Are you contemplating photo voltaic panels to your dwelling, however are curious on how they work? This text provides you with a fast overview of how photo voltaic panels conduct electrical energy. It will embrace what photo voltaic panels are made from, how they’re put collectively, and why it creates electrical energy.
Photo voltaic panels are made up a photovoltaic cells. A photovoltaic cell is a semi-conductor and is often made up of the component silicon. A semi-conductor is a fabric that may solely conduct electrical energy after there was power put into the system. You possibly can consider this like a golf ball. A golf ball will fortunately sit in the identical spot, till you give it some power like by hitting it with a golf membership. With that added power the golf ball will fly by way of the air.
Going again to our photo voltaic panel, when mild hits our silicon cell, it’ll give the silicon atoms sufficient power for one of many electrons to interrupt freed from the silicon atom. However that is solely the start of the method.
As soon as the electron is free, it is appears for some place it will probably go so it’s going to be secure once more, and with none additional affect, it’s going to simply discover a gap from one other electron that was knocked free and quiet down there. It is a random course of and by itself is not going to create electrical energy.
To really create a circulation of electrical energy, we have to have an electrical subject, and to try this, we use a optimistic layer of silicon proper subsequent to a adverse layer of silicon.
Earlier than I get forward of myself, to create these optimistic and adverse layers of silicon, you’ll need so as to add one thing to the silicon. Silicon by itself is electrically impartial, however by merely including phosphorous to 1 sheet, and boron to the opposite, it’ll give every sheet of silicon a adverse and a optimistic total cost (respectively).
Now that we have our optimistic and adverse layers, proper the place the 2 layers meet there might be an electrical subject that is created. This subject will give the free electrons an total route to observe within the cell (i.e. in the direction of the optimistic), fairly than transferring round randomly.
In case you join the optimistic and adverse sheets of silicon into an electrical circuit, electrons will circulation by way of the circuit, and electrical energy is created!
Now every photo voltaic cell does not create very a lot electrical energy, however in case you wire a bunch of photo voltaic cells collectively, you can also make a bunch of power. It isn’t unusual for individuals to energy their whole home by way of photo voltaic power.
