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A05-311E-Y01

Basic Solar Energy Experiment

First. Experimental purpose：

1. Draw the diode characteristic I-V curve of the solar panel.
2. Measure the short circuit current and the open circuit voltage of the solar
panel.
3. Draw the illumination characteristic curve of the solar panel and find out

the maximum output power Pm .

4. Measure the energy conversion efficiency η of the solar panel.

5. Measure the results of illumination characteristic curve with the different
conditions of the illuminant power, the distance of near-far, and the
acceptance angle.
6. Measure the results of illumination characteristic curve, when the
illuminant is covered by different materials.
7. Measure the results of illumination characteristic curve after the
illuminant is filtered.
8. Observe the power bank charge and discharge ,as well as the energy conversion
applications of driving motors, buzzers and LED.

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Second. Experimental instruments：
：
items name of the fitting number items name of the fitting number
1 experimental slide 1set 2 illuminant（50W halogen 1 set
lamp, Dimmable.
3 Light Power Meter 1set 4 solar panel base 1 set
（2000 W / m 2 ）
5 solar panel 1 piece 6 Transparency slice 3
(single crystal) (acrylic, glass, frosted pieces
glass)
7 Filter (red, yellow, blue) 3 8 Circuit box of 1 piece
pieces characteristic curve
9 Energy conversion 1piece 10 Digital Meter 2 sets
experimental box
11 Gun-type wire（45cm） 6 strips 12 Shading film (opaque 1 piece
black)
13 Power Meter Holder 1 set

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13

Third .Experimental introduction：

History introduction：
Solar wafer is also called solar cell or photovoltaic cell, which is a photovoltaic
semiconductor slice that converts the energy of sunlight directly into electricity. It has
voltage and current output instantaneously as long as it is in sunlight. It is called solar
photovoltaic in physics, which is referred as to PV.
The term "photovoltaics" comes from the Greek,photo meaning "light", "voltaic"
meaning “electric”. from the name of the Italian physicist Alessandro .Volta, after whom
a unit of electro-motive force, the “volt”, is named. In the light of solar development
history, the photovoltaic which is caused by that sunlight shines on the material, is
discovered early in the 19th century.
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 The term "photo-voltaic" had been in use in English since 1849.The photovoltaic effect
was first recognized in 1839 by French physicist A. E. Becquerel. It was not until 1883
that the first solar cell was built, by Charles Fritts, who coated the germanium
semiconductor selenium with an extremely thin layer of metal to form the junctions.
The device was only around 1% efficient. The camera's exposure meter was
extensively used in 1930s according to principle of the photovoltaic effect.
Russell Ohl patented the manufacturing of modern junction semiconductor solar cell in
1946. In 1950s, with the gradual understanding of semiconductor properties and
development of processing technology，the first photovoltaic cell was developed in
1954 at Bell Laboratories after the phenomenon was found that semiconductor was
more sensitive to light after the silicon was mixed with a certain amount of impurities.
The era of solar cell technology has finally arrived. The United States launched
satellites which use solar cells as a source of energy in the 1960s. The energy crisis
made each nation aware of the importance of energy development in the 1970s. When
the oil crisis occurred in 1973, people began to move to the application of solar cells in
general livelihood purposes.
At present, solar energy devices are extensively used in the United States, Japan,
Israel and other countries, and are developed towards commercial goals. In
these countries, the world's largest solar power plant was built in California in the
United States in 1983. Its generating capacity can be up to 16 megawatts.
Projects have been set up in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and other
countries, and low-cost solar power generation is encouraged to be installed in
remote rural areas.
Left picture: It was not until 1883 that
the first solar cell was built by
Charles Fritts.

Right picture: Bell Laboratories. On

August 7, 2008, Lucent sold Bell
Labs building after it lost in six
consecutive quarters, then the land
agent Somerset bought it and
planned to convert it into shopping
malls and residences. Bell Labs
announced the end of chip R & D
operations in the late August. Bell
Labs is now part of France's
Alcatel-Lucent (Alcatel-Lucent)
company.

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 Principle introduction
◎Principle of solar cells structure and electricity generation：
Solar cell is an optoelectronic component that can convert electromagnetic
wave energy into electric energy, whose basic structure is formed by P-type
and N-type semiconductor junction. "Silicon" is the most basic material of
semiconductor, which is not conductive. However, if P-type and N-type
semiconductor can be made by incorporation of different impurities in
semiconductors, then use P-type semiconductor with a hole( The "hole"
refers to places in a semiconductor where an electron has been dislodged,
thus creating a positive charge.) and N-type semiconductor with one more
free electron to generate the current by the potential difference. Thus, when
the sunlight shines on it, the light can excitate electrons from silicon atom and
generate electron hole pair convection. These electrons and holes are
influenced by built-in potential, attracted by P-type and N-type semiconductor
and then gather at both ends. At the moment, if the external electrodes are
connected and formed a circuit, that is the principle of solar cells electricity
generation.

To put it simply, the subject of a solar cell is diode, whose principle of electricity
power generation is to use solar absorption wavelength of 0.4µm ~ 1.1µm (for
silicon) sunlight and convert luminous energy directly into electrical energy
output.
Silicon solar cell can be divided into semiconductor cell, dye-sensitized cell,
organic material cell and so on in accordance with the production of the
material. Conversion efficiency is the most significant parameter for solar

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 cell. At present, among all silicon solar cells developed in the laboratory, the
highest efficiency conversion of monocrystalline silicon (c-Si) is 29%, Poly- or
multicrystalline silicon (poly-Si or mc-Si) is 24% and amorphous silicon is 17%.
The actual conversion efficiency will be lower.
Solar cell has some other important parameters. Here are the basic principle
explanation of some proper nouns:
(1) Short circuit current I sc : When an external circuit is shorted, namely, the

load resistance is zero, the solar cell output current.

(2) Open circuit voltage Voc : When the external circuit is disconnected, namely,

the load resistance is infinite, the output voltage of solar cells, also known as
photovoltaic voltage.
(3) Maximum output power Pm : Maximum power output of solar cell, namely,

which is I × V maximum.
◎The development of solar battery charging：

Solar cells have most of the problems with charging for consumer goods.
Previously, NiMH or nickel cadmium batteries is generally used for
rechargeable objects .However, nickel-metal hydride batteries can not resist
high temperature and nickel-cadmium batteries have problems of
environment pollution. In recent years, with the rapid development of super
capacitor, capacity of capacitor is larger and area of that is smaller, coupled
with low prices. Therefore, some solar products began to choose super
capacitor as charged object, improving many problems of solar charging.
1. The speed of the rapid charge ,
2. Life is longer more than 5 times,
3. The range of charge temperature is wide,
4. The amount of solar cells is reduced (which can be charged by low
voltage).

◎Introduction of solar cell production

Solar cell production mainly has the following processes:

Crystal pulling, angle of trimming, slicing, etching, cleaning, the anti-reflective coating,
diffusion, paste printing and evaporation.

Crystal pulling :The main raw material is silicon dioxide, which is purified (only a

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few raw material purification plants in the world, in short supply), and then grows
into crystal column in the crystal pulling furnace.

Angle of trimming: Previously, the solar cell crystal column for producing solar
cell didn’t have angle of trimming and was directly cut into slices, so the finished
product is the circular wafer, and now most of the crystal column are trimmed into
the square crystal column.

Slicing: The square crystal column is cut by slicing machine and becomes thinly
slices (like cutting a square ham), is generally cut to about 0.4 ~ 0.5mm
thickness.
Etching: chemical etching, polishing to a 0.3mm thin slice (wafer).
Cleaning: rinse thin slice with pure water .

The anti-reflective coating: Single crystal silicon is generally with

Alkalis and poly silicon is generally with acid. The surface of wafer was
made into that of anti reflecting coating. When the sunlight shines on
the surface, there will be
reflections of two or more times, which can increase the
absorption of sunlight for silicon.

Diffusion and Silver Printing: After wafer is treated by the diffusion

furnace, and made into the upper N-type and lower P-type, and then
printed the output circuit on its surface and back with silver paste.As a
rule, the surface is the negative and the back is the positive. It is the
commercial product after being tested by the mimic sunlight
instrument and divided in grades according to the quality.

Evaporation: If photoengraving and crucible evaporation are adopted to

manufacture antireflection layer and the surface output wire without silk screen
printing of the surface and the back. Plus other special techniques, this can
increase the conversion efficiency of solar cells. But the crucible capacity is
limited and the production is less, and evaporation is time-consuming and the
speed of production is slower, the cost and selling price will be increased too
much. Monocrystalline slice in space is manufactured through this method.

◎the conversion efficiency of the solar cell:

η is the conversion efficiency of solar cell in this study, Pm is solar panels’

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 maximum output power ,
solar panels max imum output power
η≡
solar panels input optical power
*100%
The solar panel output light power is according to measuring voltage and current
characteristic curve under illumination, and the power P and the resistance R can
be converted by P = I × V , R =
V , and then solar panels’ maximum output power
I

Pm can be found in the picture after it was drawn.

As for the solar panels’ input light power, we can use the power meter to measure.
In this study, the power meter measure unit is W / m 2 .

Therefore, the power meter reading needs to be multiplied with the area of solar
panels and that is the input power of the solar panel.

Fourth. Experimental procedures:

◎Diode characteristic of the solar panel
1.Put the shading film (opaque black) into the groove before the solar panels,
make it without illumination completely.
2. Connect solar panels, digital meters 1 (measuring voltage), digital meter 2
(measuring current), and the line of the characteristic curve box.
3. Install the battery in the box of the characteristic curve.
4. Adjust the switch on the right of the characteristic curve box to measure
the characteristic curve without illumination (diode characteristic curve.).
5. Adjust the variable resistor in the absence of the illumination, record the
current and voltage of the solar panels.
6. Draw a picture with the experimental data (you can use Excel and other
related software to draw).

◎short circuit current

I sc and open circuit voltage Voc of solar panel:

Install solar panels and illumination device in the orbit, whose distance is
about 5cm, turn on the light intensity to the maximum, and regulate the solar
panels until it is perpendicular to the illumination.

1. Connect the solar panel and digital meter.

2. Adjust the digital meter gear to measure voltage, open circuit voltage of
solar panels V .
oc

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 3. Adjust the digital meter gear to measure current, short circuit current of
solar panels I .
sc

4 Repeat the procedures 2 to 4, successively increase the distance between

illumination source and solar panels until it is 5cm, complete the test form.

※ When the digital meter is adjusted to the appropriate gear from the big
gear to the small one, in case it would burn the meter.

◎illumination characteristic of the solar panel:

1. Install the solar panel and illumination device in the orbit, whose distance
is about 20cm, turn on the light intensity to the maximum, and regulate the
solar panel until it is perpendicular to the illumination
2. Connect the solar panel, digital meters 1 (measuring voltage), digital meter
2 (measuring current), and the line of the characteristic curve box.
3. Adjust the switch on the characteristic curve box to measure characteristic
curve with illumination.
4. Adjust the variable resistor, record the current and voltage of the solar panel
with illumination
5. Do not change the experiment setup, jump to the next experiment
"conversion efficiency. ".
6. Draw a picture with the experimental data ( you can use Excel and other
related software to draw).

◎energy conversion efficiency η of the solar panel:

1. Continue the part of the last experiment, do not change the location
between the base and the illumination of the solar panel.
2. Check the battery and power meter and consider whether they are normal,
install the power meter equipment on its fixed base.
3. Remove the solar panel on its base, and put the whole power meter (with
the base). The white circle on the top of the power meter is the light
detection surface, which faces towards the illumination. The power meter
(with base) should not move and turn when the device is correct, and the
light detection face is right in the light axis.
4. Turn on the power meter, record the data after the meter is turned on.
Measure the effective light area of the solar panel and record the data.
5. Convert the light characteristics of the experimental data into the power P
and the resistance R, find the maximum output power of solar cell .
Pm
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◎The results of light characteristic curve with different illumination power.
1. Install the solar panel base and illumination device in the orbit,
whose distance is about 10cm,
2. Install the power meter on the solar panel base, adjust the light
intensity of the power meter until the reading is 600 W / m 2 .
3. Change and regulate the solar panel until it is perpendicular to the
illumination.
4. Connect the solar panel, digital meters 1 (measuring voltage), digital
meter 2(measuring current), and the line of the characteristic curve
box.
5. Adjust the switch on the characteristic curve box to measure the
characteristic curve with illumination.
6. Adjust the variable resistor, record the current and voltage of the
solar panel with illumination
7. Repeat the procedures 2 to 6, change the illumination intensity
2
successively until the power meter reading reduces by 100 W / m ,
complete the test form.
8. Draw a picture with the experimental data (you can use Excel and
other related software to draw).

◎The results of light characteristic curve with different distances of

illumination.

1. Install the solar panel and illumination device in the orbit, whose distance
is about 5cm, turn on the light intensity to the maximum, and regulate the
solar panel until it is perpendicular to the illumination
2. Connect the solar panel, digital meters 1 (measuring voltage), digital
meter 2 (measuring current), and the line of the characteristic curve box.
3. Adjust the switch on the characteristic curve box to measure the
characteristic curve with illumination.
4. Adjust the variable resistor, record the current and voltage of the solar
panel with illumination.
5. Repeat the procedures 2 to 6, increase distance between illumination and
solar panels successively until the distance is 5cm,complete the test form.
6. Draw a picture with the experimental data (you can use Excel and other
related software to draw).

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◎The results of light characteristic curve with different illumination acceptance
angles.
1. Install the solar panel (with base) and illumination device in the orbit,
whose distance is about 20cm, turn on the light intensity to the maximum,
and regulate the solar panels until it is perpendicular to the illumination
2. Connect the solar panel, digital meter 1 (measuring voltage), digital meter
2 (measuring current), and the line of the characteristic curve box.
3. Adjust the switch on the characteristic curve box to measure the
characteristic curve with illumination.
4. Adjust the variable resistor, record the current and voltage of the solar
panel with illumination.
5. Repeat the procedures 2 to 4, increase the incident light angle
successively until it is 20 degrees.
6. Draw a picture with the experimental data (you can use Excel and other
related software to draw).

◎The results of light characteristic curve with different materials shading the
illumination.

1. Install the solar panel (with base) and illumination device in the orbit,
whose distance is about 10 cm, turn on the light intensity to the maximum,
and regulate the solar panel until it is perpendicular to the illumination
2. Connect the solar panel, digital meter 1 (measuring voltage), digital meter
2 (measuring current), and the line of the characteristic curve box.
3. Adjust the switch on the characteristic curve box to measure the
characteristic curve with illumination.
4. Put three light pieces (glass, acrylic, ground glass) into the groove before
the solar panel respectively.
5. Adjust the variable resistor, record the current and voltage of the solar
panel with illumination.
6. Draw a picture with the experimental data (you can use Excel and other
related software to draw).

◎The results of light characteristic curve with filters shading the illumination.
1. Install the solar panel(with base) and illumination device in the orbit,
whose distance is about 10 cm, turn on the light intensity to the maximum,
and regulate the solar panel until it is perpendicular to the illumination
2. Connect the solar panel, digital meter 1 (measuring voltage), digital meter

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 2 (measuring current), and the line of the characteristic curve box.
3. Adjust the switch on the characteristic curve box to measure the
characteristic curve with illumination.
4. Put three filters (red, yellow and blue) into the groove before the solar
panels respectively.
5. Adjust the variable resistor, record the current and voltage of the solar
panel with illumination.
6. Draw a picture with the experimental data (you can use Excel and other
related software to draw).

◎Observe the solar panel illumination power, which drives motors, buzzer,
LED.
1. Install the solar panel (with base) and light source device in orbit, whose
distance is about 5cm. Do not turn on the illumination first.
2. Connect the solar panel and the motor of energy conversion experiment
box with gun-type wire.
3. Turn on the illumination, adjust illumination,photo acceptance angle of the
solar panel, illumination distance and observe the work situation of the
component.
4. Repeat the procedures 2 to 3 , change the connected components into
buzzer and LED successively.

◎ Observe power bank charge and discharge, as well as the energy

conversion application of driving motor, buzzer, LED.
1. Install the solar panels (with base) and light source device in the orbit,
whose distance is about 5cm. Do not turn on illumination first.
2. Connect the solar panel and super capacitor on the experimental box of
energy conversion with the gun-type wire and have the series connection
meter (measuring the capacitor current) and the parallel connection meter
(measuring the capacitor voltage) in the circuit..
3. Turn on the light intensity to the maximum, observe the situation of the
capacitor charge and discharge.
4. Disconnect the anode and the cathode in the solar panel, connect them to
the motor, observe the situation of the capacitor discharge drive component.
5. Repeat capacitance charge and discharge process, observe the energy
conversion application of driving motor, buzzer, LED.

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Fifth. Experimental Results:
◎Diode characteristic of the solar panel:
I（mA）
V（V）

I（mA）
V（V）

100
I-V
90

80

70

60
I（mA）

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
V（V）

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◎short circuit current
I sc and open circuit voltage Voc of the solar panel:

illumination 5 cm 10 cm 15 cm 20 cm 25 cm 30 cm 35cm 40cm

distance
short circuit
current I sc
open circuit
voltage Voc

◎light characteristic of the solar panel:

I（mA）
V（V）

I（mA）
V（V）

60
I-V

50

40
I（mA）

30

20

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
V（V）

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◎energy conversion efficiency η of the solar panel:

measuring of power meter Pmeansure ＝______ W / m ；effective acceptance

2

2
illumination area of the solar panel A ＝______ W / m ；

input illumination power of the solar panel Pmeansure × A ＝______ W ＝______ mW 。

P（mW）
R（Ω）

P（mW）
R（Ω）

100
P-R

90

80

70

60
P（mW）

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 100 200 300 400 500
R（Ω）

Find out the maximum output power of the solar cell in the light of the picture.
Pm ＝______ mW ；
Pm
Conversion efficiency η＝ ×100％＝______%
Pmeansure × A

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◎The results of light characteristic curve with different illumination power.

600 I（mA）
W / m2 V（V）

500 I（mA）
2
W /m V（V）

400 I（mA）
2
W /m V（V）

300 I（mA）
2
W /m V（V）

100
I-V
90

80

70

60
I（mA）

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
V（V）

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 ◎The results of light characteristic curve with different distance illumination.

I（mA）
5cm
V（V）

I（mA）
10cm
V（V）

I（mA）
15cm
V（V）

I（mA）
20cm
V（V）

I（mA）
25cm
V（V）

100
I-V
90

80

70

60
I（mA）

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
V（V）

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 ◎The results of light characteristic curve with different illumination acceptance
angles.

I（mA）
0

V（V）

I（mA）
20

V（V）

I（mA）
40

V（V）

I（mA）
60

V（V）

100
I-V
90

80

70

60
I（mA）

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
V（V）

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 ◎The results of light characteristic curve with different materials shading the
illumination.

I（mA）
glass
V（V）

ground I（mA）
glass V（V）

I（mA）
acrylic
V（V）

100
I-V
90

80

70

60
I（mA）

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
V（V）

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 ◎The results of light characteristic curve with filters shading the illumination.

I（mA）
red
V（V）

I（mA）
yellow
V（V）

I（mA）
blue
V（V）

100
I-V
90

80

70

60
I（mA）

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
V（V）

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◎Observe the solar panel illumination power, driving motor, buzzer, LED
Record the results of the observation
Driving motor Driving buzzer Driving LED

◎Observe power bank charge and discharge,as well as the energy conversion
applications of driving motor, buzzer, LED
Record the results of the observation
charging process discharging and driving component
process

motor

buzzer

LED

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Sixth. Problem and discussion:
1. The relation of consequent current and voltage in the solar panel diode

experiment without illumination is represented as (

I = I 0 e βV − 1 )， I0
and β are

constants in the formula, I 、 V are current and voltage separately， Try to

measure voltage and current by the experimental results, and find out what

are the constants of I 0 and β ?

Tip:
The logarithm in the left and right of the formula(
( )
I = I 0 e βV − 1
) is:

ln(ab ) = ln(a ) + ln(b )

；
c
；
( )
ln e k = k
ln(c ) − ln (d ) = ln 
d 

A linear function relationship formula is available after the derivation . If V is

x-axis, ln(I ) is y-axis and we plot, the value of β is just the slope, and I0 is

the y-axis intercept.

2. How do the short circuit current and open circuit current change with the
increase of illumination distance? What law can be found out between the open
circuit voltage and short circuit current?

3. Please find out what is the load resistance of the maximum output power of the
solar panel from the experimental results of the conversion efficiency?

4.
In the solar cell, the filling factor FF is an important parameter for assessing the
quality of solar cell, try to figure out the range of filling factor FF of the solar cell.

Pm
FF ≡
I sc × Voc

Pm Is the maximum output power of the solar panel, I sc is the short circuit current,

Voc is the open circuit voltage.

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 Yung Yuen Scientific Instrument Co,. Ltd
Tel：886-6-2611369
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E-mail：[email protected]

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