Fuel Cells and PV Cells

Fuel Cell

Fuel cell is an electrochemical device that is used to convert an

open source fuel into electricity.
The type of electrolyte used is what defines the type of fuel cell
used. Whatever may be the type of fuel cell, their basic operation
is always the same.
For any type of fuel cell, there are mainly three components: fuel,
catalyst and ion exchange membrane.
Fuel is input component, catalysts are the electrodes that
facilitate the chemical reaction to produce ion and electrons and
the ion exchange membrane is the electrolyte through which ions
and electrons are exchanged to produce electricity.
In hydrogen fuel cell, the anode is platinum and cathode is nickel.
Both platinum and nickel acts as catalyst to facilitate the chemical
process. The electrolyte is de-ionized water.
 Two main chemical reactions take place. The chemical reactions at the
electrodes that are responsible for the production of electricity and water
byproduct are as follows:
The Anode Reaction: The reaction at the anode is the combining of
hydrogen gas (the fuel) with the electrolyte to form water and release
electrons:

The Cathode Reaction: Oxygen gas consumes electrons and so reacts

with water in the electrolyte. This produces more of the hydroxide ions
that the electrolyte is made of. In this way the electrolyte is never used
up, but is replenished at the same rate it is consumed, allowing
continuous operation of the hydrogen fuel cell.

Because the hydroxide ions are produced at the cathode and consumed
at the anode, they are shown in Figure (9b) to be migrating from right to
left.
 The Overall Reaction: Both the reactions given above
are half reactions, meaning one half is occurring at each
electrode. To get the overall picture, all we need to do is
put the two half reactions together, being careful to
keep the correct parts on the correct side of the arrow.
We get the final reaction:
 Advantages of Fuel Cell
It is reliable and compact, light weight and has no moving parts.
It has the lowest pollution rate when compared to batteries as well as
gasoline powered devices.
The efficiency of automobiles using fuel cells is about 80%, which is high
efficiency when compared to battery and gasoline.
Disadvantages of Fuel Cell
The overall production cost of a fuel cell is very costly. The anode
catalysts; platinum and gas diffusion layers almost hold up to 75% of the
total cost. When compared to batteries and gasoline powered
automobiles, they tend to be the costliest.
Most of the fuel cells do not operate well enough in higher temperatures.
For fuel cells enough amount of hydrogen has to be generated. After
generation process, they must also be carefully transported from the
generating plants that are presently considered uneconomical.
Applications of Fuel Cell

Fuel cells have been used for many years in the space program
to provide electricity and drinking water for astronauts as well
as industrial applications.
Can be used as power sources in remote areas.
Can be used to provide off-grid power supplies.
Can be applicable in both hybrid and electric vehicles.

The limitation of the application of fuel cell is mostly on

economic grounds and that they require continuous supply of
fuel, due to which the maintenance cost can be high.
Photovoltaic (PV) Cell
In pure or intrinsic semiconductor, at 0oK all the electrons are in the valence
band and no charge in the conduction band. Thus at absolute zero
temperature in intrinsic semiconductor the valence band is full while
conduction band is empty and therefore the material behaves as a perfect
insulator with resistivity of about 1016 -cm in contrast to conductors with
resistivity of order of 106-cm.

According to the energy band theory, in semiconductors a large band gap

exists between valence and conduction band. Semiconductors thus require
energy more than conductors but less than insulators to make their electron
to cross the band gap and move into the conduction band.

Semiconductors exhibit negative temperature coefficient of resistivity that is

its resistance decreases with increase in temperature.
 Most common materials that are used
as semiconductors are germanium (Ge)
and silicon (Si) because of their
property to withstand high
temperatures.
Both Si and Ge are elements of IV
group so that both elements have 4
valence electrons and form covalent
bond with neighboring atom.
However, as the temperature of
semiconductor is raised, more and
more covalent bonds break and
electrons are set free that jump to
conduction band.
These electrons are thus thermally
excited into the conduction band and
act as free electrons, but leaving
behind a vacancy (hole) in the valence
band as illustrated in Figure
 In pure semiconductor number of electrons (n) is equal to number of holes (p) and
thus conductivity is very low as valence electrons are covalent bonded.
In this case we write n = p = ni, where ni is called the intrinsic concentration. It
can be shown that ni can be written as: 1

Where A is a constant with typical approximate value of: ,

T is the absolute temperature
Vg is the semiconductor band gap voltage, Vg = 121 360 MeV (for Si) and Vg =
78.5 223 MeV (for Ge)
VT is the thermal voltage
Assuming room temperature to be 300oK, Vg = 0.72eV for Ge and 1.1eV for Si.
The thermal voltage is related to the temperature by VT = kT/q
Where k is the Boltzmann constant (k = 1.381 10 23 J/oK or 8.625 x 105
eV/oK)
q is the charge of an electron.
Intrinsic, Extrinsic Semiconductor,
Doping
Working of PV Cell
When photons of light are incident on a material referred to as photo-sensitive material,
electrons are emitted, known as photoelectric effect, and first observed by Albert Einstein.

Photo cells or commonly called solar cells are based on the phenomena of photoelectric
effect. Solar cells convert light energy into electrical energy either indirectly by first
converting it into heat, or through a direct process known as the photovoltaic effect.

The most common types of solar cells are based on the photovoltaic effect, which occurs
when light falling on a two-layer semiconductor material produces a potential difference, or
voltage, between the two layers. The voltage produced in the cell is capable of driving a
current through an external electrical circuit that can be utilized to power electrical
devices.

The working of PV cell can be understood from Figure.

 Sunlight, which is composed of photons or particles of energy, falls on the
surface of the cell. These photons contain various amounts of energy
corresponding to the different wavelengths of the solar spectrum. When
photons strike a PV cell, they may be reflected or absorbed, or they may
pass right through. Only the absorbed photons generate electricity.
When light of an appropriate wavelength (and energy) strikes the layered
cell and is absorbed, electrons are freed to travel randomly. Electrons close
to the boundary (the p-n junction) can be swept across the junction by the
fixed field, but cannot return in the other direction (against the field
gradient), a charge imbalance results between the two semiconductor
regions.
With photons randomly impacting the surface of the solar cell, more and
more free electrons are generated.
The amount of energy produced by the cell is wavelength-dependent with
longer wavelengths generating less electricity than shorter wavelengths.
 The electron is able to escape from its normal position associated with that atom to
become part of the current in an electrical circuit. By leaving this position, the
electron causes a "hole" to form.
By providing an external circuit by which the electrons can return to the other
layer, a current flow is produced that will continue as long as light strikes the solar
cell.
In the construction of a photovoltaic cell, metal contact layers are applied to the
outer faces of the two semiconductor layers, and provide a path to the external
circuit that connects the two layers.
To make an efficient solar cell, the absorption is maximized while reflection is
minimized and recombination, and thereby conduction is maximized.
In a PV cell, photons are absorbed in the p-layer. It is thus very important to "tune"
this layer to the properties of the incoming photons to absorb as many as possible
and thereby free as many electrons as possible.
By maximizing all these characteristics, the conversion efficiency of the PV cell can
be improved. The conversion efficiency of a PV cell is the proportion of sunlight
energy that the cell converts to electrical energy.
 Earliest PV devices converted about 12% of sunlight energy into electric
energy. Presently PV devices convert 717% of light energy into electric
energy.
Regardless of size, a typical silicon PV cell produces about 0.50.7-volt
DC under open-circuit, no-load conditions. The current (and power)
output of a PV cell depends on its efficiency and size (surface area), and
is proportional to the intensity of sunlight striking the surface of the cell.
For example, under peak sunlight conditions, a typical commercial PV cell
with a surface area of 160cm2 will produce about 2 watts peak power. If
the sunlight intensity were 40% of peak, this cell would produce about
0.8 watts.
Because commonly available cells produce only about as much voltage
as a flashlight battery, hundreds or even thousands must be coupled
together in order to produce enough electricity for demanding
applications.
Developments in Solar Cells

Current photovoltaic cells employing the latest advances in doped silicon semiconductors
convert an average of 18% (reaching a maximum of about 25%) of the incident light
energy into electricity, compared to about 6% for cells produced in the 1950s.
In addition to improvements in efficiency, new methods are also being devised to produce
cells that are less expensive than those made from single crystal silicon. Such
improvements include silicon films that are grown on much less expensive polycrystalline
silicon wafers.

Materials other than silicon, such as gallium arsenide, cadmium telluride, and copper-
indium di-selenide, are being investigated for their potential benefits in solar cell
applications.

Recently, titanium dioxide thin films have been developed for potential photovoltaic cell
construction.

Research is being conducted on development of dye-synthesized cells, which are low-cost

thin film solar cells.
Solar Power Calculations
Knowing the average insolation at a particular location, it is simple to
estimate the total energy received over the course of a time. The
delivery of sun energy ES in kWh is given as:

Where KS is the performance ratio or efficiency of the system (which is

between 0.5 and 0.6 for a stand alone plant and between 0.7 and 0.8 for
a grid connected plant).
HS are the number of peak sun hours per day in the month of interest.
Pm is the peak power under the standard test condition of 1kW/m2 solar
irradiation, the cell junction temperature of 250C at air mass ratio of 1.5.
Effect of Temperature
With increasing temperature, the short-circuit current of the cell increases, whereas the
open-circuit voltage decreases. The decrease in power P with temperature is given by an
expression:

The values of and for a single crystal silicon cell is 500m per 0C and 5000m per 0C
respectively at 250C, so that Eq (14), with these values of and will take the form:

Equation (9) suggests that for every 1C rise in the operating temperature above the
reference temperature, the silicon cell power output decreases approximately by 0.45%.
 PV Cell Arrays
Generally solar cells come as a very small unit with voltages of few volts and power of few
mW. Typically, it is a few square inches in size and produces about one watt of power.

Since solar cells are electrical devices, they can be connected in series and parallel
strings to boost the electrical output. For obtaining high power, numerous such cells are
connected in series and parallel combinations to form modules and arrays on a panel with
area of several square feet.

Generally, solar panels do not have the structure needed to withstand wind loading, and
so must be mounted on a mounting structure. PV modules are mounted on mounting
racks and are attached to a structure or may be mounted on a pole or arranged on the
rooftop.

However, the area over which the solar energy projects are to be installed may limit the
use of solar power. It is generally estimated that an area of land 140 km 140 km, or
20,000 km2, roughly three times the size of London or Paris, would be sufficient to
accommodate about 1000 GW of PV modules.
Battery Sizing
Batteries are rated according to voltage and the number of
ampere-hours (Ah).
Batteries connected in series will raise the voltage level
and when connected in parallel will increase the Ah rating.
The biggest decision is how many hours or days of battery
storage are required. Too few, and a spell of unusually dull
or wet weather may cause a serious loss of electricity
supply. Too many, and the battery bank becomes
unnecessarily large and expensive. When the number of
days of storage Nd has been decided, the capacity EB of the
battery bank can be calculated:
 Where (as before) ES is the daily electrical energy
requirement, B is the efficiency of the battery bank,
and inv is the efficiency of the inverter, assuming an
AC supply is required.

Note that the usable capacity of the battery bank is less

than its nominal, rated, capacity because complete
discharge must be avoided.

The number of batteries N required can be calculated by

dividing the total energy requirement by the energy
rating ER of the battery, given as: