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Unread 06-07-2011, 12:40
jee7s jee7s is offline
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Re: Hypothetical Solar Cell Situation

I concur with the previous posters that you would need incredibly high efficiency (or a very large pocket book) to get that kind of power out of such a small area. For what I say here, let's assume that you either have a panel with such efficiency, or you've increased your area to reasonably achieve your power requirement with existing technology.

The electrical design depends largely on the type of solar panel you choose. Because solar panels are basically just diodes that are connected in series or parallel--series connections mean more voltage, and parallel connections mean more current -- the electrical characteristics vary quite a bit. You can get high current or high voltage panels (or somewhere in between), and that would determine if you principally wire them in series or parallel. .

Either way, you'd want to have maximum power point trackers (MPPT) on either each panel individually, or the array of panels as a whole. MPPT is like impedance matching, but a bit more sophisticated. An irradiated solar panel has relatively constant current production for a range of lower voltages. Without MPPT, you could end up with lots of current at a low voltage, which means low power. Having MPPT means extra hardware and higher voltages, but it optimizes the power transfer from the panel to the system that's being powered. Generally, this means having a power source or power storage on board (like a battery). Also, these higher voltages could introduce additional safety concerns.

(As an aside...you'd probably want a battery (or several) anyway so you can keep operating when you drive under a tree or a cloud passes in front of the sun.)

As one more in a litany of concerns, you'd have to prepare for heating effects. Basically, a solar panel is a big black sheet. That means it is very absorptive, so it heats up. As the panel heats up, performance changes. This means there would be some sort of temperature+irradiance+time de-rating relationship that would need compensation.

So, not an easy problem to solve...with many nuances and challenges.
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