partial Fulfillment of the requirement for B.Sc

(Physics) of University of Pune 411007
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March 2019
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Maharashtra Education Society’s

ABASAHEB GARWARE

COLLEGE.PUNE DEPARTMENT

OF PHYSICS

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that MAST.SHUBHAM RAMESH KUBAL has satisfactory
completed the project entitled “THE SOLAR CHARGER ” towards the partial
fulfillment of T.Y.B.Sc (Physics) course affiliated to the University of Pune
during the academic year

2018-2019

PROJECT GUIDE HOD

PHYSICS

PROF. S.M.RATHOD DR.A.BSHINDE

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EXAMINER (INTERNAL) EXAMINER (EXTERNAL)

AKNOWLEDGMENT

I wish to thank principal ‘Dr.P.B. BHUCHADE’ sir of my college for

permitting me to use all the facilities available in the institution for
my project work. I would also like to thank the head of the physics
department ‘Dr. A.B. SHINDE’ sir, the teaching and non teaching
staff of my college for their support in completing the work
successfully.

I am grateful to my guide ‘Dr. S.M. RATHOD’ sir for his

encouragement, guidance and supervision of my project work
during the year. I must acknowledge the financial support given to
me by my parents for this project without which it would have been
difficult to complete work in time.

My classmate have been of great help to me during the project

work. My ideas were fresh and refined progressively through my
discussion with them from time to time. I cannot miss to thank them
all.

T.Y.B.SC.
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Mr. Shubham Ramesh Kubal

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ABSTRACT

It works on the principle that when light falls on the solar cell,
electron-hole pairs are created in the n-type emitter and in the p-
type base. The generated electrons and holes then diffuse to the
junction and are swept away by electric field, thus producing. The
development of solar charger goes from fundamental level like
soldering lamination and making panel etc. the develop charger is
planned with 6 volts with ma capacity in bright sunlight and step
down to 5 volts using regulator. In the report, the detailed
experimental characteristics of solar charger is noted. Due to nature
of solar energy, two components are require to have a functional
solar energy generator. This two components are collector and
storage unit. The collector simply collects the radiation that falls on
it and converts fraction of it to other forms of energy. The storage
unit is required because of non constant nature of solar energy; at
certain times only a very small amount of radiation will be received.
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INDEX
TOPICS PAGENO.

1. SOLAR PANEL 5
2. PRINCIPLE & HISTORY 7
3. PCB 9
4. RESISTOR 11
5. CAPACITOR 14
6. INTEGRATED CIRCUIT 16
7. DIODE 19
8. TRANSISTOR 22
9. BATTERY 24
10. WORKING OF SOLAR CHARGER 25
11. CONSRTUCTION & TESTING 26
12. APPLICATIONS OF SOLAR ENERGY 28
13. OBSERVATIONS & PLOT 34
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Solar panel

Solar PV modules (top) and two solar hot water panels (bottom)
mounted on rooftops.
Photovoltaic solar panels absorb sunlight as a source of energy to
generate electricity. A photovoltaic (PV) module is a packaged,
connected assembly of typically 6x10 photovoltaic solar cells.
Photovoltaic modules constitute the photovoltaic array of a
photovoltaic system that generates and supplies solar electricity in
commercial and residential applications.
Each module is rated by its DC output power under standard test
conditions (STC), and typically ranges from 100 to 365 Watts (W).
The efficiency of a module determines the area of a module given
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the same rated output – an 8% efficient 230 W module will have

twice the area
of a 16% efficient 230 W module. There are a few commercially
available solar modules that exceed efficiency of 24%. A single solar
module can produce only a limited amount of power; most
installations contain multiple modules. A photovoltaic system
typically includes an array of photovoltaic modules, an inverter, a
battery pack for storage, interconnection wiring , and optionally a
solar tracking mechanism. The most common application of solar
energy collection outside agriculture is solar water heating systems.
The price of solar electrical power has continued to fall so that in
many countries it has become cheaper than ordinary fossil fuel
electricity from the electricity grid since 2012, a phenomenon known
as grid parity From a solar cell to a PV system.

Photovoltaic modules use light energy (photons) from the Sun to

generate electricity through the photovoltaic effect. The majority of
modules use wafer-based crystalline silicon cells or thin-film cells.
The structural (load carrying) member of a module can either be the
top layer or the back layer. Cells must also be protected from
mechanical damage and moisture. Most modules are rigid, but semi-
flexible ones based on thin-film cells are also available. The cells
must be connected electrically in series, one to another. A PV
junction box is attached to the back of the solar panel and it is its
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output interface. Externally, most of photovoltaic modules use MC4

connectors type to facilitate easy weatherproof connections to the
rest of the system. Also, USB power interface can be used. Module
electrical connections are made in series to achieve a desired output
voltage or in parallel to provide a desired current capability
(amperes). The conducting wires that take the current off the
modules may contain silver, copper or other non-magnetic
conductive transition metals. Bypass diodes may be incorporated or
used externally, in case of partial module shading, to maximize the
output of module sections still illuminated. Some special solar PV
modules include concentrators in which light is focused by lenses or
mirrors onto smaller cells. This enables the use of cells with a high
cost per unit area (such as gallium arsenide) in a cost-effective way.
Solar panels also use metal frames consisting of racking
components, brackets, reflector shapes,and troughs to better
support the panel structure.

Principle

They work on the principle of the photovoltaic effect. When certain materials
are exposed to light, they absorb photons and release free electrons. ... Based
on the principle of photovoltaic effect, solar cells or photovoltaic cells are made.
They convert sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity.
The solar cell works in several steps:
Photons in sunlight hit the solar panel and are absorbed by semiconducting
materials, such as silicon. Electrons are excited from their current
molecular/atomic orbital. An array of solar cells converts solar energy into a
usable amount of direct current (DC) electricity.
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HISTORY

In 1839, the ability of some materials to create an electrical charge from light
exposure was first observed by Alexander-Edmond Becquerel. Though the
premiere solar panels were too inefficient for even simple electric devices they
were used as an instrument to measure light. The observation by Becquerel was
not replicated again until 1873, when Willoughby Smith discovered that the
charge could be caused by light hitting selenium. After this discovery, William
Grills Adams and Richard Evans Day published "The action of light on selenium"
in 1876, describing the experiment they used to replicate Smith's results. In
1881, Charles Fritts created the first commercial solar panel, which was reported
by Fritts as "continuous, constant and of considerable force not only by
exposure to sunlight but also to dim, diffused daylight." However, these solar
panels were very inefficient, especially compared to coal-fired power plants. In
1939, Russell Ohl created the solar cell design that is used in many modern solar
panels. He patented his design in 1941. In 1954, this design was first used by Bell
Labs to create the first commercially viable silicon solar cell.
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PCB
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A printed circuit board (PCB) mechanically supports and electrically connects

electronic components or electrical components using conductive tracks, pads
and other features etched from one or more sheet layers of copper laminated
onto and/or between sheet layers of a non-conductive substrate. Components
are generally solderedonto the PCB to both electrically connect and
mechanically fasten them to it. Printed circuit boards are used in all but the
simplest electronic products. They are also used in some electrical products,
such as passive switch boxes. Alternatives to PCBs include wire wrap and point-
to-point construction, both once popular but now rarely used. PCBs require
additional design effort to lay out the circuit, but manufacturing and assembly
can be automated. Specialized CAD software is available to do much of the work
of layout. Mass-producing circuits with PCBs is cheaper and faster than with
other wiring methods, as components are mounted and wired in one operation.
Large numbers of PCBs can be fabricated at the same time, and the layout only
has to be done once. PCBs can also be made manually in small quantities, with
reduced benefits. PCBs can be single-sided (one copper layer), double-sided
(two copper layers on both sides of one substrate layer), or multi-layer (outer
and inner layers of copper, alternating with layers of substrate). Multi-layer PCBs
allow for much higher component density, because circuit traces on the inner
layers would otherwise take up surface space between components. The rise in
popularity of multilayer PCBs with more than two, and especially with more
than four, copper planes was concurrent with the adoption of surface mount
technology. However, multilayer PCBs make repair, analysis, and field
modification of circuits much more difficult and usually impractical. The world
market for bare PCBs exceeded $60.2 billion in 2014. In 2018, the Global Single
Sided Printed Circuit Board Market Analysis Report estimated that the PCB
market would reach $79 billion by 2024.

The first PCBs used through-hole technology, mounting electronic components

by leads inserted through holes on one side of the board and soldered onto
copper traces on the other side. Boards may be single-sided, with an unplated
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component side, or more compact double-sided boards, with components

soldered on both sides. Horizontal installation of through-hole parts with two
axial leads (such as resistors, capacitors, and diodes) is done by bending the
leads 90 degrees in the same direction, inserting the part in the board (often
bending leads located on the back of the board in opposite directions to
improve the part's mechanical strength), soldering the leads, and trimming off
the ends. Leads may be soldered either manually or by a wave soldering
machine. Through-hole manufacture adds to board cost by requiring many holes
to be drilled accurately, and it limits the available routing area for signal traces
on layers immediately below the top layer on multi-layer boards, since the holes
must pass through all layers to the opposite side. Once surface-mounting came
into use, small-sized SMD components were used where possible, with through-
hole mounting only of components unsuitably large for surface-mounting due to
power requirements or mechanical limitations, or subject to mechanical stress
which might damage the PCB (e.g. by lifting the copper off the board surface).
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RESISTOR

Resistors are considered to be the most used and the most important
component of all the electronic circuits. Take a look at the working, types and
also use of resistors in the field of electronics. We know that the basic idea of
any electronic circuit is the flow of electricity. This also is further categorized
into two – conductors and insulators. Conductors allow the flow of electrons,
while insulators do not. But the amount of electricity that we want to pass
through them depends on the resistors. If a high voltage is passed through a
conductor such as a metal, the whole voltage passes through it. If resistors are
introduced, the amount of voltage and current can be controlled. Thus
“resistance can be defined as the ease with which something will let electricity
flow through it”. A conductor has lower resistance than an insulator. The
amount used by the resistor to control the electrical circuit is termed as the
resistance.

WHAT IS RESISTANCE?

The definition of resistance is based upon the Ohm’s law given by the German
physicist Georg Simon Ohm. The Ohm’s Law states that the voltage [V] across a
resistor is directly proportional to the current [I] flowing through it. Here, its
resistance [R] is the constant of proportionality.
Therefore, V = I * R
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UNIT OF RESISTANCE

The SI-unit of resistance is Ohm [Ω]. The higher multiple and sub-multiple values
of ohm is kilo ohms [KΩ], mega ohms [MΩ], milli ohm and so on. Thus, the
resistance can be defined as the voltage required for making a current of 1
ampere to flow through the circuit. If the circuit requires 100 Volts to make 1
ampere flow, then the resistance is 100 Ohms.

SYMBOL OF RESISTOR
Resistor is a 2 terminal passive device. The symbol is given below.

Symbol of resistor

WORKING OF RESISTOR

The working of a resistor can be explained with the similarity of water flowing
through a pipe. Consider a pipe through which water is allowed to flow. If the
diameter of the pipe is reduced, the water flow will be reduced. If the force of
the water is increased by increasing the pressure, then the energy will be
dissipated as heat. There will also be an enormous difference in pressure
in the head and tail ends of the pipe. In this example, the force applied to the
water is similar to the current flowing through the resistance. The pressure
applied can be resembled to the voltage.

USES OF RESISTORS
Though resistors can cause wastage of electricity, it has a lot of advantages and
applications in our daily life.
⦁ Resistance is one of the main ingredients in the working of a light bulb. When
electricity passes through the filament of the bulb, it burns bright as it turns
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extremely hot due to its smaller size. Though this mechanism wastes a lot of
electricity, we are forced to use it to obtain light. The light used nowadays are
highly efficient than the older incandescent lamps.
⦁ The similar filament working is the main ingredient in the working of some of
our usual household stuffs like electric kettles, electric radiators, electric
showers, coffee makers, toasters,
and so on.
⦁ The application of variable resistance is also helpful to us. Our TV’s, radios,
loud speakers and so on work on this principle.
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CAPACITOR

Definition
A capacitor is an electronic device that is used to store electrical energy. They
are only used to store the electrons and they are not capable of producing them.
Capacitor Symbol

Capacitance
The capacitance is the ratio of electric charge (Q) to the voltage (V) and the
mathematical expansion is following.
C = Q/V
Where,
⦁ Q is the electric charge in coulombs
⦁ C is the capacitance in farad
⦁ V is the voltage between the plates in volts

Farad
The capacitance of a capacitor is measured in units called Farads .A capacitor is
said to have 1 Farad of capacitance when the capacitor can hold 1 amp-second
of electrons at 1 volt at a rate of electron flow of 1 coulomb of electrons per
second. As 1 Farad is a big value, the capacitors are usually denoted in micro
farads.

Working of a Capacitor

To demonstrate how does a capacitor work, let us consider a most basic

structure of a capacitor. It is made of two parallel conducting plates separated
by a dielectric that is parallel plate capacitor. When we connect a battery (The
capacitance of a capacitor is measured in units called Farads.A capacitor is said
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to have 1 Farad of capacitance when the capacitor can hold 1 amp-second of

electrons at 1 volt at a rate of electron flow of 1 coulomb of electrons per
second. As 1 Farad is a big value, the capacitors are usually denoted in micro
farads. To demonstrate how does a capacitor work, let us consider a most basic
structure of a capacitor. It DC Voltage Source) across the capacitor, one plate
(plate-I) gets attached to the positive end, and another plate (plate-II) to the
negative end of the battery. Now, the potential of that battery is applied across
that capacitor. At that situation, plate-I is in positive potency with respect to the
plate-II. At steady state condition, the current from the battery tries to flow
through this capacitor from its positive plate (plate-I) to negative plate
(plate-II) but cannot flow due to the separation of these plates with an
insulating material.

Applications of Capacitors:
Capacitors are used for a number of purposes, it’s the most commonly found
device in any sort of electronic gadget. Each kind of capacitor has its individual
advantage & disadvantage and as a result, the applications of the capacitor can
be dissimilar. A number of capacitors are good for elevated frequency utilization,
while others can be employed for low frequency purposes. Without a doubt it is
essential to have the correct capacitor for the precise usage of the circuit is to
function appropriately.

⦁ Timing–for illustration with a 555timerIC to control the charging & discharge.

⦁ Coupling–for illustration amid junctures of an audio system and to unite a
loudspeaker.
⦁ Storing energy–for illustration in a camera’s flash circuit.
⦁ Smoothing – for illustration in a power supply.
⦁ Tuning–for illustration in a radio system.
⦁ Filtering–for illustration in the tone controller of an audio system.
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INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
The 555 TImer IC is an integral part of electronics projects. Be it a simple project
involving a single 8-bit micro-controller and some peripherals or a complex one
involving system on chips (SoCs), 555 timer working is involved. These provide
time delays, as an oscillator and as a flip-flop element among other applications.
Introduced in 1971 by the American company Signetics, the 555 is still in
widespread use due to its low price, ease of use and stability. It is made by many
companies in the original bipolar and low-power CMOS types. According to an
estimate, a billion units were manufactured back in the year 2003 alone.
Depending on the manufacturer, the standard 555 timer package includes 25
transistors, 2 diodes and 15 resistors on a silicon chip installed in an 8-pin mini
dual-in-line package (DIP-8). Variants consist of combining multiple chips on one
board. However, 555 is still the most popular. Let us look at the pin diagram to
have an idea about the timer IC before we talk about 555 timer working.

555 TIMER IC BLOCK DIAGRAM

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PIN DIAGRAM OF IC555

Pin diagram and description

1 GND
Ground reference voltage, low level (0 V)

2 TRIGGER
The OUT pin goes high and a timing interval starts when this input falls below
1/2 of CTRL voltage (which is typically 1/3 Vcc, CTRL being 2/3 Vcc by default if
CTRL is left open). In other words, OUT is high as long as the trigger low. Output
of the timer totally depends upon the amplitude of the external trigger voltage
applied to this pin.

3 OUTPUT
This output is driven to approximately 1.7 V below +Vcc, or to GND.

4 RESET
A timing interval may be reset by driving this input to GND, but the timing does
not begin again until RESET rises above approximately 0.7 volts. Overrides TRIG
which overrides threshold.
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5 CONTROL VOLTAGE
Provides “control” access to the internal voltage divider (by default, 2/3 Vcc).

6 THRESHOLD
The timing (OUT high) interval ends when the voltage at threshold is greater
than that at CTRL (2/3 Vcc if CTRL is open).

7 DISCHARGE
Open collector output which may discharge a capacitor between intervals. In
phase with output.

8 Vcc Positive supply voltage, which is usually between 3 and 15 V depending on

the variation.

Some important features of the 555

timer:

555 timer is used in almost every electronic circuit today. For a 555 timer
working as a flip flop or as a multi-vibrator, it has a particular set of
configurations. Some of the major features of the 555 timer would be,
⦁ It operates from a wide range of power ranging from +5 Volts to +18 Volts
supply voltage.
⦁ Sinking or sourcing 200 mA of load current.
⦁ The external components should be selected properly so that the timing
intervals can be made into several minutes along with the frequencies exceeding
several hundred kilohertz.
⦁ The output of a 555 timer can drive a transistor-transistor logic (TTL) due to
its high current output.
⦁ It has a temperature stability of 50 parts per million (ppm) per degree Celsius
change in temperature which is equivalent to 0.005 %/ °C.
⦁ The duty cycle of the timer is adjustable.
⦁ Also, the maximum power dissipation per package is 600 mW and its trigger
and reset inputs has logic compatibility.
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DIODE
What is a Diode?
A diode is defined as a semiconductor device with two terminals that conducts
current in one direction only( if operated within a specified voltage level)
A diode only blocks current in the reverse direction while the reverse voltage is
within a limited range otherwise reverse barrier breaks and the voltage at which
this breakdown occurs is called reverse breakdown voltage. The diode acts as a
valve in the electronic and electrical circuits. A PN junction is the simplest form
of the semiconductor diode which in ideal conditions behaves as a short circuit
when it is forward biased and in open circuit when it is in the reverse biased.
The name diode is derived from “diode” which means a device that has two
electrodes.

Diode Symbol
The symbol of a diode is shown below. The arrowhead points in the direction of
conventional current flow in the forward biased condition. That means the
anode is connected to the p side and cathode is connected to the n side.

We can create a simple PN junction diode by doping pentavalent or donor

impurity in one portion and trivalent or acceptor impurity in other portion of
silicon or germanium crystal block. These dopings make a PN junction at the
middle part of the block. We can also form a PN junction by joining a p-type and
n-type semiconductor together with a special fabrication technique. The
terminal connected to the p-type is the anode. The terminal connected to the
n-type side is the cathode.
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Applications of Diodes

Despite being just simple two-pin semiconductor devices, diodes are vital in
modern electronics. Some of the typical applications of diodes include:
⦁ Rectifying a voltage, such as turning the AC into DC voltages

⦁ Isolating signals from a supply

⦁ Voltage Reference

⦁ Controlling the size of a signal

⦁ Mixing signals

⦁ Detection signals

⦁ Lighting systems

⦁ LASER diodes

⦁ For protection of solar panels

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Diodes in Solar Panels

The diodes which are used for protection of solar panels are called as bypass
diodes. If the solar panel is faulty or damaged or shaded by fallen leaves, snow
and other obstructions, the overall output power decreases and arise hot spot
damage because the current of the rest of the cells must flow through this faulty
or shaded cell causes a overheating. The main function of the bypass diode is to
protect the solar cells against this hot spot heating problem.

The above figure shows the connection of bypass diodes in solar cells. These
diodes are connected in parallel with the solar cells. Thereby limits the voltage
across the bad solar cell and allows the current from good solar cells to the
external circuit. Thus, reduces the overheating problem by limiting the current
flow through the bad solar cell.
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TRANSISTOR

What is transistor?

A transistor is also known as BJT, is current driven semiconductor can be use to

control the flow of electric current in which small amount of current in the base
lead controls larger current between the collector and emitter. They can be use
to amplify weak signal, as an oscillator or as switch. They are usually made of
silicon crystal where n and P type semiconductor layer are sandwiched together.
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Aplication of transistor

 The transistor use as a switch to turn the LED on and off.

 When large currents or voltage need to be controlled, transistors
can be used.
 Transistor switches can be use to switch and control lamps, relays or
even motors.
 When using the bipolar transistor as a switch they must be fully ON
or fully OFF.
 Transistor that are fully on are said to be in their saturation region.
And transistor that are fully OFF are said to be in their cut off
region.
 When using transistor as a switch, a small base current controls a
much larger collector load current.
 When using transistor to switch inductive loads such as relays and
solenoids a flywheel diode is used.
 When large current or voltage need to be controlled, transistors can
be used.
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12 volt 1.3 ampere Lead acid battery

Specifications
 High quality and reliability.
 Maintenance free.
 Long life cycle.

General features
 Sealed and maintenance free operation.
 Non-Spillable construction design.
 Safety valve installation for explosion proof.
 High quality and high reliability.
 Exceptional deep discharge recovery performance.
 Low self discharge characteristics.
 Flexibility design for multiple install positions.
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How does solar charger work?

When the solar cell is creating a voltage much greater than the battery, a typical
charge type situation, then the circuit may be considered to consist merely of
the solar cell and battery. Current will flow from the cell into the battery. All the
other components are present solely because this situation does not always
pertain. For instance, it may well be that, because of night or cloud, the solar
cell is not actually developing sufficient energy to charge. In this situation, the
biggest danger is that the battery will discharge through the circuit or the solar
cell.D3 protects against this situation. At the opposite extreme, the battery
might already be fully charged. It is necessary to have some form of voltage
clamp to ensure that the battery is not damaged. This is achieved by ZD2, which
effectively stops the battery ever going over 15V. A third problem is to ensure
that when the solar cell voltage is below the battery voltage, but not a zero, the
unit will still charge. The rest of the circuit is designed to cover this eventuality.
The heart circuit is a voltage doubler built around the 555 and the two capacitor
C3 and C4. To see how it works, consider the situation with pin 3, IC1 at Vcc, so
that collector of Q1, and thus the negative plate of C3 is effectively at ground.
Then current will flow from the solar cell, through D1 onto the positive plate of
C3. D2 is reversed biased by the battery. When pin 3 IC1 goes low, the collector
of Q1 goes high, pushing the positive plate of the battery up to Vcc. But C3 has
Vcc impressed across it already, so the new voltage is 2Vcc. This switches off D1
and turns on D2. Current now flows into C4. When IC1, once again, causes the
positive plate of C3 to drop to Vcc, D2 reverse biases, thus providing C4 with
only one discharge path, throughout the battery. In this way it is possible to
provide a charging current even though the solar cell has less potential across it
than the battery. Not that this is strictly true on if 2Vcc is than 15V, because of
the operation of ZD2, R2, R3and C2 set up the frequency of operation of IC1. ZD1
is designed to protect the 555 from an over voltage situation, and R1 and C1 to
stabilize the operating voltage of the oscillator.
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Construction and testing

The type of solar panel is not very critical in the unit. Almost any unit will do the
job. Typically no more power 6W is required with an output voltage of 10 to 20
volt. If you want to shorten the charging time by hooking up to solar panel in
parallel, the power rating of ZD2 has to be higher than 5W. This is because when
the battery is fully charged, the output power from the solar panels has to be
fully charge, the output power from the solar panels has to be absorbed by
the zener diode ZD2.

When the light intensity is at its peak (1000W/ square metre), the zener diode
ZD2 has to buffer a fair bit of power from two or three solar panels in parallel
There are only few component on board so assembly of it should take no more
than 20 minutes. NO tuning and adjustment is required. However, be careful
with the polarity of diodes , transistors and capacitors.

Before you pop the circuit into an epoxy brick, it is necessary to test
circuit first. The tools required to test the circuit are very simple, to multi-meters
, and uncharged lead acid 12V battery ( or 220 R Load resistor if you don’t have a
spare battery ) and the sun.

First connect the testing arrangement as shown in fig. One meter is configurated
as current and the other one as a voltage meter .The polarity of the meter’s
probes have to be correct so that positive reading is obtained when the current
or voltage is in the right direction.

Orient the solar panel towards the sun and you should get POSITIVE readings on
the current meter. On a typical sunny Sydney winter morning you can expect
100ma (as summing one solar panel is used ).
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The voltage meter should read something like 15V. Tilt the solar panel slightly to
affect the amount of light falling upon it and you should observe either a drop or
increase meter readings.

There are two things you must check. No matter how you tilt the panel, even on
a hot summer day. The voltmeter should never read more than 16V ( under no
load condition). If it does, ZD2 has probably failed. If you cover the solar cell
with the dark piece of cloth, the current polarity shown in meter should be
negative and the reading be either nil or extremely small.

If the NEGATIVE reading on the current meter is significant while there is no

sun, diode D3 is probably malfunctioning. I would suggest that you leave the set
up as it is in fig. Outdoors for a week or so , depending on the capacity of battery
to be charged. Start off with completely discharged battery and see if it charges
is all during a week.

The two meters are only temporary fixtures. They are there purely for the
convenience of checking the charging condition any time you wish.

After the circuit is proven you can pot it into and epoxy brick if you want to
mount the brick on to something with screws, this can be done quite easily. As
you realize there are four mounting holes on the four corners of the PC board
mount force screws on the board as shown in fig.

Make sure the depth of the potting box is not higher than the length of the
screws. Once the epoxy dries, you have got an epoxy brick with four screws
striking out on the bottom reading for mounting.
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Application of solar energy

Some of the major application of solar energy are as follows:
(a) Solar water heating
(b) Solar heating of buildings
(c) Solar distillation
(d) Solar pumping
(e) Solar drying of agricultural and animal products
(f) Solar Furnaces
(g) Solar cooking
(h) Solar electric power generation
(i) Solar thermal power production
(j) Solar green houses.
(a) Solar Water Heating:

A solar water heating unit comprises a blackened flat plate metal collector with
an associated metal tubing
facing the general direction of the sun. The plate collector has a transparent
glass cover above and a layer of thermal insulation beneath it.
The metal tubing of the collector is connected by a pipe to an insulated tank that
stores hot water during cloudy days. The collector absorbs solar radiations and
transfers the heat to the water circulating through the tubing either by gravity or
by a pump.
This hot water is supplied to the storage tank via the associated metal tubing.
This system of water heating is commonly used in hotels, guest houses, tourist
bungalows, hospitals, canteens as well as domestic and industrial units.
(b) Solar Heating of Buildings:
 33

Solar energy can be used for space heating of buildings in many ways namely:

(a) Collecting the solar radiation by some element of the building itself i.e.
solar energy is admitted directly into the building through large South-
facing windows.

(b) Using separate solar collectors which may heat either water or air or stor age
devices which can accumulate the collected solar energy for use at night and
during inclement days. When the building requires heat then from these
collectors or storage devices, the heat is transferred by conventional equipment
such as fan, ducts, air out lets, radiators and hot air registers etc. to warm up the
living spaces of a build ing. When the building does not require heat, the heated
air or water from the collector can be moved to the heat storage device such as
well insulated water tank or other heat holding material. For inclement days, an
auxiliary heating system using gas, oil or electricity is required as a backup
system.

(c) Solar-distillation:
In arid semi and or coastal areas there is scarcity of potable water. The abundant
sunlight in these areas can be used for converting saline water into pota ble
distilled water by the method of solar distillation. In this method, solar radiation
is admitted through a transparent air tight glass cover into a shallow blackened
basin containing saline water. Solar radiation passes through the covers and is
absorbed and converted into heat in the black ened surface causing the water to
evaporate from the brine (impure saline wa ter). The vapors produced get
condensed to form purified water in the cool interior of the roof. The condensed
water flows down the sloping roof and is collected in the troughs placed at the
bottom and from there into a water stor age tank to supply potable distilled
water in areas of scarcity, in colleges, school science laboratories, defense labs,
petrol pumps, hospitals and pharmaceutical industries. Per liter distilled water
cost obtained by this system is cheaper than distilled water obtained by other
electrical energy-based processes.

(d) Solar-pumping:
In solar pumping, the power generated by solar-energy is utilized for pumping
water for irrigation purposes. The requirement for water pumping is greatest in
the hot summer months which coincide with the increased solar radiations
 34

during this period and so this method is most appropriate for irrigation purpose.
During periods of inclement weather when solar radiations are low then the
requirement for water pump ing is also relatively less as the transpiration losses
from the crops are also low.

(e) Solar Drying of Agricultural and Animal Products:

This is a traditional method of utilising solar energy for drying of agricultural and
animal products. Agricultural products are dried in a simple cabinet dryer which
consists of a box insulated at the base, painted black on the inner side and
covered with an in clined transparent sheet of glass.
At the base and top of the sides ventilation holes are provided to facilitate the
flow of air over the drying material which is placed on perforated trays inside
the cabinet. These perforated trays or racks are carefully designed to provide
controlled exposure to solar radiations. Solar drying, especially of fruits
improves fruit quality as the sugar concentra tion increases on drying. Normally
soft fruits are particularly vulnerable to insect attack as the sugar content
increases on drying but in a fruit dryer con siderable time is saved by quicker
drying —minimizing gap the chances of insect attack. The present practice of
drying chilies by spreading them on the floor not only requires a lot of open
space and manual labour for material handling but it becomes difficult to
maintain its quality and taste unless drying is done in a controlled atmosphere.
Moreover, the products being sun dried very often get spoiled due to sudden
rains, dust storms or by birds. Besides, reports reveal that it is not possible to
attain very low moisture content in the sun-dried chilies.
As a result, the chilies become prone to attack by fungi and bacteria. In sun-
drying sometimes, the produce is over dried and its quality is lost. Solar energy
operated dryer helps to overcome most of these disadvantages. Other
agricultural products commonly solar-dried are potato-chips, berseem, grains of
maize and paddy, ginger, peas, pepper, cashew-nuts, timber and ve neer drying
and tobacco curing. Spray drying of milk and fish drying are examples of solar
dried animal prod ucts.

(f) Solar Furnaces:

In a Solar furnace, high temperature is obtained by concentrating the solar
radiations onto a specimen using a number of heliostats (turn-able mirrors) ar
ranged on a sloping surface. The solar furnace is used for studying the proper
 35

ties of ceramics at extremely high temperatures above the range measurable in

laboratories with flames and electric currents.
Heating can be accomplished without any contamination and temperature can
be easily controlled by chang ing the position of the material in focus. This is
especially useful for metallurgi cal and chemical operations. Various property
measurements are possible on an open specimen. An important future
application of solar furnaces is the production of nitric acid and fertilizers from
air.

(g) Solar Cooking:

A variety of fuel like coal, kerosene, cooking gas, firewood, dung cakes and
agricultural wastes are used for cooking purposes. Due to the energy crisis,
supply of these fuels are either deteriorating (wood, coal, kerosene, cooking gas)
or are too precious to be wasted for cooking purposes (cow dung can be better
used as manure for improving soil fertility). This necessitated the use of solar
energy for cooking purposes and the development of solar cookers. A simple
solar cooker is the flat plate box type solar cooker. It consists of a well insulated
metal or wooden box which is blackened from the inner side. The solar
radiations entering the box are of short wavelength. As higher wave length
radiations are unable to pass through the glass covers, the re-radiation from the
blackened interior to outside the box through the two glass covers is minimised,
thereby minimising the heat loss.
The heat loss due to convection is minimised by making the box airtight. This is
achieved by providing a rubber strip between the upper lid and the box for mini
missing the heat loss due to conduction, the space
between the blackened tray and outer cover of the box is filled with an insulting
material like glass wool, saw-dust, paddy husk etc.
When placed in sunlight, the solar rays penetrate the glass covers and are
absorbed by the blackened surface thereby resulting in an increase in
temperature inside the box. Cooking pots blackened from outside are placed in
the solar box. The uncooked food gets cooked with the heat energy produced
due to in creased temperature of the solar box. Collector area of such a solar
cooker can be increased by providing a plane reflector mirror. When this
reflector is adjusted to reflect the sun rays into the box, then a 15°C to 25°C rise
in temperature is achieved inside the cooker box. The solar cooker requires
neither fuel nor attention while cooking food and there is no pollution, no
charring or overflowing of food and the most important advantage is that
 36

nutritional value of the cooked food is very high as the vitamins and natural
tastes of the food are not destroyed.
Maintenance cost of the solar cooker is negligible. The main disadvantage of the
solar cooker is that the food cannot be cooked at night, during cloudy days or at
short notice. Cooking takes comparatively more time and chapattis cannot be
cooked in a solar cooker.

(h) Solar Electric Power Generation:

Electric energy or electricity can be produced directly from solar energy by
means of photovoltaic cells. The photovoltaic cell is an energy conversion device
which is used to convert photons of sunlight directly into electricity. It is made of
semi conductors which absorb the photons received from the sun, creating free
electrons with high energies. These high energy free electrons are induced by an
electric field, to flow out of the semiconductor to do useful work. This electric
field in photovoltaic cells is usually provided by a p-n junction of materials which
have different electri cal properties. There are different fabrication techniques to
enable these cells to achieve maximum efficiency.
These cells are arranged in parallel or series com bination to form cell modules.
Some of the special features of these modules are high reliability, no
expenditure on fuel, minimum cost of maintenance, long life, portability,
modularity, pollution free working etc. Photovoltaic cells have been used to
operate irrigation pumps, rail road crossing warnings, navigational sig nals,
highway emergency call systems, automatic meteorological stations etc. in areas
where it is difficult to lay power lines.
They are also used for weather monitoring and as portable power sources for
televisions, calcula tors, watches, computer card readers, battery charging and in
satellites etc. Besides these, photovoltaic cells are used for the energisation of
pump sets for irrigation, drinking water supply and for providing electricity in
rural areas i.e. street lights etc.

(i) Solar Thermal Power Production:

Solar thermal power production means the conversion of solar energy into
electricity through thermal energy. In this procedure, solar energy is first utilised
to heat up a working fluid, gas, water or any other volatile liquid. This heat
energy is then converted into mechanical energy m a turbine. Finally a
conventional generator coupled to a turbine converts this mechanical energy
into electrical energy.
 37

Production of Power through Solar Ponds:

A solar pond is a natural or artificial body of water utilised for collecting and
absorbing solar radiation and storing it as heat. It is very shallow (5-10 cm deep)
and has a radiation absorbing (black plastic) bottom. It has a curved fibre glass
cover over it to permit the entry of solar radiation but reduces losses by radia
tion and convection (air movement). Loss of heat to the ground is minimised by
providing a bed of insulating material under the pond.
Solar ponds utilise water for collecting and storing the solar energy which is
used for many applications such as space heating, industrial process heating and
to generate electricity by driving a turbine powered by evaporating
an organic fluid with a low boiling point.

(j) Solar Green Houses:

A green house is a structure covered with transparent material (glass or plastic)
that acts as a solar collector and utilises solar radiant energy to grow plants. It
has heating, cooling and ventilating devices for controlling the temperature
inside the green house. Solar radiations can pass through the green house
glazing but the thermal radiations emitted by the objects within the green house
cannot escape through the glazed surface. As a result, the radiations get trapped
within the green house and result in an increase in temperature. As the green
house structure has a closed boundary, the air inside the green house gets
enriched with CO2 as there is no mixing of the greenhouse air with the ambient
air. Further, there is reduced moisture loss due to restricted transpiration. All
these features help to sustain plant growth throughout the day as well as during
the night and all year round.
 38

Observations
Time(min) Voltage(volt)
11:00 11.71
11:01 11.73
11:02 11.73
11:03 11.74
11:04 11.74
11:05 11.74
11:10 11.76
11:15 11.81
11:20 11.82
11:25 11.84
11:30 11.86
11:35 11.88
11:40 11.9
11:45 11.93
11:50 11.95
11:55 11.97
12:00 11.99
12:05 12
12:10 12.02
12:15 12.04
12:20 12.06
12:25 12.08
12:30 12.1
12:35 12.12
12:40 12.12
12:45 12.13
12:50 12.14
12:55 12.15
13:00 12.16
 39

Voltage(volt)

Voltage(volt)
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55