SOLAR ENERGY

Most of the energy we consume comes directly or indirectly from the sun. In 1972, man consumed 90 trillion horsepower hours of energy. During the same year, the sun emitted 1.5 million trillion horsepower hours of sunlight on the planet. Only a small fraction of this natural force (40 billion kilowatts) is converted by green plants into all the food and wood that grows on the earth. Over hundreds of thousands of years this vegetation is eventually converted into fossil fuels like coal and oil. Because of the length of time which is required to produce fossil fuels, it would be more feasible to employ solar radiations directly to help meet our energy needs. Presently solar energy can be used to stretch our limited supplies of fossil fuels. Experiments have already shown that we can heat a house, heat water, air condition buildings, cook food, and produce electricity with solar energy. Scientists have even converted an automobile to run on batteries which are charged by solar cells. In the future, solar energy may be one of our main sources of energy.

One regular feature planned for Progress in Photovoltaics is the publishing of solar cell and module efficiency tables summarizing the highest independently confirmed results for different technologies. These tables are expected to be of interest not only to researchers directly involved in these areas but also to those less directly involved but interested in being kept informed of the latest results with each of the different technologies or interested in an authoritative summary of these results. Other desirable outcomes may be the encouragement of research results and the further simulation of intercomparison of measurements between disignated cell test centres. Guidelines for inclusion of results into these tables are outlined and the first set of tables of results conforming to these guidelines are published.

Solar Battery

The lighting systems by Solar Battery is the typical sample of the applications which is established to provide the small amount of energy demands and named as the independent from the central net, in case that the net of electricity is not possible to reach or doesn’t require at all.

In this study of thesis, energy of electricity has been produced by using the celled solar battery, and it has been stored in a dry type of 12 volt 7 AH/20 hour powered storage battery. In case that solar energy is not sufficient to manufacture electric energy, the system has been operated by the energy which is stored in the storage battery. Concerning the system, first of all panel and storage battery have been measured as empty, these values have been observed on the voltmeter and oscilloscope. Later, the measurements have been carried out when the system is connected but without charged. Finally, the measurements have been carried out when the system is connected and with charged , and the outputs have been taken from oscilloscope.There is an interest in developing electric cars for two reasons. One reason is that there is only a certain amount of fuel in the world and it will eventually finish. Another is that electric cars will not cause air pollution; i.e. the air will be clean. Why aren't there electric cars on the roads then?


Although there are trucks, vans and other vehicles which run on electricity, the auto industry cannot yet produce electric passenger cars in order to sell on the market. This is because of the batteries in the cars today. These are lead-acid batteries and they do not provide the necessary power for an electric car. In other words, the car cannot go a long distance with such a battery. Besides, you must replace it in time. Most engineers believe that the lead-acid battery is too heavy and too expensive. Therefore, scientists have developed another type of battery.This development may now be the first important step in the mass production of electric automobiles. The new type is a conductive polymer battery. It is made of a material which is similar to plastic. However, it has a metallic appearance and the ability to conduct electricity. This new plastic battery is three times stronger than the ordinary car battery and weighs less than 5 kilograms. In addition, car builders can form it into any shape. This means you can place the battery anywhere in the car; for example, under the roof, behind the door panels or even under the seat. Besides its capacity to take various shapes, it is also cheap because of the polymers used.


Several types of conductive polymer batteries are ready to be tested. One disadvantage is that the polymer battery can be toxic - it can even kill people; therefore, it must be insulated well.


Many researchers agree that it is important to solve the energy problem; so the conductive polymer battery may be an important first step in electric vehicle development. They believe that such vehicles will replace the ones which we use today.