Procedure

The remote trigger equipment will control the illumination and load voltage operating on the cell. By varying these parameters, the relevant graphs will be produced.This remote trigger experiment performs experiments on an actual solar module. The experimental setup is housed at Amrita University, Amritapuri Campus and has the following features:
 

1. The solar module used for these experimented is a 17 V (Nominal) Thin Film Amorphous Silicon Solar Module.

2.The on-screen lamp buttons are controlled by the user. Four 100 W Halogen lamps  can be turned ON and OFF. These lamps are directed upon the solar cell.
 

3. The load voltage of the solar panel is controlled by an adjustable resistance circuit, which is controlled by the user using the slider on the screen.
 

4. Measurements of the actual voltage and current created by the solar panel are taken using standard Data Acquisition Equipment interfaced to a computer.
 

5. Data is collected, stored and displayed.

Simulator
 

1. Turn one of the bulbs in the lab setup on. Verify in the video that the light is turned on.

2. Slowly vary the load voltage on the solar panel. The load voltage of the solar panel can be adjusted by moving the “Load Resistance” slider. A data point will be plotted whenever the slider is stopped.

3. Create a plot of "Current vs. Voltage" and "Power vs. Voltage" by moving the slider to various load voltages.

4. Determine the maximum power for these particular lighting conditions.
(Hint: You may need to move and rest the slider at more load voltage positions to generate enough data points to find the maximum.)
i. What is the voltage at which the maximum power occurs (maximum power point voltage)?
ii. What is the current output of the solar cell at this point (maximum power point current)?
iii.What is the maximum power output of the cell under these lighting conditions?

5. Vary the lighting configuration and repeat steps 2 - 4.

6. How do the following vary as more bulbs are turned on?
i. Maximum power point voltage. 
ii. Maximum power point current.
iii.Maximum power.