If you yourself are a scientist or just an inquisitive person, and you often watch or read last news in science or technology. It is for you that we have created such a section, which covers the latest world news in the field of new scientific discoveries, achievements, as well as in the field of technology. Only the latest events and only trusted sources.
In our progressive time, science is moving at a fast pace, so it is not always possible to keep up with them. Some old dogmas are crumbling, some new ones are being put forward. Mankind does not stand still and should not stand still, but the engine of mankind is scientists, scientists. And at any moment a discovery can occur that can not only amaze the minds of the entire population of the globe, but also radically change our lives.
A special role in science is allocated to medicine, since a person, unfortunately, is not immortal, fragile and very vulnerable to all kinds of diseases. Many people know that in the Middle Ages people lived on average 30 years, and now 60-80 years. That is, at least doubled life expectancy. This was influenced, of course, by a combination of factors, but it was medicine that played a big role. And, for sure, 60-80 years is not the limit for a person average life. It is possible that someday people will cross the mark of 100 years. Scientists from all over the world are fighting for it.
In the field of other sciences, developments are constantly underway. Every year, scientists from all over the world make small discoveries, slowly moving humanity forward and improving our lives. Places untouched by man are being explored, first of all, of course, on our home planet. However, work is constantly taking place in space.
Among technology, robotics is especially rushing forward. An ideal intelligent robot is being created. Once upon a time, robots were an element of fantasy and nothing more. But already on this moment some corporations have real robots on staff that perform various functions and help optimize labor, save resources and perform for a person dangerous species activities.
Still want Special attention give to electronic computers, which even 50 years ago took up a huge amount of space, were slow and required a whole team of employees for their care. And now such a machine, in almost every home, is already called more simply and briefly - a computer. Now they are not only compact, but also many times faster than their predecessors, and anyone can figure it out. With the advent of the computer, mankind has opened a new era, which many call "technological" or "information".
Remembering the computer, do not forget about the creation of the Internet. It also gave a huge result for humanity. This is an inexhaustible source of information, which is now available to almost everyone. It connects people from different continents and transmits information with lightning speed, it was impossible to even dream of such a thing 100 years ago.
In this section, you will certainly find something interesting, exciting and informative for yourself. Perhaps even someday you will be one of the first to know about a discovery that will not only change the world, but will turn your mind upside down.
Getting electricity from alternative power sources is very costly. For example, using solar energy when buying ready-made equipment, you will have to spend a significant amount of money. But nowadays it is possible to assemble solar panels with your own hands for a summer residence or a private house from ready-made photovoltaic cells or other improvised materials. And before you start buying the necessary components and designing the structure, you need to understand what a solar battery is and how it works.
Solar battery: what is it and how does it work
People who are faced with this task for the first time immediately have questions: “How to assemble a solar battery?” or "How to make a solar battery?". But having studied the device and the principle of its operation, the problems with the implementation of this project disappear by themselves. After all, the design and principle of operation are simple and should not cause difficulties when creating a power source at home.
Solar battery (SB)- These are photoelectric converters of energy emitted by the sun into electrical energy, which are connected in the form of an array of elements and enclosed in a protective structure. Converters- silicon semiconductor elements for direct current generation. They are produced in three types:
- Monocrystalline;
- polycrystalline;
- Amorphous (thin film).
The principle of operation of the device is based on the photoelectric effect. Sunlight, falling on photocells, knocks out free electrons from the last orbits of each atom of the silicon wafer. moving a large number free electrons between the electrodes of the battery generate D.C.. Next, it is converted to alternating current for home electrification.
Choice of photocells
Before starting the design work to create a panel at home, you need to choose one of three types of solar energy converters. To select the appropriate elements, you need to know their technical characteristics:
- Monocrystalline. The efficiency of these plates is 12–14%. However, they are sensitive to the amount of light entering. Slight cloudiness significantly reduces the amount of electricity generated. Service life up to 30 years.
- Polycrystalline. These elements are capable of producing an efficiency of 7–9%. But they are not affected by the quality of illumination and they are able to deliver the same amount of current in cloudy and even cloudy weather. Operational period - 20 years.
- amorphous. Manufactured from flexible silicon. They produce an efficiency of about 10%. The amount of electricity produced does not decrease due to the quality of the weather. But expensive and complex production makes them difficult to obtain.
For the manufacture of SBs on their own, you can purchase type B converters (second grade). These include cells with small defects, even if you replace some components, the cost of batteries will be 2-3 times less than the market price, thanks to this, save your money.
To provide a private house with electricity from alternative source energy best fit the first two types of plates.
Site selection and design
Batteries are best placed according to the principle: the higher the better. Great place there will be a roof of the house, the shadow from trees or other buildings does not fall on it. If the structure of the ceilings does not allow to support the weight of the installation, then the place should be chosen in the area of \u200b\u200bthe cottage, which most of all perceives radiation from the sun.
The assembled panels must be positioned at such an angle that Sun rays fell as perpendicularly as possible on the silicon elements. The ideal option there will be the possibility of correcting the entire installation in the direction behind the sun.
Making a battery with your own hands
Provide a house or cottage with electricity at 220 V from solar battery you will not succeed, because the size of such a battery will be huge. One plate generates an electric current with a voltage of 0.5 V. The best option is considered to be a SB with a rated voltage of 18 V. Based on this, the required amount photocells for the device.
Frame assembly
First of all, a homemade solar battery needs a protective frame (case). It can be made from aluminum corners 30x30 mm or from wooden bars at home. Using metal profile on one of the shelves, a chamfer is removed with a file at an angle of 45 degrees, and the second shelf is cut off at the same angle. Frame parts cut to the required dimensions with machined ends are twisted using squares made of the same material. A protective glass is glued to the finished frame on silicone.
Plate soldering
When soldering elements at home, you need to know that to increase the voltage it is necessary to connect in series, and to increase the current strength - in parallel. The flint wafers are laid out on the glass, leaving a gap of 5 mm between them on each side. This gap is necessary to compensate for the possible thermal expansion of the elements during heating. The converters have two tracks: on the one hand "plus", on the other - "minus". All parts are connected in series in a single circuit. Then the conductors from the last components of the circuit are output to a common bus.
To avoid self-discharge of the device at night or cloudy weather, experts recommend installing a 31DQ03 Schottky diode or equivalent on the contact from the “middle” point.
After finishing soldering work with a multimeter, you need to check the output voltage, which should be 18-19 V to fully provide a private house with electricity.
Panel Assembly
Soldered transducers are placed in the finished case, then silicone is applied to the center of each silicon element, and the top is covered with a fiberboard substrate to fix them. After that, the structure is closed with a lid, and all joints are sealed with sealant or silicone. The finished panel is mounted on a holder or frame.
Solar panels from improvised materials
In addition to assembling SBs from purchased photocells, they can be assembled from improvised materials that any radio amateur has: transistors, diodes and foil.
transistor battery
For these purposes, the most suitable parts are transistors of the type KT or P. Inside them is a rather large silicon semiconductor element necessary for the production of electricity. Having picked up the required number of radio components, it is necessary to cut off the metal cover from them. To do this, you need to clamp it in a tesk and carefully cut off the upper part with a hacksaw for metal. Inside you can see a plate that will serve as a photocell.
Transistor for a battery with a sawn-off cap
All these parts have three contacts: base, emitter and collector. When assembling the SB, you need to choose a collector junction due to the largest potential difference.
Assembly is carried out on a flat plane from any dielectric material. You need to solder transistors in separate series chains, and these chains, in turn, are connected in parallel.
The calculation of the finished current source can be made from the characteristics of radio components. One transistor produces a voltage of 0.35 V and a short-circuit current of 0.25 μA.
Diode battery
A solar battery from D223B diodes can really become a source electric current. These diodes have the highest voltage and are made in a glass case coated with paint. Output voltage finished product can be determined from the calculation that one diode in the sun generates 350 mV.
- We put the required number of radio components in a container and fill it with acetone or another solvent and leave it for several hours.
- Then, you need to take the plate right size from non-metallic material and mark up for soldering the components of the power source.
- Once wet, the paint can be easily scraped off.
- Armed with a multimeter, in the sun or under a light bulb, we determine the positive contact and bend it. Diodes are soldered vertically, since in this position the crystal generates electricity best from the energy of the sun. Therefore, at the output we get the maximum voltage that the solar battery will generate.
In addition to the two methods described above, the power supply can be assembled from foil. Homemade solar battery, made according to step by step instructions, described below, will be able to produce electricity, albeit of very low power:
- For homemade, you will need copper foil with an area of \u200b\u200b45 square meters. see The cut piece is processed in soapy water to remove fat from the surface. It is also advisable to wash your hands so as not to leave grease stains.
- It is necessary to remove the protective oxide film and any other type of corrosion from the cut plane with emery.
- On the burner electric tiles with a power of at least 1.1 kW, a sheet of foil is laid down and heated until red-orange spots form. Upon further heating, the resulting oxides are converted into copper oxide. This is evidenced by the black color of the surface of the piece.
- After the formation of oxide, heating must be continued for 30 minutes in order to form an oxide film of sufficient thickness.
- The frying process stops and the sheet cools down along with the oven. With slow cooling, copper and oxide cool down with different speed, which contributes to the latter easily flake off.
- Under running water oxide residues are removed. In this case, it is impossible to bend the sheet and mechanically tear off small pieces so as not to damage the thin layer of oxide.
- The second sheet is cut according to the size of the first.
- IN plastic bottle with a volume of 2–5 liters with a cut throat, two pieces of foil should be placed. Secure them with crocodile clips. They need to be positioned so that they do not connect.
- A negative terminal is connected to the processed piece, and a positive terminal is connected to the second one.
- Salt solution is poured into the jar. Its level should be 2.5 cm below the upper edge of the electrodes. To prepare the mixture, 2-4 tablespoons of salt (depending on the volume of the bottle) are dissolved in a small amount of water.
All solar panels are not suitable for providing a summer house or a private house with electricity due to their low power. But they can serve as a power source for radios or charge small electrical appliances.
Related videos
In the first photo, there are four panels that generate a little over 2 volts, which in total is at least 6.5 volts without the sun, and more than 8 volts with the sun. The maximum current in the bright sun reached 7A, which is not even bad for a portable portable socket. For tests, I placed these panels on the roof, led the wires to the attic, where I will show all the measurements for testing this solar battery.
Why did I decide to make a solar battery from several parts? It’s just that the task was to make a portable panel that had to be foldable and weigh a little, while I want to increase the power to 100 watts in order to power a laptop, charge any other electronics (phone, flashlight, etc.).
I looked on the Internet how solar panels are made and it turns out that almost everyone uses glass. But glass is simply unacceptable for a portable solar battery because, firstly, glass is heavy and easy to break. The search was directed to plexiglass and post searches the choice fell on acrylic glass since the manufacturer promises more than 10 years of operation without loss of quality, and most importantly, it should not become cloudy in the sun.
To glue the elements to the glass and at the same time seal them, I decided to use a film that is used for outdoor advertising. I chose an expensive option with a declared long service life under the influence environment. Now I have 4 solar batteries, a little later I will make 3 more and there will be a full-fledged powerful panel for charging lead-acid batteries.
Manufacturing process of solar panels.
Paka was waiting for acrylic glass, soldered elements of 4 pieces in series and fixed them on sheets of ecobont. As the glass came, the work continued. Before rolling up the elements under the film, I first carefully cleaned them with alcohol and cotton wool from dust and flux residues.
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Then he carefully peeled off the pieces of adhesive tape that held the elements on the ecobont.
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Removed from acrylic protective film On the one side.
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Now preparation for rolling the elements into the film.
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I cut off a piece of the film of the desired length.
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The process of gluing the film, this must be done slowly and very carefully so that wrinkles and irregularities do not form, while it is better not to press hard on the elements, otherwise they may crack, they are very fragile.
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Here I cut through the conclusions from the elements. By the way right hand It's not accidental when wearing a glove, it's just that the glove glides over the film better and it's more convenient to smooth the film.
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Well, the panel is almost ready, it remains to remove the protective film from the acrylic.
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So the first assembly is ready, I’m doing a performance test using an LED flashlight, the voltage on the voltmeter is 1.8 volts, which means the battery is working. By the same principle, he assembled three more panels and later placed them on the roof.
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To test the battery in the attic, I placed two multimeters, a pointer for volts, and a digital one for amperes. As a result, the largest current recorded 7.2A amperes, which is even unexpected from such seemingly small panels. That's basically all for now.
When writing the article, materials were used >> source
So, before the vacation, once again the task arose to ensure marching power supply for a variety of electronic devices that I carry with me. For example - GPS-navigator, player, phone. Last year I got a so-called. "vampire" (I want to solder my own, better) - a device that is an MK with a body kit, the task of which is - "draw" energy from batteries and apply to the output to recharge the recipient device. But again I didn’t have much desire to carry a supply of AA batteries with me, so I decided to feed the “vampire” batteries, charged, in turn, from the energy of the Sun.
The initial idea is very simple and easy to implement. not to look for solar panels through various radio shops - we go to the nearest hypermarket and buy the simplest garden lights on solar batteries. In my case, the battery donors were Cosmos brand lights - the cheapest I could find. Manufacturing solar powered mobile chargers of such lanterns is a simple and quick matter. With two lanterns, I managed in an hour.
The raw material looks like a solar panel connected to an LED power circuit and a battery box for one AA battery. The kit comes with a 400 mAh battery - complete rubbish, it is better to immediately replace it with a more capacious one.
The first step is to carefully solder the leads of the solar battery (hereinafter - "SB") from the battery compartment (hereinafter - "battery compartment"). Further, the conclusions of the SB must be stripped of insulation by about 5-7 mm and irradiated. The main element of the device is ready!
Step two - with no less care, we solder the LED power circuit ( printed circuit board with a body kit and the LED itself) from the battery compartment. We no longer need the circuit (unless you want to later make something useful out of this “recyclable”, for example - table lamp on LEDs, I decided to use them for this). So at the moment we have SB panel with conclusions and battery compartment without them. The point is small - to collect all this goodness together!
However, before the final assembly, it would be nice to make sure that the solution we applied works. Then it will be too late to redo something! So, literally “on the snot” we connect the SB leads to the corresponding contacts of the battery compartment (the black wire is “ — ", red - " + “, you need to connect, respectively, to the “spring” and “pimpochka” on the battery compartment). We take in hand tester(he - multimeter) and check the presence on the power circuit, as well as the voltage at the entrance to the battery compartment. The tester shows 1.98 V with fairly low natural light (my windows are to the west, direct sunlight does not pass), while battery operating voltage is 1.2 V. From which it can be concluded that 1.98 V charging current is sufficient to charge an AA battery. In the future, this conclusion was confirmed by practice - the batteries were successfully charged and no less successfully gave energy to my mobile gadgets.
Now that the performance of the selected circuit is confirmed by the measurement results, you can proceed to final assembly! It is necessary to carefully solder the SB leads to the corresponding inputs of the battery compartment (for convenience, I used extension conductors). I insulated and protected the soldering points with a thermal gun(filled with molten polyethylene in other words). You can also use a heat shrink sleeve (cambric) for this.
