Designing indoor solar products : photovoltaic technologies for AES

Photovoltaic technology - or the direct conversion of light into electricity - is the fastest growing means of electricity generation today, however it is generally used outdoors. Relatively little attention has been focused on the many obstacles to overcome when designing efficient indoor products. As a result, indoor products are more often than not limited to low power. Designing Indoor Solar Products bridges this gap by showing where AES (Ambient Energy Systems) based on photovoltaic cells may be used for higher power devices.

Motivated by both financial and ecological arguments, this book:

Co-ordinates a wide-reaching range of scientific information regarding photovoltaic technologies and their application to indoor spaces. Analyses power management, power availability, technological selection and design methodologies. Uses real-life examples and case studies to demonstrate the arguments made. Presents information in such a way as to make it accessible even to engineers with basic electrical knowledge.

Designing Indoor Solar Products pulls together a wealth of information on photovoltaic technologies and their applications. It will be of practical interest to engineers and designers of sensor systems planning on using photovoltaic technology for power, whilst the theoretical approach will appeal to those in academia in the related areas of environmental engineering, sustainable development as well as building and product design.

Author Notes

Dr. Julian Randall is a Senior Research Fellow at the ETHZ (Eidgenossische Technische Hochschulze Zurich), Switzerland. His Bachelor of Engineering with honours is from University of Wales College, Cardiff and he holds a doctorate from the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), Switzerland. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the IEE and IEEE.
Dr. Randall is an active researcher of indoor photovoltaic solar application, most recently for a wearable autonomous location tracking system [207]. He is the general chair of the Second International Forum on Applied Wearable Computing in Zurich, Switzerland. His research interests include, but are not limited to, ambient energy power sources, context-aware wearable systems, autonomous systems and human-computer interfaces. Any queries should be directed via jfrandall@iee.org.

About the author

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 State of the Art

Introduction

Low Power Energy Sources

Intellectual Property Rights

IPV Taxonomies

IPV gaps in knowledge

Conclusion

2 Engineering design

Introduction

Defining design

Trends in engineering design

Life Cycle Methods

Conclusion

3 Radiant Energy Indoors

Introduction

Physics of buildings

Photometric characterisation

Radiometric characterisations

Computer simulation

Discussion

Conclusion

Future work

Further reading

4 Fundamentals of Solar Cells

Introduction

A brief history of solar collectors and PV

Photonic semiconductors

Photovoltaic Technology

Suboptimal solar cell efficiency

IPV Material Technologies

Efficiency improvements

Conclusion

Further reading

5 Solar Cells for Indoor Use

Introduction

Technology performance at indoor light levels

Indoor light level model presentation

Discussion

Designing PV modules for indoor use

Conclusion

Further work

6 Indoor Ambient Energy Charge Storage

Introduction

Trends in charge storage

Charge storage technology

Charge storage parameters

To determine storage capacity

Electrochemical Storage Technologies

Conclusion

Future Work

Further reading

7 Ambient Energy Power Source Design

Introduction

Clarification

Conceptual Design

Embodiment

Detailed Design

Case studies

Conclusion

Further reading

Conclusion

Abbreviations and Symbols

Glossary

References

Index

Available:*

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Table of Contents