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--- luminous:glossary [2008-02-23 12:28] – created takufoam
+++ luminous:glossary [2008-02-23 12:31] – takufoam
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-PV-Vocabulary
+===== PV-GLOSSARY =====
-D-Solar Cell: capture photons from sunlight using an array of miniature “tower” structures that resemble high-rise buildings in a city street grid. Animation on: www.gatech.edu/news-room/flash/CNTpv.html
+**3D-Solar Cell:** capture photons from sunlight using an array of miniature “tower” structures that resemble high-rise buildings in a city street grid. Animation on: www.gatech.edu/news-room/flash/CNTpv.html
-Amp: short for ampere, the unit used to measure the instantaneous flow of electrons, theoretically, 6.02x1023 electrons.
+**Amp:** short for ampere, the unit used to measure the instantaneous flow of electrons, theoretically, 6.02x1023 electrons.
-Amp-hour: measure of a batteries ability to sustain a flow of energy over time; 60 amp-hours indicated a battery can deliver one amp for sixty hours.
-Balance of System (components): the complete system minus the modules.
+**Amp-hour:** measure of a batteries ability to sustain a flow of energy over time; 60 amp-hours indicated a battery can deliver one amp for sixty hours.
-Base-load electricity: the smallest amount of electricity consumed by a utility's customers. Baseload is provided by slow-to-start, relatively inexpensive-to-operate generators, while peak-load is provided by quickly dispatchable sources.
-Biodegradation: is the decomposition of organic material by microorganisms. The term is often used in relation to sewage treatment, environmental remediation (bioremediation) and to plastic materials.
+**Balance of System** (components): the complete system minus the modules.
-Charge controller: the device in a stand-alone energy system that feeds electricity from the source, typically a PV array, to the battery bank. The charge controller protects the batteries from overcharging.
-Clean energies: Clean describes any energy source the exploitation of which does not generate significant amounts of pollution, and therefore negatively impact the health of human populations and the biosphere as a whole.
+**Base-load electricity:** the smallest amount of electricity consumed by a utility's customers. Baseload is provided by slow-to-start, relatively inexpensive-to-operate generators, while peak-load is provided by quickly dispatchable sources.
-Current: flow. In a river, the current is usually strongest near the center where the river is deepest. In electrical terms, current means the electrons flowing through a conductor, and is measured in amperes, one amp meaning 6.02x1023 electrons.
-Distributed energies: Distributed describes any energy source that can be deployed – often rapidly - on small, medium or large scales close to the point of consumption.
+**Biodegradation:** is the decomposition of organic material by microorganisms. The term is often used in relation to sewage treatment, environmental remediation (bioremediation) and to plastic materials.
-Distributed generation (DG): contrasts with centralized generation, a term that characterizes conventional large-scale fossil fuel or nuclear power plant generation.
-Doping: Semiconductors into which tiny quantities of impurities (boron, phosphorus) have been deliberately diffused. This process dramatically alters the behaviour of the semiconductor in a very usefull manner.
+**Charge controller:** the device in a stand-alone energy system that feeds electricity from the source, typically a PV array, to the battery bank. The charge controller protects the batteries from overcharging.
+**Clean energies:** Clean describes any energy source the exploitation of which does not generate significant amounts of pollution, and therefore negatively impact the health of human populations and the biosphere as a whole.
+**Current:** flow. In a river, the current is usually strongest near the center where the river is deepest. In electrical terms, current means the electrons flowing through a conductor, and is measured in amperes, one amp meaning 6.02x1023 electrons.
+**Distributed energies:** Distributed describes any energy source that can be deployed – often rapidly - on small, medium or large scales close to the point of consumption.
+**Distributed generation (DG):** contrasts with centralized generation, a term that characterizes conventional large-scale fossil fuel or nuclear power plant generation.
+**Doping:** Semiconductors into which tiny quantities of impurities (boron, phosphorus) have been deliberately diffused. This process dramatically alters the behaviour of the semiconductor in a very usefull manner.
 Efficiencies of a PV cell/module/system: the ratio of the maximum electric power and the power of the incident light. The amount of solar energy that strikes the Earth's surface is the equivalent of about 1 kW per square meter. This works out to 1 kiloWatt per hour (kWh) worth of sunlight per hour. A PV-system with an overall conversion efficiency of 10% would produce 0.1 kWh of electricity per hour.
 Usually efficiencies are determined under standard test conditions of 1,000 W/m2 illumination and 25°C. The spectral distribution of the light is expressed in terms of an optical air mass (AM) number. AM0 corresponds to the spectrum in space, AM1 to the spectrum at the earth's surface when the sun is overhead, AM2 when the sun is 60° off overhead, etc. (idealized cases). Cells and modules for terrestial use are generally measured under AM1 or AM1.5 conditions.