This lab required us to use the Lego Mindstorm hardware and software in a way that we have not done before. We were given a small solar panel, the Lego device, a flashlight, and some color filters to do this lab with. The goal of the lab was to measure the levels of energy that the solar panel picks up from the flashlight from many different distances and using many different color filters on the panel. This lab illustrated to us very effectively exactly how much energy can be generated from photons.

Shining the light onto the panel.

In this lab we tested the solar panel’s readings with no light, from 3cm, 10 cm, 17cm, 24 cm, and 35 cm away. Additionally we tested the light readings with different color filters on top, namely blue, purple, orange, and yellow.

When we were going through the trials, we found that we got the highest average measurment when we held the flashlight 10 cm away from the solar panel. And average reading of 0.453605. We felt that this could be because when we would shine the light on the panel from a distance, we could aim the light directly down onto the panel. This is compared to when we held the flashlight right on top of the panel. When we held the light at a distance, we found that all of the light would be hitting the panel, instead of when it was right on top some of the light would be hitting the table under. Those are wasted photons not going into the panel. When we held it at a distance the light was concentrated onto the panel.

We also noticed that the power average was even stronger when we put the orange filter on the panel. The average spiked up to 0,471667. We feel that this is because the orange filter seems to be the one that has the least amount of light blockage. For example, one would not get much light diffusion if they were to wear orange sunglasses. So the light from the flashlight passed pretty easily through the filter and onto the panel.

Our data.

Overall, this lab was a lot of fun and had limited issues. The only problem that we had was, as usual, opening and working LabView. It seems that every time we use it something goes wrong. This lab was a lot of fun and I feel that I learned a lot about photovoltaic energy generation.