Polycrystalline or Multicrystalline solar panels can be described as those solar panels that comprise of countless crystals of silicon in one PV cell. To form these, shreds of silicon are melted to form wafers of polycrystalline solar panels; the vat of molten silicon used to produce the cells is allowed to cool on the panel itself. These panels come in square, coupled with mosaic appearance and a hue of blue resulting from the silicon crystals. Due to the double silicon crystal cells in each cell, they make these panels allows little movement of electrons within the cells. To make electricity, the panels absorb the sun’s energy.
How Do Polycrystalline Solar Panels Work?
Polycrystalline panels are made of multiple photovoltaic cells, which contain silicon crystals that work as semiconductors. Photons from the sunlight fall on PN junction (junction between N-type materials and P-type materials) to give energy to the electrons which makes them flow as an electric current. It should be noted that P-type has less electrons compared to N-type. To make the connection two electrodes; one on the top with small wires and the other at the bottom with foil like conductor are connected with PV cells
Features of Polycrystalline Solar Panels.
Polycrystalline panels are eco-friendly compared to monocrystalline solar panels in terms of efficiency, as they do not require individual shaping and placement and placement of each crystal. They also produce less waste as most of the silicon is used.
Polycrystalline panels acceptable maximum temperatures stand at is 85 °C while minimum temperatures standat -40 °C. The fact that these panels have lower heat tolerance compared to monocrystalline means that at high temperatures they are less efficient than other panels.
Polycrystalline panels have a higher power density and a higher temperature coefficient than monocrystalline panels.
Polycrystalline panels are fitted with a structural frame making their installation affordable and easier.
Polycrystalline Solar Panels Overview.
Polycrystalline Solar Module as monocrystalline solar panels also start as a silicon crystal ‘seed’ nonetheless, rather than pull the silicon crystal seed all the way up as with Monocrystalline the vat of silicon is just allowed to cool. This difference goes in to make polycrystalline solar panels process in creating electricity easier and cheaper.
Not far before, polycrystalline solar panels were thought to be inferior compared to monocrystalline panels. The recent past three years has seen the monocrystalline panels being overthrown by the polycrystalline as the commonly used panels because they are little less expensive than monocrystalline panels even though monocrystalline panels are a little more efficient compared to polycrystalline panels.
Another thing making polycrystalline panels more common is the fact that the process under which polycrystalline silicon is made is much simpler, cheaper and the resultant waste from these panels is less because of the way the silicon wafers are applied to the panel.
The fact that the efficiency difference between the Polycrystalline Solar Module panels and monocrystalline panels is very little has also been among the reasons for making polycrystalline panels become the dominant residential solar technology in the market.
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