Design Of A Photovoltaic System For A Rural House

M.Aminy, N.Barhemmati, A.Hadadian, F.Vali

Department of Energy
Material and Energy Research Center (MERC)
Karaj, Iran
n.barhemmati@gmail.com


Abstract In this work we have tried to supply electrical
demand of a rural house without connection to national grid,
using day to day necessary appliances, by photovoltaic system.
Primarily electrical consumption of all appliances were estimated
using energy charts, by considering the working time, total daily
energy consumption was calculated. The four year registered
data at MERC was obtained using a pyranometer, where time of
radiation, least radiation intensity was obtained from the
registered data, where from them calculations for electrical
supply was used, with regard to radiation time, daily electrical
consumption, number of photovoltaic panels, their related
accessories were calculated. Calculations indicate that it is
required to have 11 photovoltaic panels with 45W power, 3
inverters of 700W and 2, 12V and 120Ah batteries. Results can be
used for rural houses, where due to long distances providing
electricity to them from the national electric network would be
very expensive.

Keywords-component: Photovoltaic panel; Solar Irradiation;
DC/AC Converter (Inverter); Average electricity consumption
I. INTRODUCTION
Sun is the source of many energy resources used by human
being. In addition of thermal and electrical energy obtained
from the sun radiation, it is the source of causing other energies
such as wind, wave, hydro, etc. Although only small part of
total radiation energy of sun reaches the earth, approximately
1/(210
9
), the sun radiation reaching the earth in one second is
more than total energy consumption of earth in one year. Also
consumption of solar energy is very simple and doesnt require
complicated and expensive structure. To construct and operate
as well as clean energy it is also available in most areas,
therefore it does not have the energy transport problems [1].
With regard to increase of pollutions and reduction of possible.
Fuel resources, use of solar energy becomes attractive.
Photovoltaic technology is one of the most common methods
of solar energy usage, and the solar panels that work with this
technology, convert solar radiation to electricity. The produced
electricity by means of the solar panels can be used for rural
areas, small industries, telecommunication stations,
metrological stations, border patrol, trade centers, houses and
agricultural water pumping. Iran is situated in 5125 Northern
latitude and eastern longitude of 4135, and receiving
acceptable rate of solar radiation. In Figure1, The solar map of
Iran is shown [2]. Meshkin-dasht is situated at 50.57 eastern
longitude and northern latitude of 35.48. According to Figure1
and registered data in the MERC, the rate of average solar
radiation in this area is 6250 MJ/m2 [3]. This means use of
solar PV panel is feasible for this area.

Fig.1. Total solar energy radiation received annually to a unit horizontal
surface for various areas (KWh/m2) in Iran [2]
2012 Second Iranian Conference on Renewable Energy and Distributed Generation
978-1-4673-0665-2/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE 18
A. Photovoltaic Systems: Photovoltaic system consists of
solar cells, where they can convert direct sunlight to
electricity, therefore more attention have been paid to them
for producing electricity, New range of solar cells are
based on semiconductors, they have P-N connections (light
sensitive diodes) in vast surfaces. Photovoltaic effect that
converts direct light to electrical energy, happen in three
layers of energy conversions. First layer of these three
layers is upper connection layer (N type semiconductor).
Second layer in this structure is core, where it is the
absorption layer P-N connection. Third layer (P type
semiconductor) is the lowest part of the three layers.
Photovoltaic cells are made by three methods namely:
single crystal, multi crystal and amorphous (shapeless),
where due to its crystal shapes, have different efficiencies.
Table 1, shows efficiencies of various photovoltaic cells
[4].
TABLE I. EFFICIENCY OF VARIOUS PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS [4]

Type of structure
Practical efficiency
(%)
Experimental efficiency
(%)
single crystal 14-17 24
multi crystal 13-15 18
amorphous 5-7 13

Properties of solar cells with maximum open circuit voltage of
V
oc
when the output current is zero and short circuit I
sc

when the output voltage is zero can be obtained. Power of the
cell can be calculated as Equation (1).
P = I V (1)
Therefore with one element being zero the power would
equal to zero, (V=0, I=I
sc
) and (I=0, V=V
oc
). It is possible to
predict that combination of current and voltage less than
maximum can result in maximum power, where it is known as
maximum power point. In many of the solar design works,
effort has been put to reach this point. With some
considerations in its structure, regardless of radiation
conditions, it is possible to reach near this point, as shown in
Figure2 [4].

Fig.2. Output voltage and current from solar cells with various radiation
intensities [4]
As it can be seen in Figure2, the most important point is
constant behavior of the voltage with variation in solar
radiation intensities, whereas the current changes with
radiation intensity variation. Output of the cells would
increase when using solar tracking systems or concentrators,
but due to its high cost and sophistical they are not commonly
used, Figure3 [5].

Fig.3. Output power from a solar panel, in two modes of operation; tracking
and stationary [5]
In order to increase voltage the solar cells are connected in
series. Panels at various sizes for different application are
made. According to table2, panels are normally divided to
three categories; low voltage panels or powers of less than 1.5-
6 volt and few milli watt power, small panels with 1-10watt
power and 3-10V voltage, large panels with 10-60watt power
and 6-12V voltage [6].
TABLE II. TECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS [6]

Types of panels Low voltage/power Small Large
Voltage (V) 1.5-6 3-10 6-12
Output Power (W) Few milli watt 1-10 10-60

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B. Photovoltaic system accessories: The photovoltaic
systems can be divided to three important sections; Solar
panels, power production or control system, demand
section or electrical load [2].
C. Solar panels: This section is in fact a converter of solar
radiation energy to electric energy without any mechanical
means. Photovoltaic panels that are situated under the sun
rays, consist of several photovoltaic cells. Current and
voltage output from this panels are DC. These panels are
manufactured somehow to resist all the environment
effects such as; extreme cold, hot, humidity and wind
effects. However the covering materials of these panels are
made of glass and can break in strong impacts [5].
D. Control section: This section in fact controls the whole
system and the produced powers of panels are transformed
to the battery or demand section, depending on the design
and demand. It is important to say that in this section
incorporated specifications and elements with regard to
electrical load demand, consumes and local whether
condition can be change. Therefore the possible damage of
each section or related data can be obtained from the
control section. This section consists of several subsections
such as; batteries, charge controller or maximum power
point tracker MPPT, inverter and control system. It
should be noticed that for any consumer it is not necessary
to apply all the mentioned systems, depending on the
specification and requirements of each consumers, this
section consist of below equipments:
1) Maximum power point tracker (MPPT): This system is
a DC-DC converter, where it adjusts the impedance between
the dynamic resistance of solar panels and the consumer. This
system can be used both for separate as well as connected
systems to the electrical networks [7].
2) Inverter, DC-AC converter: Converting power from DC
to AC by use of a converter (inverter). In the photovoltaic
systems the produced electricity are in the DC form, however
most of the electrical demand and appliances consume
electricity in the form of AC, it is possible to convert this DC
power to AC, using an inverter system and the properties such
as voltage and frequency can be adjusted as it is demanded.
Inverters can be divided to three groups; stand alone inverters,
synchronous inverters and multi function inverters.
3) Consumer: Consumer may require DC or AC
electricity, with regard to various design arrays of the
photovoltaic panels, the required power of the consumer can
be supplied [6,8].
II. DATA COLECTIONS AND CALCULATIONS
With reference to the data registered at MERC, mean rate of
sun radiation in the area is 6250 MJ/m
2
(MERC,2010). Figure
4 to 7, shows the monthly radiation of a year, for the years
between 2007 to 2010 at Meshkin-dasht, Karaj. In these data
the minimum, maximum and mean monthly radiation are
separately indicated. The datas were measured using
pyranometer system (CM22) consisting of 2 channel data
logger and a light sensor (BD-300) and 4 channel data
analyzer, which are situated in the solar site of MERC.

Fig.4. Monthly amount of radiation recorded in 2007

Fig. 5. Monthly amount of radiation recorded in 2008

Fig. 6. Monthly amount of radiation recorded in 2009



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Fig.7. Monthly amount of radiation recorded in 2010
Required appliances for a rural house can be assumed to be
20W low energy lamps, one small radio, a 14 foot fridge and a
14 inch TV. According to energy balance sheet of Iran, time
usage of each mentioned items per KWh is given in Table3 .
Energy consumption of these appliances with regard to
operation time has been calculated and is given in column 4 of
table3. Daily consumption of this rural house hold was
calculated to be 2.88 KWh.
TABLE III. RATE OF APPLIANCES ELECTRICAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION
REQUIRED FOR A RURAL HOUSE
Required
utensils
Time for 1KWh
consumption(hr)
Time-
consuming
equipments
(hr)
Consumption
(KWh)
Two 20W
lamps
50 12 0.48
A radio 30 12 0.4
A 14 ft fridge 24 24 1
A 14" TV 12 12 1

III. RESULTS AND DISSCUTION
Considering the mean daily electrical consumption of this
house which is 2.88 KWh, where this energy should be
supplied in the 6 hour effective day light time, therefore it is
necessary to situate panels so we can produce and store 480W
of electricity[9]. Hence it is required to have 11 photovoltaic
panels with 45W power, to generate 12V, DC electricity. To
store energy a storage battery bank has been considered, these
special batteries store the excess electricity generated. Table 4
shows the technical specifications of various 12V batteries.
With regard to the electricity generated, it is required to have
250Amph storage capacity. Hence 2 batteries connected in
series with each having 120Amph were considered. The
batterys working voltage is 12V, 64Kg weight, and
dimensions of 0.5220.2380.218 m
3
. When it is required to
use electricity directly from the photovoltaic panels, in order
to be able to convert DC voltage to AC, a 12 Volt inverter can
be used. Table 5, shows various inverters specifications. In
this work 2. 700W inverter (SK700-212) of Faran Electronic
Company was considered. It is important to indicate that each
battery is directly connected to each inverter, and the output
AC voltage of each inverter enters the electrical box panel,
from there it reaches the consumer, Due to separate
connection of each battery to the inverter, whenever a problem
occurs in a battery or inverter, other circuit can supply and
work as an auxiliary system.


IV. CONCLUSION
In this work we have calculated mean energy consumption of
a rural area house, situated near Meshkin-dasht of Karaj
providence in Iran. Using solar data registered in this area, the
required electrical energy was calculated to be 2.88KWh with
available mean solar radiation of 6 hours and rate of
6250MJ/m2. According to the calculations, 11 photovoltaic
panels of 45W power and 2, 12V and 120Amph batteries as
well as 2, 700W inverter are required. The rural house was
considered for supplying AC electricity.
V. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors acknowledge Mr. Jafar Asghari for his
constructive advice in this research.

VI. REFFERENCES
[1] Faran Electronic Company, www.farancorp.com
[2] Renewable energy organization of IRAN (suna), Journal NO.9, 2008.
www.suna.org.ir
[3] Material and Energy Research Center(MERC), 2010,
http://www.merc.ac.ir
[4] Anon., 1996, "Solar Electric Building Homes with solar power",
London, Greenpeace
[5] Antonio Luque, Steven Hegedus. 2003, Handbook of Photovoltaic
science and Engineering.
[6] Anne Grete Hestnes., 2000, "Building Integration of Solar Energy
Systems".
[7] BRE., The use of direct current output from pv systems in buildings ,
2002.
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TABLE IV. TECHNICALSPE'CIFICATIONSOF VARIOUS 12VBATIERIES
TypeofmodelE
12V- 12V- 12V- 12V- 12V- 12V-
24AH 65AB 70AH 100AH 120AH 200AH
\\ieigk (Kg) 13.6 22 22.5 31 35.5 64
Bestd!.a:rge
4.2 6j 7 10 12 20
ctII"I'emt (A)
:Dioemsio1llS
170);. 179): 211x 214y. 218x
166:.:. 167x 171x 176:.: 238:Y.
(mm)
197 350 260 330 409 525
TABLE v. TECHNICAL DATAOFVARIOUS UVMUmRS
Typeof SK200- SK10 SK1500- mooo- SKJOOO-
moM 212 0-212 212 212 :212
200 700 1500 2000 3000
WeigId
13.6 22 22.5 11 35.5
(Kg)
Ef6cieDcy
91 91 90 91 90
(%)
Ma:rlDMlm
Voltage
15,3 15,3 15,3 15,3 15.3
(VJ)C)
[8] A.Zahedi., 2006, "Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy; latest developments
in the building integrated and hybrid PV systems".
[9] Endecon Engineering., A GUIDE TO PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV)
SYSTEM DESIGN AND INSTALLATION, CALIFORNIA ENERGY
COMMISSION, version 1(2001).
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