An Idea to Increase the Efficiency of Solar Panel and to Research on the Air Conditioning System From Same Solar Panel Itself.

Hi,

We know that solar panel is one of the best thing that we are encountering today, but there efficiency is restricted to around 20% for residential solar panels.

So, How we can increase the efficiency of solar panel?

And get as much as energy we can.

HOW TO DO IT ?

1) Solar energy consist's of Light and heat, we can use light to produce electricity and Heat to generate hot water, If we focus the sun light on solar panel than we can increase the output of wattage from it, At the same time when sun rays are focused on solar panel it will get heated up and decrease the efficiency so to balance it we will pass water from the back side of the solar panel which will reduce the temperature and increase the efficiency of panel more further.

2) the project we will gone a do should be of low cost and our aim is to maximize the output with the minimum cost of input which will result in a great economical benefit.

Step 1: Choose a Solar Panel

In this project we are using a 5W noncrystalline solar panel which cost me around 5$ .

Most of the time a solar panel is working well below peak power, on hazy days and when the sun is lower in the sky, early morning, late afternoon for example. The light levels are just not high enough, so to boost the light level I tried aligning a mirror to reflect more light onto my solar panel. It worked really well and after a bit of experimentation I found that placing a mirror at least twice the size of the solar panel on the ground in front of the panel could boost the output by as much as 60%.

Using a bigger mirror can reflect light onto your panel over a longer period during the day so you don't need to track the sun, just face your panel and mirror due south.

1) first we will focus the sun light on the solar panel surface through mirror Which cost me around 0.34.

So let's see how it works, If it works fine than we will note the temperature of panel and find the temperature of it at peak time.

Step 2: Experiment With Solar Panel and Mirror

I bought a really cheap solar panel for 5$ to test this idea, above are some pictures showing what I did and the meter readings just to show that it really does work. Pictured below is the 5w solar panel facing south just placed on a Floor. The meter is showing amps, that's approximately watts, it's late August and even on a very sunny day the panel is only producing just over half it''s peak power.

In the picture above you can see how the mirror reflects light onto the solar panel. The panel produced amps, about watts, very close to the maximum rated output for this panel.

If you use a large mirror there is no need to align it to reflect light onto the solar panel just drop it on the ground in front of the panel for an instant 60% power boost.

This is probably one of the cheapest and easiest ways to boost the power of a small solar panel, but this method does have some limitations:

You can use more mirrors to reflect more light onto the solar panel and increase it's power further but on a sunny summers day the extra light can build up a lot of heat that may damage the panel. In July I had my 1.5w panel running at double its rated power for twenty minutes, it got so hot you couldn't touch it!

Placing mirrors either side of the panel to reflect doesn't work well because as the sun moves west it will cast a shadow across the panel. The only place that the mirror won't cast a shadow at any time in the day is on the ground in front of the solar panel.

On a dull day the mirror doesn't give much of a power boost at all, I tested a panel on a dull day in October; it produced 2% of its rated power, adding a mirror made no difference.

Step 3: Transferring Heat From Solar Panel to Water

Now we have to reduce the temperature of solar panel to increase its efficiency ,We can do the needful with the help of water.

we know that solar panel is sealed well and do not allow the water to go within , But to be on a safer side we will put Thin Layer of wrap film, Which we use to wrap food. ( NOTE: we have to wrap it really well without stretching it.)

Now we have to take copper or aluminium pipe which we will assemble at the back side of the solar panel through which we will pass the water,Note ( The thickness of the pipe should be minimum to prevent the loss of energy)

When installation of pipe is done at the back side of the solar panel, We will arrange for the "Phase Changing Material"

PCM : This material stores the heat in to itself and changes its phase from solid to liquid and when the surrounding temperature falls down it releases the heat and again change its phase from liquid to solid.

I am using (PCM) Paraffins, typically, are derived from petroleum and have a waxy consistency at room temperature. Their melt point temperatures range between -8°C and 40°C. They have good thermal storage capacity and are proven to freeze without supercooling. They also have the advantage of chemical stability over many heating and freezing cycles. They are non-corrosive and are compatible with most encapsulation materials. But they have a limited range of melting points and their cost is linked to unstable petroleum prices. And, like all fossil fuels, petroleum has significant environmental costs. Many paraffins are hazardous to health and the environment. Some can injure skin, eyes and mucous membranes. Some have narcotic effects if inhaled. Hexadecane, a petroleum alternative to PureTemp 18, is one example.

BE CAREFUL I AM USING PARAFFIN BECAUSE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH I HAVE TO UTILIZE THE WHOLE SETUP FOR MY RENEWABLE ENERGY AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM.

but you can use the water based PCM.( It will work gud)

NOW IF WE HAVE TO USE THE HOT WATER FOR HEATING VEGETABLE OR FOR FOOD PURPOSE THAN I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO USE WATER BASED PCM AS IT IS NOT POISONOUS, OR HAZARDOUS TO HEALTH . PLEASE DO NOT USE PARAFFIN.

Now we are utilizing as much as energy we can, and we can increase its efficiency further by connecting a whole new setup for conditioning air.

I will share the brief idea with you about air conditioning but will make it in coming few months as few of my calculations and simulations are left.

Step 4: Overall Diagram to Conclude About the Invention ( PATENT PENDING)

The process begins with a typical solar hot water system. Water is heated by solar panels and stored in the hot water tank.

This solar hot water can then be used throughout the home, reducing the need for gas or electricity. A portion of the hot water is diverted into new solar air conditioning unit, which is divided into two compartments. The hot water enters a heat exchanger in the first compartment of the unit. Similar to a car radiator the heat exchanger uses the hot water to heat outside air that has been drawn into the first compartment through the vent. At the same time outside air is also being drawn into the second compartment into a desiccant wheel. The desiccant wheel is the most critical part of the system. It is used to dry out the air before it goes into the house. Slowly turning the desiccant material in the wheel continuously absorbs moisture in the second compartment and then the absorbent material dries out in the first compartment. The desiccant material is dried out using the hot dry air generated by the heat exchanger. This air is then exhausted outside the home. The dry air from the desiccant wheel flows through an indirect evaporative cooler which creates a stream of cool dry air.This cool dry air is then fed into the home in order to cool down the rooms. In winter the solar heated air can be used directly to warm the house.solar cooling system is a low emissions alternative to conventional air conditioning and gas or electric powered heating,

i started with a project just to show that how we can increase the current output of panels but i thought to share this idea as well.

So for this invention we will only use 250W solar panels which are huge in sizes and than will create a model which is durable and accommodate less space, i will share the whole project once again as soon as i made it .

thank you