{"id":1346,"date":"2023-12-04T15:42:47","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T15:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-optics-wp.pantheonsite.io\/oscoutreach\/?p=1346"},"modified":"2024-03-19T17:06:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T17:06:43","slug":"photovoltaic-mirrors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/photovoltaic-mirrors\/","title":{"rendered":"Photovoltaic Mirrors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Overview<\/strong>: A PV mirror is a combination of a concentrated solar power, collected by mirror reflection and solar panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Supplies:<\/strong>\u00a0PV mirrors, alligator clip wires, multimeter, the sun or bright light<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Objectives:<\/strong> Observe how different brightnesses of light and the sun collect different amounts of power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Setup:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Place the PV mirrors on the ground facing away from the sun<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2024\/03\/PV-mirror-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1691\" style=\"width:281px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2024\/03\/PV-mirror-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2024\/03\/PV-mirror-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2024\/03\/PV-mirror-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2024\/03\/PV-mirror.jpg 1026w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clip the alligator clips on the mirror wires<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Plug the leads into the multimeter and turn the dial to Volts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to run the demo:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Turn the mirrors to face the sun<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>BE VERY CAREFUL THE ANGLE THE MIRROR IS POINTED, AS IT IS CURVED AND WILL CONCENTRATE THE LIGHT IN TO A LIGHT BAR<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Note the voltage readings from the PV<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Move the PV to face different directions and notice how the voltage readings change at different angles away from the sun<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\u2019s Happening?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The PV mirror acts as both a collector and a reflector. The photovoltaic part generates power using devices that absorb energy from sunlight and convert it into electrical energy through semiconducting materials. Concentrated solar power, or CSPs use mirrors to reflect and concentrate\u00a0sunlight\u00a0onto a receiver. The energy from the concentrated sunlight heats a high temperature fluid in the receiver. The heat, or thermal energy, is used to power an engine to generate electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Try this:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use a power meter placed at the concentration bar to detect how much energy the CSP is producing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Learn more:<\/strong>&nbsp;(external links)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mirrors that collect light from the sun and turn it into power<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":1355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-electromagnetic-spectrum","category-everyday-optics","category-physical-optics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1346"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1700,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346\/revisions\/1700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/oscoutreach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}