Solar Energy: The Physics and Engineering of Photovoltaic Conversion, Technologies and Systems

534 Pages·2016·14.9 MB·English

by  Olindo Isabella

Solar energy
The physics and engineering of photovoltaic conversion, technologies and
systems
Solar energy
The physics and engineering of photovoltaic conversion, technologies and
systems
Arno HM Smets
Klaus Jäger
Olindo Isabella
René ACMM van Swaaij
Miro Zeman
Contents
Foreword
Dean’s message
Preface
About this Book
Nomenclature
I Introduction
1 Energy
1.1 Some definitions
1.2 Human energy consumption
1.3 Methods of energy conversion
1.4 Exercises
2 Status and prospects of PV technology
3 The working principle of a solar cell
II PV fundamentals
4 Electrodynamic basics
4.1 The electromagnetic theory
4.2 Electromagnetic waves
4.3 Optics of flat interfaces
4.4 Optics in absorptive media
4.5 Continuity and Poisson equations
4.6 Exercises
5 Solar radiation
5.1 The Sun
5.2 Radiometric properties
5.3 Blackbody radiation
5.4 Wave-particle duality
5.5 Solar spectra
5.6 Exercises
6 Basic semiconductor physics
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Atomic structure
6.3 Doping
6.4 Carrier concentrations
6.5 Transport properties
6.6 Exercises
7 Generation and recombination of electron-hole pairs
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Bandgap-to-bandgap processes
7.3 Shockley–Read–Hall recombination
7.4 Auger recombination
7.5 Surface recombination
7.6 Carrier concentration in non-equilibrium
7.7 Exercises
8 Semiconductor junctions
8.1 p-n homojunctions
8.2 Heterojunctions
8.3 Metal-semiconductor junctions
8.4 Exercises
9 Solar cell parameters and equivalent circuit
9.1 External solar cell parameters
9.2 The external quantum efficiency
9.3 The equivalent circuit
9.4 Exercises
10 Losses and efficiency limits
10.1 The thermodynamic limit
10.2 The Shockley-Queisser limit
10.3 Additional losses
10.4 Design rules for solar cells
10.5 Exercises
III PV technology
11 A short history of solar cells
12 Crystalline silicon solar cells
12.1 Crystalline silicon
12.2 Production of silicon wafers
12.3 Designing c-Si solar cells
12.4 Fabricating c-Si solar cells
12.5 High-efficiency concepts
12.6 Exercises
13 Thin-film solar cells
13.1 Transparent conducting oxides
13.2 The III-V PV technology
13.3 Thin-film silicon technology
13.4 Chalcogenide solar cells
13.5 Organic photovoltaics
13.6 Hybrid organic-inorganic solar cells
13.7 Exercises
14 A closer look to some processes
14.1 Plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition
14.2 Physical vapour deposition
14.3 Screen printing technology
14.4 Electroplating technology
15 PV modules
15.1 Series and parallel connections in PV modules
15.2 PV module parameters
15.3 Bypass diodes
15.4 Fabrication of PV modules
15.5 PV module lifetime testing
15.6 Thin-film modules
15.7 Some examples
15.8 Concentrator photovoltaics (CPV)
15.9 Exercises
16 Third generation concepts
16.1 Multi-junction solar cells
16.2 Spectral conversion
16.3 Multi-exciton generation
16.4 Intermediate band solar cells
16.5 Hot carrier solar cells
16.6 Exercises
IV PV systems
17 Introduction to PV systems
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Types of PV systems
17.3 Components of a PV system
17.4 Exercise
18 Location issues
18.1 The position of the Sun
18.2 Irradiance on a PV module
18.3 Direct and diffuse irradiance
18.4 Exercise
19 Components of PV systems
19.1 Maximum power point tracking
19.2 Power electronics
19.3 Batteries
19.4 Charge controllers
19.5 Cables
19.6 Exercises
20 PV system design
20.1 A simple approach for designing stand-alone systems
20.2 Load profiles
20.3 Meteorological effects
20.4 Designing grid-connected PV systems
20.5 Designing stand alone PV systems
20.6 Exercises
21 PV system economics and ecology
21.1 PV system economics
21.2 PV system ecology
21.3 Exercises
V Alternative solar energy conversion technologies
22 Solar thermal energy
22.1 Solar thermal basics
22.2 Solar thermal heating
22.3 Concentrated solar power (CSP)
22.4 Exercises
23 Solar fuels
23.1 Electrolysis of water
23.2 Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting
23.3 Exercises
Appendix
A Derivations in electrodynamics
A.1 The Maxwell equations
A.2 Derivation of the electromagnetic wave equation
A.3 Properties of electromagnetic waves
B Derivation of homojunction J-V curves
B.1 The J-V characteristic in the dark
B.2 J-V characteristic under illumination
C Some aspects of surface recombination
C.1 Infinite surface recombination velocity S
C.2 Surface recombination velocity S = 0
C.3 Open circuit voltage for p-n junction solar cells
D The morphology of selected TCO samples
D.1 Surface parameters
D.2 Examples
E Some aspects on location issues
E.1 The position of the Sun
E.2 The equation of time
E.3 Angle between the Sun and a PV module
E.4 Modules mounted on a tilted roof
E.5 Length of the shadow behind a PV module
F Derivations for DC-DC converters
F.1 Buck converter
F.2 Boost converter
F.3 Buck-boost converter
G Fluid-dynamic model
G.1 Framework of the fluid-dynamic model
G.2 Convective heat transfer coefficients
G.3 Other parameters
G.4 Evaluation of the thermal model
Bibliography
Index