Chủ Nhật, 27 tháng 1, 2013

Capturing Solar Energy

No matter how complicated it sounds, solar power is everywhere around us while the sun is up. The only thing we have to deal with in order to make the best use of it to capture it in useful form. When we capture this type of energy, we can actually use it for a variety of purposes. However, most researches have been geared towards developing methods to convert solar power into electricity, and there have been significant developments so far. As it is, the sun can provide nearly 10,000 times more energy for humanity than any other conventional power source we have. But with science and the people who relentlessly pursue the ways to let us get hold of this power, the prospects are promising.
There are three established ways of capturing solar energy today and one is through solar or photovoltaic (PV) cells. These are commonly known as solar panels which are made of semiconductor diodes that convert light energy and infrared or ultraviolet radiation into electricity, particularly a DC current. Solar panels are now being used today in households, farms and industrial plants, but they are still not very popular due to the amount of space that is required to have enough panels that generate electricity in sufficient amounts.
The use of solar water heaters is another common way of capturing solar energy today. If solar panels make use of the sun's light to produce electricity, solar water heaters tap on thermal solar energy or the sun's heat in order to produce the same. A flat-plate collector is made of a heat and weatherproof plate covered in transparent material while an evacuated tube collector, which works best in low temperatures, is a combination of two heat-trapping glass tubes attached together on one end. The third type is called concentrating, a term apparently derived from its main action which is to concentrate heat energy onto a receiving tube with the use of mirrors.
The third common way of capturing solar energy is through the use of solar furnaces. These devices are essentially made of mirrors and other reflective materials that focus sunlight into one spot where heat can accumulate to an amount that is enough to produce electricity or hydrogen fuel. There are two types of these furnaces, namely, direct and heliostat. Both make use of reflective dishes or mirrors, but vary in terms of intensity. The heliostat uses more of these reflective materials and produces more energy than direct.
One of the ways we can take advantage of solar energy is through the use of a PV solar inverter. PV solar inverters convert DC current to AC current for your electronic devices, but instead of using traditional conversion methods, this type of inverter makes use of solar energy which is undoubtedly friendlier to the environment.

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