How Solar Energy Works ?

How Do Solar Collector Work? - the principle of a solar collector for hot water, the principle of a flat-plate collector for hot water, the principle of a vacuum tube collector for hot water, the principle of a parabolic reflector collector for steam and cooking, the principle of a photovoltaic collector for electricity.


How Solar Energy is Collected - concentrator optics, why concentration, parabolic geometry, parabolic and spherical optics, reflection of energy to the receiver, reflection to a fixed point the power tower, principles of reflection and refraction, fresnel lens optics.


Power From The Sun - solar energy conversion system, the sun's energy, the sun's position, collecting solar energy, solar collectors, flat plate thermal collectors, central receiver systems, energy storage, power cycles for electricity generation, system design, system design examples.

Solar Cell - solar cell or photovoltaic cell defination, history, four generations of development, applications and developments, theory of solar cell, simple explanation, photogeneration of charge carriers, charge carrier separation, the p-n junction, connection to an external load, equivalent circuit of a solor cell, solar cell efficiency factors, maximum power point, energy conversion efficiency, fill factor, quantum efficiency, comparison of energy conversion efficiencies, watt peak, solar cell and energy payback, light absorbing materials: bulk, silicon, thin films, cdTe, CIGS, CIS, gallium arsenide(GaAs) multijunction, light absorbing dyes, organic/polymer solar cells,silicon, nanocrystalline solar cell, concentrating photovoltaics, silicon solar device manufacture, current research on materials and devices, silicon processing, thin-film processing, polymer processing, nanoparticle processing, transparent conductors, silicon wafer based solor cells, silver cells, makers.


Solar Cell Operation - photovoltaic effect, photon intensity, electron and current flow in solar cells: photons, electrons, n-silicon, p-silicon, current flow direction, positive contact, electron contact, electron flow, holes, negative contact, solar charger.

Renewable Energy Source : Solar Energy - stand alone system, pv system without storage battery or direct couple pv system, dc system with storage batteries, pv with ac loads, utility grid interconnected system, utility grid interconnected system without battery, net metering system in grid interactive pv system, hybrid system, components of pv system : solar pv module, batter, charger controller, inverter/converter, mounting structure and tracking device, interconnections and other devices. parameters influencing pv system operation, solar irradiation, temperature, aging effect, shading effect, other effect.

Solar Thermal Energy - concentrated solar energy, parabolic trough designs, power tower designs, dish design, fresnel reflectors, fresnel lenses, heat storage, conversion rates from solar energy to electrical energy, levelized cost, history.


free a pdf file for solar energy

How Solar Cells Work - introduction to how solar cells work, photovoltaic cells, converting photons to electrons, how silicon makes a solar cell, energy loss in a solar cell, solar powering a house, solving solar power issues, solar power costs, lots more informartion.

useful links

http://encyclobeamia.solarbotics.net/articles/solar_cell.html
http://www.solarexpert.com/Photovoltaics.html
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/solar_heating.html
http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/consumer/solar_electricity/index.htm

http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/java/solarcell/index.html