How do solar photovoltaic panels work?

How do solar photovoltaic panels work?

Wherever you go, you will see more and more photovoltaic systems. Most people already know that solar panels can generate electricity.How do solar panels work?

First of all, let's look at the sun, which sends energy to the Earth all the time, and this energy is scattered out into the universe in the form of photons.

The photons that reach the Earth's surface every hour provide more electricity than we use in an entire year. All of this energy is completely free and you can use it yourself. Harnessing that energy in a practical way - that's exactly what solar photovoltaic panels do.

How do solar panels convert sunlight into electricity?

A solar panel is a collection of solar cells (PV) covered with protective glass and held together by an aluminum frame. These photovoltaic solar cells are made of silicon, a semiconductor material, and cut into ultra-thin slices. Each photovoltaic cell has a negative layer and a positive layer. The negative electrode has extra electrons, and the positive electrode has holes to hold those electrons. Electrons move under the action of the built-in electric field, while creating a voltage difference, so for solar panels, we only need some energy to break the current binding force of electrons, so that they will flow from the negative layer to the positive layer.

Yes, that energy source is the sun. Photons from the sun hitting the Earth's surface all the time are the key to solving the problem of how solar panels work. The energy from these photons causes the electrons in the negative electrode of the photovoltaic cell to break free of the magnetic field and make them move, which means that we now have an electric current that can flow, which is called the photovoltaic effect.

The paths we create for electrons are called circuits. As they leave the negative side of the cell, we want them to flow through our loads (like our LED lights and home appliances) so that the electrons can power those loads as they reach the positive side of the cell.

The flow of electricity is important.

Solar photovoltaic panels produce direct current (DC), but we use alternating current (AC) in our homes. To solve this problem, we added an inverter to the photovoltaic system to convert direct current to alternating current.

Inverters are a key factor in determining how solar panels work, because if we don't have inverters in our photovoltaic system, we can't do much with the electricity generated by solar panels. The main types of inverters are centralized inverters, series inverters and micro inverters. With these solar inverters, you can connect the solar panels together in series and provide DC voltage to the inverters. The inverter then lowers it to the AC voltage suitable for the home or business where the system is installed. So we can install them in homes and businesses to save money on electricity bills or increase revenue.