An Understanding of Home Solar

Mar 27
08:36

2012

Jim E. Talcott

Jim E. Talcott

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How exactly does a solar array work to produce energy for the home? Find out how each of the pieces works together to produce clean electricity for the home.

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Understanding the Home Solar System Energy: it may be complex since it's impossible to see or touch,An Understanding of Home Solar Articles but you can still learn the basic gist of solar without being a scientist. A solar array is a simple unit, made up of of the panel array, an electricity inverter, and wiring. It's the actual magic of changing of the sun's energy into current that's incredible.#1 How the Whole System FunctionsFirst, think about what it all looks like: sunshine hits the earth and collides with the a home solar system. A magical change occurs that makes an electrical current. The electricity moves through wires from the site of energy production to the site of energy conversion. The inverter changes the current to a usable form by converting direct current into alternating current (that's what your home uses). After the inverter, your appliance-ready energy is now usable for your lights, tv, computers, and everything else or, you just produced extra power, it goes back to the grid.#2 How the Panel FunctionsWe're going to gloss of the details here (think optics), we'll go over the basic ideas: first, the sun's energy impacts a solar array. Each panel is is composed of cells, which are present in different amounts depending on the type of panel. A solar cell is a small unit, about the width of a small plate, and consisting of semi-conducting layers, like silicon. If you get close enough to a solar panel you can often see the different solar cells.As light hits the cell, it transfers energy to electrons in the wafer. Each cell is constructed to make an electron-flow, creating a direct (DC) current through the material. Each of the solar cells are hooked together, and because of this the power output is determined by the number of cells. The solar array's output is a factor of the number of panels linked in the array..While the hard details of semiconductors in cells is a bit hard to grasp, you now have enough detail to understand how a solar array works and how the sun provides solar power for homes.