Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE)

Faculty of Engineering (FE)

American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB)

Laboratory Report
Measurement and Instrumentation Laboratory
Semester: Spring 2020-21

Submitted by: Name: ALOM,NAFIUL ID: 18-37735-1

Group Members (only for group report submission)

Group No. ID Name

1.
18-37782-2 EMON, SAIDUL AREFIN
HASNAT, TASNIA
2.
18-37834-2

6 3.
18-37952-2
CHOWDHURY, MARUF

4.
5.

Experiment No.:06

Experiment Title :
Experiment on determination of
the characteristics of different
light sensors.
Date of Experiment: 23-03-21 Date of Report Submission:17-04-2021

Marking Rubrics for Laboratory Report (to be filled by Faculty)

Objectives Unsatisfactory (1)
The relevant theories are not
being described properly.
Theory
Good (2-3)
Part of the relevant theories are
described with proper
mathematical expression and
circuit diagrams (if any)
Excellent (4-5) Marks
All the relevant theories are
included with proper descriptions,
mathematical expressions and
circuit diagrams. (if any)
 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE)
Faculty of Engineering (FE)
American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB)

Simulation circuits are not Partial simulation circuit results All the simulation circuits are
Simulation circuits &
included in this report. are included in this report. included in this report with
Results
appropriate results.
Cannot reach meaningful Can extract most of the accurate Can extract all relevant conclusion
Discussion,
conclusions from data. Answers to the report with appropriate answer to the
Comparison between
experimental data; Cannot questions are partially correct; report questions; Summarize
theoretical and
summarize or compare Summarize finding in an finding in a complete & specific
simulation results findings to expected results incomplete way way
Report is not prepared as per Report format is satisfactory with Report is prepared as per the
Overall Report
the instruction. few missing sections. instructions having all mandatory
format sections.
Comments Assessed by (Name, Sign, and Date)
Total (out of 20):
 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE)
Faculty of Engineering (FE)
American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB)

The laboratory report must include the following 8 contents.

Experiment title: Experiment on determination of the characteristics of different light sensors.

Objective of this experiment: The objective of this experiment is to determine the

characteristic of different light sensors.

Theory:

Optical Transducer (PV Cell):

Photovoltaic (PV) effect is the conversion of sunlight energy into electricity. The photovoltaic cell is the
type of active transducer. The current starts flowing into the photovoltaic cell when the load is connected to
it. The silicon and selenium are used as a semiconductor material. When the semiconductor material
absorbs heat, the free electrons of the material starts moving. This phenomenon is known as the
photovoltaic effect. The movements of electrons develop the current in the cell, and the current is known as
the photoelectric current.

Figure: PV Cell Equivalent Circuit

Here, output current (I):

Solar-induced current (Iph):

 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE)
Faculty of Engineering (FE)
American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB)

Standard irradiance (Ir) or light intensity is 1000 W/m2 and Iph0 is the measured solar-generated current for
the irradiance Ir0.

• Effect of Light Intensity (irradiance)

Changing the light intensity incident on a solar cell changes all solar cell parameters, including the short-
circuit current, the open-circuit voltage, the FF, the efficiency and the impact of series and shunt
resistances. The light intensity on a solar cell is called the number of suns, where 1 sun corresponds to
standard illumination at AM1.5, or 1 kW/m2. Also, In a solar cell, the parameter most affected by an
increase in temperature is the open-circuit voltage and reduce the band gap of a semiconductor. Solar cells
experience daily variations in light intensity, with the incident power from the sun varying between 0 and 1
kW/m2. At low light levels, the effect of the shunt resistance becomes increasingly important. As the light
intensity decreases, the bias point and current through the solar cell also decreases, and the equivalent
resistance of the solar cell may begin to approach the shunt resistance. When these two resistances are
similar, the fraction of the total current flowing through the shunt resistance increases, thereby increasing
the fractional power loss due to shunt resistance.

Simulation Circuit and Results:

Part – A:
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE)
Faculty of Engineering (FE)
American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB)
 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE)
Faculty of Engineering (FE)
American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB)

Part – B:
 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE)
Faculty of Engineering (FE)
American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB)

Report Question:

Q1). What is solar irradiance?

Ans: Solar irradiance is the power per unit area received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic
radiation as measured in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument.

Q2). Draw the equivalent circuit of solar cell used in your mat lab model. Mention the significance of
diode used in the equivalent circuit of a single solar cell.
Ans: Equivalent Circuit of Solar Cell

A solar cell consists primarily of a p-n junction, the basic building block of a diode, and therefore exhibits
the same behavior as a diode. The equivalent circuit includes a diode to mimic this. The parallel diode
fitted to each panel in a solar array is to prevent reverse voltage being applied to individual panels by the
other panels in the array. A reverse voltage of sufficient magnitude will damage the panel, and also reduces
the efficiency of the array as a whole.
 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE)
Faculty of Engineering (FE)
American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB)

Q3). Identify the voltage and current from the solar cell at maximum power point from the graphs
from step 4.
Ans: The value of Current for which power is maximum: 0.077 A

The value of voltage for which power is maximum: 0.075 V

Q4). Add the circuit used in part B and comments on the results of step 3.
Ans:
In step 3 measured current, input irradiance and the light level were plotted together. With increase in
current light level is increasing. Simulation was run for 7 second and output signal we got was light
level. Initially at 0 second the light level was 109.9 and the level was steady for 0.2 second. After 0.2
second it started to increase and reached to 111.7. So, with time the light level was increasing. We
used solar irradiance 1000 W/m^2 and we got our light level 111.7. But in the table for solar irradiance
1000 W/m^2, the light level was 85. Which means we got higher intensity light. The circuit used in Part-
B is added under Simulation and Results.

Discussion:

In this experiment, Optical Transducers and light indicating circuits were studied. In Part-A, the Simulink
block Diagram for Optical Transducer was created and the blocks were configured according to the
instructions provided in the lab manual. The simulation was run and I-V characteristics was plotted on
workspace. From the characteristic curve it can be seen that with increasing voltage the current increased
linearly obeying Ohm’s Law. In Part-B the same circuit was used to check for the properties of light indicating
circuit using the solar cell sensor. All the instructions were followed from the lab manual and a lookup table
was used to input data which represented the output of ambient light level corresponding to different level of
solar irradiance. Finally, the output was seen on Scope 1. The experiment was done on MATLAB Simulink
software and no error or problems were faced during simulation. Hence the experiment was conducted
successfully.

References:

[1]. Solar cell. (2001, December 27). Retrieved December 25, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell
[2]. what is photoelectric transducer? - Definition & classification - Circuit globe. (2018, January 17). Retrieved
from https://circuitglobe.com/photoelectric-transducer.html
[3]. Photovoltaic solar cell - Simulink. (n.d.). Retrieved December 26, 2020, from
https://www.mathworks.com/help/physmod/sps/ref/solarcell.html