Latest Solar Energy Articles and Videos

Categories

Casio Tips Its Hat to Renesas for Its Battery-Less, Solar-Powered Smartwatch

The secret sauce? Renesas' silicon-on-thin-buried-oxide (SOTB) process technology.

March 19, 2020 by Gary Elinoff

Layered Solar Cell Technology Exhibits Record Levels of Power-Conversion Efficiency

Scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) have created a layered, low-cost solar cell technology that exhibits some of the highest levels of power-conversion efficiency to date.

March 14, 2020 by Luke James

Silicon Carbide Is Changing the Game of Solar Energy

There's plenty of buzz about SiC for electric vehicles. How is the wide-bandgap semiconductor pushing innovations in solar power, though?

March 11, 2020 by Gary Elinoff

Engineering Smart Cities Should Focus on Technologies that Make Cities Better Places to Live

When we think “smart city”, many picture a vast landscape governed by technology in every way, shape, and form. Swathes of tech do not necessarily make cities “smart” nor an objectively better place to live, however.

February 19, 2020 by Luke James

A Case for Renewables with Solar Photovoltaics: A Power Engineer’s Perspective

Why should we consider solar in design? Here's an argument put together by a power engineer.

October 18, 2019 by Lorenzo Mari

Introduction to the Advanced Extensible Interface (AXI)

This article will introduce the Advanced Extensible Interface (AXI), an extension of AMBA.

October 17, 2019 by Stephen St. Michael

ON Semiconductor Launches Power Modules for Solar Energy, Uninterruptible Power Supples

ON Semiconductor has launched two new Power Integrated Modules to be demoed at electronica 2018 alongside an Intelligent Power Module for EV charging.

November 09, 2018 by Gary Elinoff

PCB Layout for a Photovoltaic Power Supply for Microcontroller Circuits

This article discusses the PCB layout for a power-supply circuit that generates a regulated 3.3 V rail from a small solar cell.

June 07, 2018 by Robert Keim

Schematic Design for a Solar-Powered Charge-Pump Power Supply Circuit

This article discusses a 3.3 V power-supply circuit that is built around an inductorless DC/DC converter and a solar cell.

June 06, 2018 by Robert Keim

New Solar Panel Design Tackles Solar Energy’s Achilles Heel by Harvesting Energy from Rain

Researchers from Soochow University have developed a prototype solar panel that can harvest energy from rain. Could this be a new direction for solar energy or is it merely a neat science project?

June 04, 2018 by Robin Mitchell

Selecting and Implementing Photovoltaic Cells for Solar-Powered Devices

This article discusses details that will help you choose the right kind of solar cell and successfully incorporate it into your next project.

May 31, 2018 by Robert Keim

The Circuit Designer’s Guide to Photovoltaic Cells for Solar-Powered Devices

This article presents the equivalent circuit for a solar cell and discusses some implementation details.

May 30, 2018 by Robert Keim

A Modern Day Icarus: The Parker Solar Probe’s Mission to the Sun

How do we design, build, and test a sensitive piece of equipment for millions of times more heat and radiation exposure?

May 21, 2018 by Chantelle Dubois

Hardware Evaluation for the Cypress S6AE102A/S6AE103A Eval Kit for Energy Harvesting Applications

In this article, we will assess and characterize the hardware of two power management IC development boards from Cypress Semiconductor, designed for energy-harvesting applications.

May 08, 2018 by Mark Hughes

Teardown Tuesday: Solar-Powered Floating Water Fountain

In this teardown, we examine the innards of a solar-powered floating water fountain by Feelle.

November 28, 2017 by Nick Davis

Teardown Tuesday: Solar Powered Ultrasonic Dog Repellent

In this teardown, we examine the innards of the solar-powered ultrasonic dog repellent, complete with solar panel and PIR sensor.

August 29, 2017 by Nick Davis

The Voyager Mission: Insight into Our Solar System

Here is a look into both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2’s mission objectives, the experiments onboard, and the data it collected that has complimented and expanded our knowledge of our solar system.

August 13, 2017 by Chantelle Dubois

How the Voyager Missions’ Plasma Science Investigations Teach Us About Solar Winds

AAC continues to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Voyager spacecraft by looking at the Plasma experiments. In this article, we take a look at the Voyager missions' plasma experiments.

July 30, 2017 by Mark Hughes

Exploring the Solar System with the Voyager Spacecraft’s Cameras, Polarimeters, and Magnetometers

Let's take a look at some of the instruments the Voyager spacecraft use to gather data for imaging and atmosphere analysis.

July 16, 2017 by Mark Hughes

Build an Arduino Multi-Node BLE Humidity and Temperature Sensor Monitor

Use Cypress Solar-Powered BLE Sensors, an Arduino UNO, and an HM10 BLE module to make your own multi-node temperature and humidity monitor and display.

April 28, 2017 by Raymond Genovese