Journal Press India^®

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Solar photovoltaic energy conversion is a one-step conversion process which generates electrical energy from light energy. The explanation relies on ideas from quantum theory. Light is made up of packets of energy, called photons, whose energy depends only upon the frequency or color of the light. The energy of visible photons is sufficient to excite electrons, bound into solids, up to higher energy levels where they are freer to move. In a photovoltaic device, there is some built-in asymmetry which pulls the excited electrons away before they can relax, and feeds them to an external circuit. The extra energy of the excited electrons generates a potential difference, or electromotive force (e.m.f). This force drives the electrons through a load in the external circuit to do electrical work. A solar tracker is a device for orienting a solar photovoltaic panel or concentrating solar reflector or lens toward the sun. Solar cells on automobiles are mounted usually in a stationary manner where there is no degree of freedom and the angle of incidence keeps varying due to which maximum output cannot be extracted. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the flexibility of this system by introducing the solar tracking mechanism onboard a vehicle so as to achieve maximum efficiency of photovoltaic conversion. The sun's position in the sky varies both with the seasons (elevation) and time of day as the sun moves across the sky. Along with these parameters, our application, being for non-stationary solar panels, will have to include orientations which would vary depending on the direction of motion of the vehicle, direction in which it is parked, etc. Solar powered equipment works best when pointed at or near the sun, so a solar tracker can increase the effectiveness of such equipment over any fixed position, at the cost of additional system complexity.

Keywords

Solar Tracker; Battery Electric Vehicle

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