Panels that specialize in heating are called thermal panels, these panels are specifically designed to create as much heat as possible to heat a small water supply. Panels that produce electricity are called photon electric panels, these panels convert sunlight into electricity, this system is  usually connected to battery banks that can be used at night time as well as daytime.

Solar panel technology was first used on satellites, as you could imagine these panels were extremely expensive, but with advances in technology the panel model has been enhanced to the point where we can buy solar panels for homes for a somewhat affordable price.

Solar panels can be found in many different places today. Many calculators are equipped with a small solar panel that can absorb energy from even artificial light bulbs to produce enough power to operate. Of course, a calculator requires barely any energy to operate. If your planning on heating or supplying electricity for your entire house, you will be needing a lot of panels, sometimes you can see houses with entire roofs made out of solar panels. As you can imagine these types of houses are quite self sufficient, and rarely need to pay any bills. Of course, buying and installing solar panels is not a cheap operation. But you will be saving money in the long run, you do the math.

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Solar cells create electricity when exposed to light energy or photons from the sun. This is called the the photovoltaic effect. Solar panels are most effective when oriented in such a way as to be pointing directly at the sun. There are two main types of construction of solar cells. The first is made from micro crystalline silicone freedrick rocks and the second is called a “thin film cell” which is made from cadmium telluride.

A photovoltaic module or solar panel is made up of several of these individuals solar cells. The cells are wired together until the desired output is reached. The cells are delicate and easily damaged so they are covered by a protective glass or plastic coating. For most applications, several solar panels are wired together to form a large array of the energy producing modules.

Individual photovoltaic cells are wired together in “series” to increase the voltage that the particular photovoltaic module will produce.  To increase the amount of electricity or current that the photovoltaic system is capable of producing, the individual modules are wired together in “parallel” until the desired amperage rating is achieved.

Most solar panels are rigid but there are some solar panels that are actually flexible.  These newly designed flexible modules are making it possible for solar panels to be used in applications where their use would be impractical in the past.  For example, manufactures have designed a solar panel matt that can be rolled up and stuffed in a backpack.  When electricity is needed for charging small portable devices like cell phones, video games, or PDAs, the mat is simply unrolled and placed in the sun.

Some newly designedd solar panels are equipped with concentrator technology.  These light concentrators are either lenses, mirrors, or a combination of the two used to concentrate the suns rays  onto the solar panel.  Researchers have discovered ways of improving the efficiency of solar panels by the use of this concentrator technology.  More electricity can be produced with smaller solar panel arrays than ever before.

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