07-01-2012, 04:07 PM
INTRODUCTION
The Solar Powered Aircraft an unmanned flying wing, controlled remotely from the ground that is designed to run on solar power and flying at an altitude 1,00,000fts.
The 'first successful craft made from spruce wood, was flown by brothers Robert and Roland Boucher as an experimental spy plane for the American aiir force in 1974.
Gossamer- penguin significant as the first sustained flight of an air craft relying solely on direct solar power rather than batteries. A later model Solar Challenger, crossed the English Channel in 1981 attaining a height of about 11 ,000 ft but could not stay aloft for long periods.
Pathfinder is a proof-of-concept vehicle for two prototype solar-powered aircraft—Helios and Centurion—which currently are under development at AeroVironment. Both vehicles have a wingspan of about 200 feet. Helios, an ultra long-duration vehicle, would use an energy storage system to power the aircraft at night. The solar cells would power the vehicle during the day and recharge the energy storage system. Duration of such a flight could be several weeks to months. Centurion, an ultrahigh-altitude vehicle that could reach altitudes of 100,000 feet or higher, does not have an energy storage system, and thus would operate only during the day. Hope it will become a cheap substitute for satellite for gathering scientific data and carrying communication equipments.
ENERGY FROM THE SUN?
Solar panels have the ability to meet all of our energy needs, but at present we only use a tiny fraction of the energy that the sun has to offer. How much energy does the sun produce? How is it produced? And how much of the sun's energy can be theoretically harvested via solar cells?
Energy from the sun is caused from thermonuclear explosions deep within the sun. These explosions fuse atoms of hydrogen into atoms of helium. A tremendous amount of energy is released during the thermonuclear reaction and the sun releases that energy as radiation. This radiation travels through space at the speed of light, and solar panels can make practical use of it. Our sun generates an enormous amount of energy, and potentially, had we the technology to harvest that sunlight with solar arrays across the solar system, we could harvest huge amounts of energy.
According to our friends at Astronomy Cafe, we calculate the amount of energy given off the sun every hour as:
"3.8 x 10^33 ergs/sec or 3.8 x 10^26 watts of power, an amount of energy each second equal to 3.8 x 10^26 joules. In one hour, or 3600 seconds, [the Sun] produces 1.4 x 10^31 Joules of energy or 3.8 x 10^23 kilowatt-hours."
The sun produces more energy every hour than the entire energy needs of human civilization from the beginning of time. Solar panels will help us harvest increasing amounts of this abundance of energy to meet our energy needs in the future.
HOW DO SOLAR PANEL WORKS?
Learn how solar panels convert sunlight into electricity Solar panels collect solar radiation from the sun and actively convert that energy to electricity. Solar panels are comprised of several individual solar cells. These solar cell function similarly to large semiconductors and utilize a large-area p-n junction diode. When the solar cells are exposed to sunlight, the p-n junction diodes convert the energy from sunlight into usable electrical energy. The energy generated from photons striking the surface of the solar panel allows electrons to be knocked out of their orbits and released, and electric fields in the solar cells pull these free electrons in a directional current, from which metal contacts in the solar cell can generate electricity. The more solar cells in a solar panel and the higher the quality of the solar cells, the more total electrical output the solar panel can produce. The conversion of sunlight to usable electrical energy has been dubbed the Photovoltaic Effect.
The photovoltaic effect arises from the properties of the p-n junction diode; as such there are no moving parts in a solar panel.
The Solar Powered Aircraft an unmanned flying wing, controlled remotely from the ground that is designed to run on solar power and flying at an altitude 1,00,000fts.
The 'first successful craft made from spruce wood, was flown by brothers Robert and Roland Boucher as an experimental spy plane for the American aiir force in 1974.
Gossamer- penguin significant as the first sustained flight of an air craft relying solely on direct solar power rather than batteries. A later model Solar Challenger, crossed the English Channel in 1981 attaining a height of about 11 ,000 ft but could not stay aloft for long periods.
Pathfinder is a proof-of-concept vehicle for two prototype solar-powered aircraft—Helios and Centurion—which currently are under development at AeroVironment. Both vehicles have a wingspan of about 200 feet. Helios, an ultra long-duration vehicle, would use an energy storage system to power the aircraft at night. The solar cells would power the vehicle during the day and recharge the energy storage system. Duration of such a flight could be several weeks to months. Centurion, an ultrahigh-altitude vehicle that could reach altitudes of 100,000 feet or higher, does not have an energy storage system, and thus would operate only during the day. Hope it will become a cheap substitute for satellite for gathering scientific data and carrying communication equipments.
ENERGY FROM THE SUN?
Solar panels have the ability to meet all of our energy needs, but at present we only use a tiny fraction of the energy that the sun has to offer. How much energy does the sun produce? How is it produced? And how much of the sun's energy can be theoretically harvested via solar cells?
Energy from the sun is caused from thermonuclear explosions deep within the sun. These explosions fuse atoms of hydrogen into atoms of helium. A tremendous amount of energy is released during the thermonuclear reaction and the sun releases that energy as radiation. This radiation travels through space at the speed of light, and solar panels can make practical use of it. Our sun generates an enormous amount of energy, and potentially, had we the technology to harvest that sunlight with solar arrays across the solar system, we could harvest huge amounts of energy.
According to our friends at Astronomy Cafe, we calculate the amount of energy given off the sun every hour as:
"3.8 x 10^33 ergs/sec or 3.8 x 10^26 watts of power, an amount of energy each second equal to 3.8 x 10^26 joules. In one hour, or 3600 seconds, [the Sun] produces 1.4 x 10^31 Joules of energy or 3.8 x 10^23 kilowatt-hours."
The sun produces more energy every hour than the entire energy needs of human civilization from the beginning of time. Solar panels will help us harvest increasing amounts of this abundance of energy to meet our energy needs in the future.
HOW DO SOLAR PANEL WORKS?
Learn how solar panels convert sunlight into electricity Solar panels collect solar radiation from the sun and actively convert that energy to electricity. Solar panels are comprised of several individual solar cells. These solar cell function similarly to large semiconductors and utilize a large-area p-n junction diode. When the solar cells are exposed to sunlight, the p-n junction diodes convert the energy from sunlight into usable electrical energy. The energy generated from photons striking the surface of the solar panel allows electrons to be knocked out of their orbits and released, and electric fields in the solar cells pull these free electrons in a directional current, from which metal contacts in the solar cell can generate electricity. The more solar cells in a solar panel and the higher the quality of the solar cells, the more total electrical output the solar panel can produce. The conversion of sunlight to usable electrical energy has been dubbed the Photovoltaic Effect.
The photovoltaic effect arises from the properties of the p-n junction diode; as such there are no moving parts in a solar panel.
