After the reflector shape experiment, the results were as following:
1) Surface Temperature (F) 2) Focus Temperature (F) Reflector A, which was neither wide nor narrow, had the most temperature change out of the three reflectors due to its ability to concentrate the light rays into the solar cell. If the reflector was too narrow, there wasn't much area for the light rays that were reflected to converge. When the reflector was too wide, most of the light rays just diverged and weren't able to be absorbed in to the solar cell with greater intensity.
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I tested out various reflector shapes - narrow parabolic reflectors and wide parabolic reflectors - to see which one was the most efficient. I measured the temperature change of the focus and the surface to measure the efficiency. The greater the temperature change, it indicates that the heat was more concentrated and absorbed. I tested out three models of parabolic reflectors and their curvature is shown below. I predict that reflector 2 would have the highest temperature increase since it is not too wide or narrow so it can converge light rays into one point more efficiently.
1. y = 1/ 12.25 x^2 2. y= 1/25 x^2 3. y = 1/64 x^2 |
Irene Jeong's signature project:Conducting various experiments using school's solar panel to find out the optimum environment for maximum efficiency of photovoltaic cells Archives
May 2017
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