Types of Solar Panels - What You Need to Know
There are two main types of solar panels that are most commonly used by all the solar companies
- Monocrystalline
- Polycrystalline
1) Monocrystalline solar panels
Monocrystalline solar panels are the most developed and oldest form of solar panels. About 40 monocrystalline solar cells are used to make these monocrystalline solar panels. These solar cells are entirely constructed of silicon.
A silicon crystal is put in a vat of molten silicon during the production process (known as the Czochralski technique). The crystal is progressively drawn out of the vat, enabling the molten silicon to create a solid crystal shell around it, known as an ingot. After that, the ingot is thinly cut into silicon wafers. The wafer is converted into a cell, and the cells are then connected to make a solar panel.
Because of the way sunlight interacts with pure silicon, monocrystalline solar cells look black.
While the cells are black, the back sheets and frames come in a range of colors and styles. There are minor gaps between the monocrystalline cells since they are structured like a square with the corners removed.
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2) Polycrystalline solar panels
Polycrystalline solar panels are a much more recent innovation, but their popularity and efficiency are quickly developing. Polycrystalline cells, like monocrystalline solar panels, are constructed of silicon.
Polycrystalline cells, on the other hand, are created from melted silicon crystal fragments. The silicon crystal is put in a vat of molten silicon during the production process. Rather than carefully drawing it out, this crystal is allowed to shatter and cool.
The shattered silicon is then thinly cut into polycrystalline solar wafers when the fresh crystal has cooled in its mold. To make a polycrystalline panel, these wafers are put together. Because of the way sunlight reflects off the crystals, polycrystalline cells appear blue in hue. Sunlight reflects differently off of silicon pieces than it does from a clean silicon cell.
Back frames and frames are usually silver with polycrystalline, however, this might vary. The cell is square in form, and there are no gaps between its corners.
