Building Solar from scratch

SpaceNut · 2019-06-01 15:13:53

This has been started to keep Terraformers topic on Task

From Simple vs Complex, Common vs Rare topic:

Terraformer wrote:

I don't think complexity can be reduced down to just tolerances, though that's definitely part of it. It's also the number of steps involved, as well as the reagents you need to use. You could have all the elements to make solar cells in abundance, but going from raw sand to the pure siliicon wafers is still going to be fiendishly difficult. I suppose what I'm getting at, in a sense, is the entropy of manufacture...

The complexity of solar comes back to the average person can not make one from scratch but since we are wanting to do that maybe a topic on building them is what we really want rather than talking about what we could do if we had them....

Leverage from one gain to the next for insitu built and used

SpaceNut · 2019-06-01 15:14:54

Construction and working of Solar Cell

https://news.energysage.com/what-are-so … materials/

It essentially consists of a silicon PN junction diode with a glass window on top surface layer of P material is made extremely thin so, that incident light photon’s may easily reach the PN junction. When these photons collide with valence electrons’. They comport them sufficient energy as to leave their parent atoms. In this way free electrons and holes are generated on both sides of the junction. Due to these holes and electrons current are produces. This current is directly proportional to the illumination’s (mw/cm2) and also depends on the size of the surface area being illuminated.

solar cell construction process equipment

Photovoltaic solar cells are thin silicon disks that convert sunlight into electricity. These disks act as energy sources for a wide variety of uses, including: calculators and other small devices; telecommunications; rooftop panels on individual houses; and for lighting, pumping, and medical refrigeration for villages in developing countries. Solar cells in the form of large arrays are used to power satellites and, in rare cases, to provide electricity for power plants.

All crystalline solar cells (mono and poly) are made using a very thin wafer of base silicon with the two main types being p-type and n-type. ... N-type cell construction is more expensive as it uses what's known as a boron diffusion process to add the thin p-type 'emitter' layer. These processes include, diffusion, drying, firing annealing, deposition, and coating of the solar cell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell

SpaceNut · 2019-06-01 15:15:47

https://www.cleanenergyreviews.info/blo … nstruction
LG+Neon+2+quality+testing.jpg?format=750w

types of cells and the layering that happens for them to work...

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Solar-Cell.html

https://phys.org/news/2017-04-fabricati … cells.html

U.S. Solar Photovoltaic Manufacturing: Industry Trends, Global Competition,Federal Support
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42509.pdf

How to put together a system
http://www.solar4rschools.org/sites/def … uction.pdf

louis · 2019-06-01 19:12:05

I've researched and posted about this topic before.

All my research suggests that you could import PV panel manufacturing equipment to Mars and begin PV manufacture there. You might possibly need to account for the lower G on Mars. That might affect some of the equipment.

This is a highly automated plant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KTrq63Q2u4

It's a big facility but I am sure it could be scaled down for a Mars plant.

Acquiring the materials on Mars for PV panel manufacture should be relatively easy. Certainly silicon is abundant. Possibly it might make sense to import some of the rarer chemicals from Earth as necessary.

I think with sophisticated 3D printers we could also begin to build PV manufacturing plant on Mars. Maybe you couldn't achieve 100% self-sufficiency straight off but even 80% would be v. useful, avoiding the need for importation of heavy machinery.

I think robots would form a bigger part of the set up on Mars compared with Earth. Labour will be in such short supply on Mars that it will make sense to use mobile robots that can take X from A to B within a manufacturing facility.

Within 10 years you could have a sophisticated PV panel manufacturing facility on Mars.

BTW I've seen You Tube videos of people creating PV panels out of mostly natural ingredients like berry juice. They are very inefficient but it can be done.