solar battery

Years of research and testing continued till the development of a deep-storage,
cost-effective battery. This battery is of smaller size, but size does not matter!
It is powerful enough to power up an entire home. The advent of this battery
marks a great achievement in the field of residential solar power usage.
High costs have been found to be involved with solar energy, but over these
years the costs have fallen due to the discovery of the photovoltaic thin-film
chemistry and manufacturing processes. Even the cost per watt of the PV panels
has been reported to be $2 by a few companies while it was $8 before.

This huge breakthrough had been made possible due to the high levels of energy
that can be stored efficiently. Safe energy storage is now possible at operating
temperatures below 90 degrees C. These low temperatures allow solid components
in place of the conventional hot liquids. This can be considered as a new
achievement as the major high capacity Batteries contain extremely hot sodium
in molten state at a temperature of 600 degrees. These high temperatures make
the material highly corrosive and toxic. That is why; these batteries were not
suitable for domestic use.

The newly developed advanced ceramic electrolyte material is a thin-film
conductor. This electrolyte acts as a barrier between the sodium and sulfur
of the Battery. If the barrier is thinner, the Battery can operate more coolly.
The ceramic membrane is the conductor of the electrically charged particles or
the ions. These ions are propelled back and forth to generate electric current.
This new battery is of the size of a refrigerator. This battery, with a life of
over 10 years, has the capability to store 20 to 40 kilowatt hours for 3650 daily
recharge cycles. The sale price of this battery was set at $2,000. This means
that the cost is lower than 3 cents per kilowatt hour.

Batteries are the most important part of the solar power generator system. The
batteries are to supply the stored power during the night or when it is raining.
There are mainly four types of batteries which can be deployed with the solar power
technology. The first one is the RV or the Golf Cart batteries, also known as the
Marine type deep cycle batteries. These Batteries do not have adequate capacity to
supply energy for a long time and so these Batteries go well for boars, campers or
for small systems only. The charge or discharge operations are possible in these
batteries like a normal battery, but many charge or discharge cycles for several
years are not possible.

The second type is the lead acid batteries, commonly called the flooded types.
Water can be added to these batteries through their removable lids. A car uses
similar types of batteries. Most of the solar panel makers use the flood batteries
for their solar panels. These batteries are quite affordable and can be used for
many years. But these Batteries give out gas while getting charged for which these
batteries cannot be used inside a house. But if it is still used inside an enclosed
area, then a venting system should be provided to allow the gas to escape.

Solar power systems can also make use of the sealed gel batteries. These batteries
are not involved with the emission of gases like the flooded batteries. These
batteries work under constant temperature conditions during higher performances.
Solar panels also make use of the AGM or the Absorbed Glass Mat batteries. In this
technology, a woven glass mat holds the electrolyte in the batteries. The glass mat
is positioned between the plates. These batteries have no risk of leakage. These
batteries are also not associated with the emission of gas during charging and lastly,
these batteries offer the best performance.

AGM has incorporated all the positive features of the sealed gel batteries. But it is
superior due to its longer life, slower self discharge, better voltage and higher
quality. This makes the AGM batteries the best choice for the solar panels.

The solar batteries can be deployed in various electronic equipments and also as
substitutes for power supply for the dry batteries. In general, the solar batteries
can be relied upon because of their long life and economy of production. The electronic
equipments which consume low power can be totally operated by the electromotive force
of the solar batteries. Some of these devices are watches, electronic calculators,
digital cameras, commercial radar detectors and mobile phones.

SOLAR BATTERY