Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello .

My project tittle talking about Effect of Concentrated solar power on the solar cells as a means of increasing the capacity of the cells.

so , who can help me with some information about this project ?
Or tell me, is it a good idea ? and can I do it !?
and I need prof or dr , anyone know a lot about Concentrated solar power to help me in this project .
Thank you !

Hello Manal,

I'm not a Concentrated Solar Power specialist, but maybe I can help a bit.

I think you have a good idea. Here are a few comments that may help you formulate your experiments.

If you have a choice of cells, try to find one that can function at intense light levels. If the cell has a built-in limitation, you won't be able to see a benefit from increasing the intensity. This information may be hard to find. In any case, maybe you can try a few different cells. Measurements at light levels less than full sunlight will establish the trend of output with intensity without heavily straining the cell.

Choose a cell that is exposed well enough that you can cool it, perhaps by just placing a fan to blow on it. Cells are temperature sensitive, so be sure to measure the temperature of your cell when you measure the electrical output, and vary temperature and light intensity separately to see both the temperature and light intensity effects.

Arrange whatever sort of light concentrator you use to produce a uniform intensity on the cell. If one part is strongly illuminated and another part is relatively dimmer, that will have an effect on the result.

You will need to measure the intensity of the light hitting the cell so you can compare that with the electrical output. You will need some sort of photometer for that purpose.

Test each light intensity with several different loads. The performance of the cell may improve as an increasing voltage out or the ability to generate more current, or both.

Good luck, WW.

I always advise young scientists who are looking for ideas to look carefully at the ScienceBuddies web site. There are MANY really GREAT experiments already planned out here on this web site.

For you particular interest, please see the following project descriptions:

http://www.google.com/url?q=https://www ... HZ_KU87NmQ

http://www.google.com/url?q=https://www ... ZAGvYr9o5A

Have fun!