Before you decide to power your house with solar power energy it is best to understand the main part of the system which is the solar panel. There are some technical terminologies used and we will talk about them in this today’s post of the SolarCost Blog.
Photovoltaic (PV) Cell
The smallest unit converting sunbeam into electricity is called photovoltaic cell, also known as solar cell. Made of semiconductor materials such as silicon, the photovoltaic cell is designed to generate electricity when its surface is exposed to the sunbeam. The electricity generated depends on the sunbeam intensity and time of exposure, the age of the photovoltaic cell and also the PV material. Most of them are available in the market in a thin of 3” X 3” dimension.
Photovoltaic Modules
Photovoltaic modules, aka solar modules, photovoltaic panels or solar panels are sets of photovoltaic cells wired together in serial connection to produce more electricity. To protect them against harsh weather the cells are covered with a very transparent glass pane. Whilst the cells themselves can take full sun without any problems you need to make sure there is no sealant leakage or cracked glass pane. Water entry is considered as the most common culprit in modules failure. Another common problem found is broken wiring connection between cells.
There are some preferences related to what system you want your solar power generator to be. If you prefer to go off-grid the most commonly used panels are the 12 or 24V with battery banks. You definitely need solar batteries if you choose this option. Note that 12V panel has a nominal output around 17V in full sun and brand new (never been used) condition. This 12V module was previously used to charge a 12V battery. To do so it should have higher output of 12V DC.
On-grid panels use less common voltages. These voltage values are determined by the grid-tied inverter voltage window. In order to function properly a grid-tied inverter has a specified range of voltage input. Any DC input outside the voltage window will not trigger the inverter to work.
Photovoltaic Array
PV modules are ready to supply a certain amount of electricity for your household but when a bigger amount of electricity is needed you will need to interconnect some PV modules together to form a photovoltaic array.
Back to the description above we can now summarize that photovoltaic cell is the smallest energy converter in the system. When we connect them in series they form a PV or solar module and some PV modules interconnected together will form a photovoltaic array.
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