Solar Energy: The physics and engineering of photovoltaic conversion, technologies and systems - Softcover

Smets, Arno; Jäger, Klaus; Isabella, Olindo; Swaaij, René Van; Zeman, Miro

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1906860327 ISBN 13: 9781906860325

Verlag: Bloomsbury Sigma, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

An invaluable, comprehensive guide for anyone studying or researching solar technologies, with particular focus on the physics and design of photovoltaic (PV) cells and systems.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Arno Smets teaches and researches physics at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Prominent in the field of solar photovoltaics, he presents the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Solar Energy and aspires to educate the next generation about the development of sustainable energy systems for a greener future.

Klaus Jäger teaches and researches physics at the University of Delft in The Netherlands, where he is prominent in the field of solar photovoltaics. His vision is to educate the next generation about the development of sustainable energy systems for a greener future.

Olindo Isabella teaches and researches physics at the University of Delft in The Netherlands, where he is prominent in the field of solar photovoltaics. His vision is to educate the next generation about the development of sustainable energy systems for a greener future.

René van Swaaij teaches and researches physics at the University of Delft in The Netherlands, where he is prominent in the field of solar photovoltaics. His vision is to educate the next generation about the development of sustainable energy systems for a greener future.

Miro Zeman teaches and researches physics at the University of Delft in The Netherlands, where he is prominent in the field of solar photovoltaics. His vision is to educate the next generation about the development of sustainable energy systems for a greener future.

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Solar energy

The Physics and Engineering of Photovoltaic Conversion, Technologies and Systems

By Arno HM Smets, Klaus Jäger, Olindo Isabella, René ACMM van Swaaij, Miro Zeman

UIT Cambridge Ltd

Copyright © 2016 UIT Cambridge Ltd.
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-906860-32-5

Contents

Foreword, 
Dean's message, 
Preface, 
About this Book, 
Nomenclature, 
I Introduction, 
1 Energy, 
2 Status and prospects of PV technology, 
3 The working principle of a solar cell, 
II PV fundamentals, 
4 Electrodynamic basics, 
5 Solar radiation, 
6 Basic semiconductor physics, 
7 Generation and recombination of electron-hole pairs, 
8 Semiconductor junctions, 
9 Solar cell parameters and equivalent circuit, 
10 Losses and efficiency limits, 
III PV technology, 
11 A short history of solar cells, 
12 Crystalline silicon solar cells, 
13 Thin-film solar cells, 
14 A closer look to some processes, 
15 PV modules, 
16 Third generation concepts, 
IV PV systems, 
17 Introduction to PV systems, 
18 Location issues, 
19 Components of PV systems, 
20 PV system design, 
21 PV system economics and ecology, 
V Alternative solar energy conversion technologies, 
22 Solar thermal energy, 
23 Solar fuels, 
Appendix, 
A Derivations in electrodynamics, 
B Derivation of homojunction J-V curves, 
C Some aspects of surface recombination, 
D The morphology of selected TCO samples, 
E Some aspects on location issues, 
F Derivations for DC-DC converters, 
G Fluid-dynamic model, 
Bibliography, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Energy

As this book is on solar energy, it is good to start the discussion with some general thoughts on energy. We begin with a quote from The Feynman Lectures on Physics.

There is a fact, or if you wish, a law, governing all natural phenomena that are known to date. There is no known exception to this law — it is exact so far as we know. The law is called the conservation of energy. It states that there is a certain quantity, which we call energy, that does not change in the manifold changes which nature undergoes. That is a most abstract idea, because it is a mathematical principle; it says that there is a numerical quantity which does not change when something happens. It is not a description of a mechanism, or anything concrete; it is just a strange fact that we can calculate some number and when we finish watching nature go through her tricks and calculate the number again, it is the same.

...

Energy has a large number of different forms, and there is a formula for each one. These are: gravitational energy, kinetic energy, heat energy, elastic energy, electrical energy, chemical energy, radiant energy, nuclear energy, mass energy. If we total up the formulas for each of these contributions, it will not change except for energy going in and out.

It is important to realize that in physics today, we have no knowledge of what energy is. We do not have a picture that energy comes in little blobs of a definite amount. It is not that way. However, there are formulas for calculating some numerical quantity, and when we add it all together it gives ... always the same number. It is an abstract thing in that it does not tell us the mechanism or the reasons for the various formulas.

1.1 Some definitions

We will now state some basic physical connections between the three very important physical quantities of energy, force, and power. These connections are taken from classical mechanics but are generally valid. We start with the force F, which is any influence on an object that changes its motion. According to Newton's second law, the force is related to the acceleration a of a body via

F = ma, (1.1)

where m is the mass of the body. The bold characters denote that F and a are vectors. The unit of force is newton (N), named after Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727). It is defined as the force required to accelerate the mass of 1 kg at an acceleration rate of 1 m s-2, hence 1 N = 1 kg m s-2.

Energy E, the central quantity of this book, is given as the product of F times the distance s,

E = ? F(s) ds. (1.2)

Energy is usually measured in the unit of joule (J), named after the English physicist James Prescott Joule (1818–1889). It is defined as the amount of energy required to apply the force of 1 newton through the distance of 1 m, 1 J = 1 Nm.

Another important physical quantity is power P, which tells us the rate of doing work, or, which is equivalent, the amount of energy consumed per time unit. It is related to energy via

E = ? P(t) dt, (1.3)

where t denotes the time. P is usually measured in the unit of watt (W), after the Scottish engineer James Watt (1736–1819). 1 W is defined as one joule per second, 1 W = 1 J/s and 1 J = 1 Ws.

As we will see later on, 1 J is a very small amount of energy compared to human energy consumption. Therefore, in the energy markets, such as the electricity market, often the unit kilowatt hour (kWh) is used. It is given as

1 kWh = 1,000 Wh x 3,600 s/h = 3,600,000, Ws (1.4)

On the other hand, the amounts of energy in solid state physics, the branch of physics that we will use to explain how solar cells work, are very small. Therefore, we will use the unit of electron volt, which is the energy a body with a charge of one elementary charge (q = 1.602 × 10-19 C) gains or loses when it is moved across an electric potential difference of 1 volt (V),

1eV = q x 1V = 1.602 x 10-19 J. (1.5)

1.2 Human energy consumption

After these somewhat abstract definitions we will look at the human energy consumption. The human body is at a constant temperature of about 37 °C. It therefore contains thermal energy. As the body is continuously cooled by its surroundings, thermal energy is lost to the outside. Further, blood is pumped through the blood vessels. As it travels through the vessels, its kinetic energy is reduced because of internal friction and friction at the walls of the blood vessels, i.e. the kinetic energy is converted into heat. To keep the blood moving, the heart consumes energy. Also, if we want our body to move, this consumes energy. Further, the human brain consumes a lot of energy. All of this energy has to be supplied to the body from the outside in the form of food. An average body of a human adult male requires about 10,000 kJ every day. We can easily show that this consumption corresponds to an average power of the human body of 115.7W. We will come back to this value later.

In modern society, humans not only require energy to keep their body running but in fact consume energy for many different purposes. We use energy for heating the water in our houses and for heating our houses. If water is heated, its thermal energy increases, and this energy must be supplied from the outside. Further, we use a lot of energy for transportation of people and products, by cars, trains, trucks and planes. We use energy to produce our goods and also to produce food. At the moment, you are consuming energy when you are reading this book on a computer or tablet. But also if you are reading it in a printed version, you implicitly consume the energy that was required to print it...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Sigma
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1906860327
• ISBN 13: 9781906860325
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 488
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: WordUnited GmbH; distribution@wordunited.com; ; Theodorstrasse 105; DUSSELDORF; 40472; Deutschland