DC or AC Products

In our household  there are two types of electrical appliances, i) DC ii) AC.

In some electronics device that could be both but  basically driving current as  ac or dc current...

In world today in every house or every store or in every office most of electrical products are AC built in system...because the generation of electricity is coming from synchronous generators alias alternators which are AC generators, so there is no other 

choice for manufacturers to develop but AC electrical appliances could be AC bulbs, fans or freezer...

Now you could ask me why not DC power are generated from the electricity manufacturing company at the first place, the answer is they are not rookies.It takes much more cost in some case impossible to generate huge DC power from energy conversion technology.

Yes in this case Solar Technology is the best because this is the only source where you can expect huge DC power comparing to other but still you can't compare with alternator technology which is built in AC.

Here everything put on a question which product should be manufacture, which is more efficient and available and cost effective. 

The answer is not that easy and I will tell you why, as because about 98% of the world electricity generation is AC power and other 1~2 % is DC power, so by general condition every manufacturer company will decide to produce AC products but where DC product is the most efficient and cost effective. 

Benefits of DC products :

• It consumes the least power ( Even DC Iron, TV, Cooker are less than 200W which is amazing, you can't find in AC but same capacity products) 
•  It is the best for household system because it is low in voltage and more safer.
• Electricity Savers  (the best)
• Compare DC products to AC product you will find approximately 20~300W differences with the same capacity product which is outstanding. 
• 1 AC Light = 4~10 DC lights,   1 AC TV = 5 DC TV, 1 AC Cooker = 3~4 DC Cooker, here you can imagine how much electric bill you can save (My God).
•  More important we can use solar power to run this DC product and which is amazing because solar power is free just you need first installation cost , and it is totally off-grid which means no load-sheeding.
•  May be one day if every home, office or store install a solar system of 500W with a good storage battery bank probably 50% of the government power generation will be saved for the future.
• And thanks to God that we have technology of flexible solar panels which we can use anywhere with DC products like , Solar Bag, Solar power Bank, Solar Mobiles etc.
• In house DC products can be more efficient if you have solar tables and solar products (Solar table lamp) which use indoor light to generate DC power (Amazing).

 More or less every day we need DC and AC product but in future may be if possible there will be only DC appliances in every home and why not just think about the money that DC products gives over AC products.

May be one day we don't need to pay electric bill anymore or it could be  like 20~50Tk/month... Just a dream (InsaAllah).

Learn More about DC products : Why DC Products  


Hope you like this post (Jajakallhu Khair)...
 

Which light Bulb is the best @ Incandescent ,CFL, LED (Review)

  Incandescent ,CFL, LED (Review)

The most Important electrical appliance in the house is the electric light bulb,and we need it everyday even though other devices are not available because darkness is scary.......Literally...

Trust me monthly bill mostly covered with lighting cost, and they can steal your money :( . because you are using it  almost  day & night and that makes a hard earned man worried & wicked....

In  market places there are a lot of product on lighting, and trust me market places are getting weirder everyday, they always find something new and can give you a craving for buying it..

• But Typically in house we mostly find three types of light bulbs : i) Incandescent light ii) CFL iii) LED

Let put them in the test :

Incandescent Light :

This lights are based on heating up by electricity where high temperature causes glowing light comes out of it . In Incandescent light a filament is used called Tungsten Filament and because of its high resistivity  high current creates heat and light..

•  This light bulbs are filled up with inert gas ( Argon, Nitrogen etc) which prevent the Tungsten Filament from evaporated and extends its lifetime...
• Comparing other lighting bulbs it comes out very cheap and easy to get anywhere..
• But it uses the higher power supply then any other energy saving bulbs with the same lumen capacity.
• This is the device which is responsible for your deadly electric bill.......Beware...
• It has the least life span then other lighting bulbs...

CFL lights :

This light is the compact form of traditional Florescence Tube Lights. and it works with the same principle...that is why it is called Compact Florescence Light.

• CFL light has integrated electronic ballast inside it which make it compact..
• This light is filled up with Mercury Vapor which is the main source of light, when voltage is applied between the electrodes and electron make mercury exited which create a UV radiation in the tube which later turns into normal light when it passes through the phosphor coating (Spiral Part)..
• These lights are way energy saving then the Incandescent lights , it consumes less power then the Incandescent lights for the same lumen  that why these are called Energy saving lights...
•  It shows four-five times more life -time span comparing Incandescent lights, and that is why it market price is very high but worth it for long time.. 

LED Lights : 

LED bulbs is made of LED lights in a fixture which is very efficient comparing to any other bulbs, even better then CFL bulbs.. The construction of this light containing Heat-sinker which absorbs heat from the circuit and keep it cool, Driver circuit which deliver required current and voltage form input to output, and LED panel which contain a string of series and parallel LED lights..

• Led light are the most efficient Light bulbs, better than any florescence and incandescent light bulb..
• Very Lower wattage consumption comparing both CFL & Incandescent, 4~6 time CFL & 10~20times Incandescent.
• Price is higher then both comparing CFL & Incandescent....But worth it.
• Life Span is very high about 30000Hours ~50000Hours,
• Comes with high warranty 1~3 years..
• Comes with different colors.

Comparison : 

 You can easily can identify which has the best performance by the reading the given statistics.

 LED & CFL is far more better than the Incandescent light bulbs....

 

Lumen/Watt means the bulb capacity of radiating lights using power, for per watt power the best lumen given by the LED lights which is way better then CFL & Incandescent light....

Note : If you compare and assemble your all data and statistics then you will realize LED bulbs are the best at it performance and longevity, please buy LED bulbs if they are available in your locality, but is that means CFL & Incandescent light are useless, answer is no both lights are good in some points like incandescent bulb is not only source of light but also a source of heat, it has some great use in incubators or where warm heat is need and CFL has closer performance compared to LED bulbs and cheaper in price, so if your locality has no dealer of LED bulbs then go with the CFL...... 

Hope this post will help you ....(Jajakallahu Khair)

Flexible Solar Panel

Flexible Solar Panel : 

One of the outstanding innovation and great development of solar technology..

Flexible Solar Panels are the same as the conventional solar panels which are built in frames. 

Flexible Solar Panel built just like other solar panel with solar cell, but because of it's flexibility it extends the uses of application. 

The efficiency , voltage , currents are exactly same here as we know in framed solar panels.

It is also categorized in three 1) Mono 2) poly and 3) Thin Film.. 

Mono & Poly Flexible Solar Panels used mostly bigger applications like power grid, or vehicular construction  but Thin Film Flexible Solar panels are versatile and diverse in small application..

Just as you and I know that Solar Panels and cells are only uses on the roof or on the pole or in mini-grids application, but the reality is the more you research the more you discover new applications.

Benefits :

•  It can be use most of the places where conventional framed Solar Panel can't be use.
• It is lighter in weight then other Solar Panels, so easier to carry and that makes it water better  portable.
• The shape and size is variable, and this make a lot of easier for installation..
• You can take it anywhere you want like picnic, or camping...
• You can use it many places like cars, boats, house windows, or many other applications..
• Flexible Solar Panel are using for different decorative house hold systems which is diversifying the indoor application of solar panel which I will explain broadly in Solar Indoor Outdoor Decor section.
• Various outdoor application can be designed by flexible solar panels where you can't use framed solar panels..like curved tables or Solar trees or street led chairs.
•  
   
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Because of its flexibility you just can install anywhere, and the thin solar cell make its contribution here the most. As the Thin Solar cell can be design very small they are very handy with this type of flexibility technology which make the solar application much more versatile..
•  

  

  Solar Travel Bag

•  Flexible Solar Panel can be found very smaller power rating with very small size... https://www.seeedstudio.com/2V-1W-Thin-film-Flexible-Solar-Panel-p-1856.html, https://www.seeedstudio.com/5W-CIGS-Solar-Cloth-p-2455.html
•  We can use various way for different application using series and parallel of this flexible solar panels specially Indoor applications..

This is an awesome product, you can use it for diverse application by your self, I will show many other ways of using flexible solar panels in  upcoming Solar Indoor Outdoor Decor section..




Hope you like the post..(Jajakallahu Khairan) 

What is a Charge Contoller @ MPPT & PWM

This is a very important device in solar energy system, why! , because this is the device which know how to get maximum power from the solar panel to charge the battery as well as protect the battery by watching its depth of discharge rate (DoD)....

This device is the observer, and it makes sure your solar home system works for you for long time..

If you don't install a Charge Controller your system will face following problems.

1) Your system will miss maximum power..
2) your battery will die very soon
3) your load could suffer from continuous power supply

Connection & Types :

Connection of Charge Controller is pretty easier than other solar products,
Just connect your solar panel and battery and load according to the picture..  Just you need a Screw Driver...

There are two types of Charge Controller are in the market :
1) PWM
2) MPPT  


Comparison between PWM & MPPT :

• PWM basically design on pulse width modulation technology  but MPPT designed on maximum power point tracking system which is much more efficient..
• PV array and battery voltage  should match for PWM but PV voltage can be higher than the battery for MPPT technolongy. Like an example in PWM, solar panel voltage and battery voltage each has to be same voltage like 12V, but in MPPT because it can run series array which means it can handle more voltage than the battery, example a 36V series panel of  PV system can work with 12V battery system if you use MPPT technology but in PWM you can't use series voltage facility.
• PWM charge controller operate at battery voltage so they perform in warm temperature and when battery is full but MPPT charge controller works above battery voltage and can give boost at cold temperature & when the battery is low.
•  PWM charge controller is not design for big systems like above 150Watt Solar System ,if you want to install solar system higher than 150W then you have to choose MPPT charge controller...
• PWM is design for off-grid systems not for grid-tie system on the other hand MPPT can work in both off-grid and on-grid.. 
• PWM operating voltage and current is lower than the MPPT 
• PWM can't track maximum power from the solar panel but MPPT does it. 
• MPPT Charge Controllers are expensive but PWM charge controllers are cheap. 
• Many inverters like Enphase system apply MPPT technology as a built in charge controller. 
  

Note : So advice is choose PWM charge controller for under <150W solar system if you have budget problem otherwise MPPT charge controller should be your first choice...


Hope you like this post (Jajakallahu khair)

What is Inverter part 3@ String & Micro Inverters (Review)

In previous Lesson we have learned about On -grid and Off- grid Inverters, http://edyeazul.blogspot.com/2017/01/what-is-inverter-part-2-on-grid-inverter.html...

String or Central Inverter as well as Micro Inverters both can be used in off grid or on grid solar system...So where is the difference.This category is based on how it is working with the solar panel...This time the differences are in the working principle of Inverters...Lets get started..

Micro Inverters : The main differences which micro inverters show is that it always work with the solar panel individually , it directly convert the DC power of the solar panel AC power on individual solar panels.

The connection is like the Picture is given,  

Micro Inverter connection

 

Roof top Micro Inverters

Benefits : 

• Micro Inverters shows superior performance in shading problem , if one or two solar panels get shaded only that particular solar panels will stop working but it will not affect the others. 
• This kind of Solar Inverters are design to get maiximum power out from the individual solar panels..
•  No DC combiner needed for huge installation as though it is converting the power from DC to AC at the beginning.
•  In big solar power plant the DC voltage is high which is very dangerous and Micro Inverters reduces that problem..
• It is easy to install Micro Inverters because they are light in weight.
• Micro Inverters are more efficient then other Inverters because they drive out maximum  power from individual solar panels....
• It shows longer warranty and service time..

Shortcomings : 

• This is the most costly system available than any other Inverters system..
• Installation takes more time than others.. 

Manufacturer : Enphase, Solaredge etc..

String Inverters :  The name of this inverter defining that it works with multiple array of solar panels, it works with combined DC power sources and convert it to AC grid power system..The picture given below demonstrating the string Inverters connection :

String Inverter Array Connection

String Inverters outside

 Benefits : 

• String Inverters are the least cost inverters for on grid system
• This Installation takes less time and effort...
• Efficiency is  good but less than micro inverters ..
• This system can handle huge solar array alone and can handle huge DC voltage..

Shortcomings: 

• Need more money to install DC combiners 
• High Risk system for High DC voltage ...
• Installation is harder because its weight.
• It shows lower warranty and service time.
• It cannot handle shading problem like micro inverters.

Manufacturer : SMA, Aurora etc...

hope you like the post   (Jajakallahu khairan)

Solar Panel Diodes @ Blocking & Bypass

Built In Blocking Diode Solar Panel :

  Basically there are two types of Diodes in the Solar Panel,

 1) Blocking Diode ,

 

  2)Bypass Diode 

As though in the picture given in the left there is only Bypass diodes are showing because it is a built in blocking diode Solar Panel that's mean the blocking diode is in the panel construction...

          
Both Blocking diodes and Bypass diodes are important for solar panel, And I will explain why in the following section,...

Before start, I want to tell you what is diode at first, Diode is a device which rectify the electricity in one direction.. If diode use in the circuit then we can control the current in one direction..

Blocking Diode : Blocking Diode is very important for the solar panel...it stops the current coming out of battery to Solar Panel. At day time battery get charged by the solar panel and at night we feed our electrical loads using the battery current , if there is no blocking diodes in between battery and solar panel then there will be current flow from battery to solar panel which can harm both battery and solar panel...

The purpose of the Blocking diodes to protect Battery & Solar Panel 

Bypass Diode  :

Bypass diodes are also work as the blocking diode, but this case bypass diode help the solar system circuit to fight against the shading problem..By chance if one of  array of solar cells get shaded then because of the bypass diode only partial part of the solar panel will stop and other part will produce electricity, if there is no bypass diode then the entire solar panel will stop working by shading...So check your solar  panel manufacturer  whether your solar panel has built in bypass diodes , if not then you have to extra careful about shading effect on solar panel...

Like the picture left, the bypass diodes are connected
to the solar panel parallel, so if one of the particular
solar panel get shaded, then only that one will stop other one will be active and solar system will not entrely shut down,,


So Bypass diodes are there to help us to decrease the effect of shading..







Hope you like this post (Jajakallahu khair)

What Is Inverter Part 2 @ On-grid Inverter:

On grid Inverters are those inverters which are design to take directly power from the solar panel and convert it to utility use, On grid Inverters are mainly use in mini or macro grid power plants where several strings of solar array are being used for the conversion of solar light into electricity...But one home user or small business holder also can use this Inverters  for generating utility power for their home or for business, this system could be direct or battery based.

 

A hybrid system

This kind of Inverters are also called grid tied Inverters where through this inverters solar energy are directly connected to the utility grid (Gov.).....This kind of grid tie inverters are design to convert DC power into grid efficient AC energy where it synchronizes the voltage , phase and the frequency of the DC source converting AC and tie with the grid which is very important...


Some electric company pay for this kind of supply...If you have place and money to implement a mini-grid in your locality then you can business with government....Feed in tariff  based on contract with a distribution company or other power companies where customer can earn money from the supplier...

Sunny Boy is one of the best grid ties inverter, this is a SMA product..This is the link of the company http://www.sma.de/en/...This is a renewable product company known for quality product (Solar & Wind)...As the quality is good the cost is high too but worth it...SMA only produce string on grid and off grid Inverters ,like Sunny boy, Sunny tripower..Sunny Island etc..They also offer training on their products, details are on their website.. This products are very rich in functionality, products can work individual or in a string system as well as in a hybrid system..This is  one of the best Inverter supply company according to me..they can provide standalone Solar or Wind Inverter  system..There are other companies like Solaredge, Ysakawa Solectria etc also produce Inverters (On grid and Off-grid)....

Hope you enjoyed this post (jajakallahu khairan)

What is Inverter part 1 @ Off-grid Inverter

Inverter is a very important part of a Solar Electrification system.This is the main part of the AC system of a Solar Energy Technology.. Without this part one can't run any AC appliance through Solar Panel power.

Lets go with the basic, first what is a Inverter exactly.., This is a DC/AC Converter by definition and work.

An inverter make a pure sine wave to its output from a pure dc input, in this case is battery..

The Internal construction of an Inverter is made of a lot of power electronics , but I will not talk about that because it is not the topic....and you don't need it here...this is about the application not the construction....

but in simple language, it is just a DC/AC converter....

the output of a Inverter should be a pure sine wave which depicted in the picture...

There are other Inverter which generate square wave, but those are not good for appliances, check your Inverter catalogue for its output statistics. It must have pure sine wave..

Now a days there is a lot of variation in Inverters based on their application

 1) Off grid Inverters 

 2) On grid Inverters  

 3) String Inverters 

 4) Micro Inverters..

In this article I will only talk about Off-grid Inverters  

Off- grid Inverters can be both String Inverters or a Micro Inverters....It actually work with the battery not with the solar panels directly.This type of Inverter generally installed in off- grid system where the main source of power is the battery.This type of battery generally work with battery voltage which 12V/24V/48V.

.

Simple off-grid inverter

But it out put is 220V~240V AC, in off-grid system there could be many choices like you could have both AC and DC appliances or your system has battery bank etc..To choose a Inverter wisely first you need to understand your load...If your system has both AC and DC appliances then buy an Inverter which have both. 

An Off-grid Inverter can be very simple like a 500W pure sine wave inverter can which only give AC output but no DC output...Design for 500W load system...

But an Inverter can be multi functional which can provide AC and DC as well as 3 Phase AC supply ..those are more expensive, so it depends on your load system..

Some off-grid Inverters are design for  multiple battery bank purpose , which is called string Inverters.Those are really expensive and can handle big system starting form 2000W system and more..

One of the example of powerful Inverter is Sunny Island Inverters ..This kind of Inverters are very powerful and can handle big system..With this type of Inverter you can create cluster of string solar system...very very efficient system but highly expensive...this kind of Inverters also allow external power source like generator as well as other renewable system like Wind energy to tie with solar System...Multiple functionality can be done by this type of Inverter...

this kind of off -grid Inverter can be more complicated and efficient and expensive depending upon the load system....

Sunny Island Single phase system

But before buying any Inverter make sure it gives a pure sine wave and can handle your load system....Check it has all kind of protection system like temperature , over voltage, short circuit, float voltage  protection...Buy in budget and stay safe...Alhamdulilllah...

Hope you like this post( jajakallahu khairan)

Battery Reading Understanding Part 2 ..@ Battery Curves part 2

Please see  http://edyeazul.blogspot.com/2017/01/battery-reading-understanding-part-2.html  before you read this article , this is the second part of the two part..

As I am explaining the benefit of learning the battery curve is very important, because this kind of knowledge make you better user. there are many kind of curves you will see but some of the parameters are very important to observe like DoDs (depth of discharge) , and life cycle curves...In this article I will explain DoD , Cycle life and Float use characteristics...Lets get started ....

3) Capacity vs Cycles :  Capacity of a battery is always depends on the use of the battery , the way you treat it the way you will get result..If you use it wisely then battery can provide you service for a long run with highest capacity. You will understand better it you understand two things i) Depth of Discharge ii) and Cycle life of a battery..

Depth of Discharge (DoD) is a parameter which indicate how much energy that stored in a battery has been used in a percentage format, as an example if a battery is in a 30% DoD state, that's mean 30% of the stored energy has been supplied by the battery and 70% energy is still stored in the battery.

Cycle life is the parameter which indicate how many times you can fully discharge a battery and then fully recharge the battery.If you fully discharge a battery and then fully recharge it then it is called one full cycle. 

A Normal battery normally has 300~2000 cycle life but at different DODs..at lower DoD you get maximum cycle life. In short if you use your battery at lower depth of discharge like 20%~30% then you can get better life time of your battery...you can use your battery for many years, if you use lowest discharge at possible for  your application..this is the way to improve your battery life. As it demonstrate in the Picture curve of Capacity Vs Cycle you can see at 30% DoD the cycle is 1650 and at 50% DoD the cycle is 750 and at 100% DoD the cycle is 300, this mean the capacity of the battery life is decreasing with the depth of discharge. One should never use the battery 100%, remember you can protect your battery from dying early by using them at 20%~30% DoD....

 

4) Charging Characteristics : By this curve one can understand how soon your battery can  recharge after at discharge at certain amount...like if a battery is discharge at 80% DoD then it will take less time to recharge it back to its optimal voltage but if a battery got discharge at 100% DoD then it will take more time to recharge to it optimal voltage.In simple language if you use your battery 80% out of 100% then recharge time will be faster but if you use your battery 100% out of 100% then it will recharge  slower.One of the simple example is your mobile phone, where if you use 2~3 days without recharging it then battery took time to recharge fully , very simple just don't drain out all the power that your battery hold into it..recharge more comparing to discharge ...


Hope you like this post (jajakallahu Khairan)

Battery Reading Understanding Part 2 ..@ Battery Curves part 1

Battery Curves

 

To understand a Battery efficiency the best way is understand the battery curves, there are a lot of curves related to the battery efficiency and its life time, but most of them are in the same parameters like temperature, depth of discharge (DoD), float voltage rating , cycle use etc...but in most of the battery curves you will find something similar ....

Add caption

 1. Temp Vs Capacity : This is very important one, this kind of CURVES will tell you the temperature where you can get maximum service from the battery and where you can get nothing..The relation is capacity of a battery will rise with temperature, but after a certain point it will be constant and no longer will show more increment in capacity...likewise the left picture,  at below  0C there is low performance by the battery , so according to this curve with a certain C rating of the battery you can figure in which temperature you will get maximum output from the battery and what could be the maximum capacity of the battery at atmospheric temperature of surrounding... at picture you can see after 20C ~60C temp. the battery capacity is getting higher but it is also getting saturated and at after some point it will be constant where there will be no increment of capacity....but not all the temperature we can work with , you may not be able to get the best performance by the battery in some cold place or soft hot places....like at ambient temperature of a room which will vary (18C~40C) the performance of the battery will be moderate, so there will be some energy loss..So try to keep your battery where temperature is high but in the range of the battery working temperature... don't keep your battery in a hot oven, just keep it in a hot place which it can bear....

 2.Discharge Volt vs Discharge time. This curve is crucial and very useful to understand how to use the battery for the better result. The Discharge Voltage got low with the discharge time and it also got low with higher C rating...If you are discharging your battery with a higher current with long time ,the voltage of the battery will be down drastically ...To keep the voltage of the battery at the maximum which is very important , we need to choose lower C rating , it means you have to take the best C rating to maintain the battery voltage at best..otherwise you will loose a lot of energy in a short moment...and this is not good for battery health...advise  is to drive out the battery current from the battery slowly at lower rate (0.3C~0.05C according to the curve)...

This is the best you can do for the heath and protect the energy loss from your battery.....Alhamdulillah

Hope this will be helpful (jajakallahu Khairan) 

Amorphous Solar Panel Biography

Amorphous Cell:

The Concept of Amorphous Solar cell is depositing one or several layers of photo voltaic materials onto a substrate is the basic gist of how thin-film solar cells are manufactured. The alias name of amorphous is thin-film photo voltaic cells. There are different types of amonrpous solar cells are available

i) Amorphous Silicon 

ii) Copper Indium gallium selenide

ii) Organic photo voltaic cells

iv) Cadmium tellurium

This kind of solar cell has the least efficiency, the maximum efficiency is available is 7-13%..the further  efficiency could be 10-16% which is expected..but narrow window those are way less then mono or poly crystalline cells..

The market for amorphous is not as good as others cells like mono or ploy crystalline, but it grew with moderate rate like 60% from 2002 to 2007. In 2011, close to 5% of US ...  

You can easily recognize by seeing these three solar cells , amorphous cells are build in rectangle and it has no stretch on it , just simple it look.....

Advantage : Unlike mono and poly crystalline it has no greater efficiency  but for some reason it has good applications....

i) Production of amorphous cells is simple, lower in cost comparing other cells

ii) These cells are flexible and used in various application where flexibility is important.

iii) Mini projects like electronics devices mobile, calculator , camera etc has amorphous cells applications..

iv) If you don't have space issue but want cheaper solar panels then Amorphous is your choice ....

v) It has better response in high temperature and shading problem...

Disadvantage:  

i) It waste a lot of space for the higher power applications which is not expect able for both off grid and on -grid applications.

ii) Because of the the space it waste the cost of bigger plans goes way costly then comparing any other cells.

iii) implementation and installing charge a lot of money for these amorous panels because of cables and connectors expense.

iv) Because if the electrical power is low it shows unproductive application for bigger projects.

Application : As though it has lower power efficiency , but it has great use for lower power applications,

a lot of solar home appliances are made of this kind solar cells...like solar home lantern, calculator , solar lamps, solar tables , solar beds etc...