Harnessing the Sun for Electrical Energy (Domestic and Industrial Applications)

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to provide a general understanding of PV power gener- ation and how PV technology can be practically applied.The high cost of generating electrical power using PV cells compared to conventional coal, gas, and nuclear- powered generators has kept PV power generation from being in widespread use. Less than 1 percent of electricity is generated by photovoltaics. However, there are a few applications in which PV power is economical. These applications include satel- lites, developing countries that lack a power distribution infrastructure, and remote or rugged areas where running distribution lines is not practical. As the cost of PV systems drops, more applications become economically feasible. The non-polluting aspect of PV power can make it an attractive choice even when conventional gen- erating systems are more economical.There is a need for an up-to-date, objective understanding of PV power generation. With this goal in mind,this project is se- lected. Solar cells, battery, charge controller, inverter, transformer are used in this project. Solar cells are used to generate DC electricity from the sun light. The sun provides power only during day time, so that some storage devices like batteries are used to store energy during day time. Charge controller regulates charging and dis- charging of battery. DC supply from the solar cell or a battery is converted in to AC by using inverter. From the comparison of full bridge and half bridge inverter con guration, half bridge inverter is better than full bridge inverter. So that here, half bridge topology is used. Transformer is used to step up the AC voltage coming from the inverter. It gives 230 V at secondary side which we can used for AC loads. Lamp of 100W is taken as a load.