The fundamental component of a photovoltaic panel is the vp audit email list photovoltaic cells , a technology that has evolved significantly since the early years of mass production of these devices.
As for the cells themselves, the most common technologies that use silicon as a basic material are polycrystalline, which began to be used massively from the 1990s onwards, and monocrystalline or monosilicon , which have a higher performance , but a higher cost and difficulty of production since polycrystalline cells are produced using large cells that greatly reduce production costs. There has also been a variation in the sizes of photovoltaic cells, since in the panels of the 1990s and early 2000s, 5-inch (125 mm) cells were massively used, and since 2008, the vast majority of panels use 150 mm cells.
Most common types of photovoltaic panels
Currently we can find three fundamental types of photovoltaic panels on the market.
Monocrystalline silicon
Monocrystalline cells are manufactured from pure molten silicon and doped with boron, to improve the properties and make it a semiconductor material.
Polycrystalline silicon
They are manufactured in the same way as monocrystalline ones, but the crystallization phases are reduced. They have a lower performance than monocrystalline ones.
Thin film panels
Thin film panels are produced in a completely different way, by depositing a thin film of semiconductor material on a substrate such as glass or plastic.
Advantages and applications of monocrystalline panels
Monocrystalline panels have a higher efficiency than polycrystalline panels, with a 24% efficiency at laboratory level and a commercial level of between 17% and 20%. This higher efficiency is very important when there is not much surface area available to install photovoltaic panels because by using them we can obtain greater power with the same surface area occupied. At an operational level, their useful life is also longer than that of polycrystalline panels and they have better production values with diffuse radiation , but their price is higher than that of polycrystalline panels.
Manufacturing of monocrystalline systems
Monocrystalline photovoltaic cells are manufactured with cylindrical silicon blocks and after cutting the four sides of the cylindrical blocks, square or rectangular silicon sheets are obtained.
