UNIT - 3

1. Describe the principle of solar photovoltaic energy conversion.

2. Explain the I-V characteristics of a solar cell and define fill factor. What is the significance
of fill factor?
3. Explain, how the variation of insolation and temperature affects the I-V characteristics of a
solar cell?
4. Explain various factors contributing to losses and hence reduction of efficiency of a solar
cell.
5. Explain the main features of different types of solar cells based on the active material used
in their fabrication.
6. What is the importance of MPPT in an SPV system? Explain various strategies used for
operation of an MPPT.
7. Draw and explain an equivalent circuit of a practical solar PV cell.
8. Describe the classification of solar cells.
9. Explain the balance of system components
10. Define the following
(a) Battery Voltage (b) Battery Capacity (c) Battery Life Cycle (d) State of Charge
(e) Depth of Discharge (f) Discharge Rate or C-rating (g) Self-discharge.
11. Discuss about the dynamic and static resistance.
12. Explain the charge controllers used in PV systems with neat sketch.
13. Explain the stand alone, configurations with a neat sketch
14. Explain the grid integrated configurations with a neat sketch
15. Explain the hybrid PV system configurations with a neat sketch
16. Explain the solar PV applications
17. A PV system feeds a dc motor to produce 1 hp power at the shaft. The motor efficiency is
85%. Each module has 36 multi-crystalline silicon solar cells arranged in 9 × 4 matrix.
The cell size is 125mm × 125mm and cell efficiency is 12%. Calculate the number of
modules required in the PV array. Assume global radiation incident normally to the panel
as 1 kW/m2.
18. A PV source having IV characteristics as shown in Fig. 1 is supplying power to a load
whose load line intersects the characteristics at (10 V, 8 A). Determine the additional
power gained if an MPPT is interposed between the source and the load. If the cost of the
MPPT is Rs. 4000.00, for how long the system needs to operate in order to recover the
cost of MPPT. The cost of electricity may be assumed as Rs 7.00 per kWh. The efficiency
of MPPT may be assumed as 95%.
19. Calculate the open circuit voltage of a silicon solar cell at 47 °C if short circuit and reverse
saturation currents are given as 2A and 10 nA respectively.
20. For a typical PV cell, the following parameters are obtained from the I-V characteristics
open- circuit voltage = 0.415 V; short-circuit current = 1.96 A; voltage corresponding to
the maximum output power of the cell = 0.39 V; and the current corresponding to the
maximum output power of the cell = 1.89 V. calculate the fill factor of the cell.