The Solar Power Subsystem

The Solar Power Subsystem of a Solar Power System contains the solar panels that convert radiant sunlight into DC energy.  As shown in Figure 1, the Solar Power Subsystem contains as few as one Solar Panel and as many Solar Panels as your design can afford. 

Current Solar Panels are very modular, and we can treat them as a black box with two output ports: a negative output port and a positive output port.  The Solar Panels can be mounted in a fixed orientation, and if they are fixed, you can consult the Mounting and Pointing discussion to determine the best tilt angle to mount the Solar Panels.

Solar panels to achieve maximum energy generation would be mounted on a gimbal system to cause the perpendicular to the face of the solar panel to point directly at the sun throughout the day.  It is necessary that the panel in this gimballed case have the orientation driven by a computer, as the arc of the Sun varies slightly day to day.

Figure 1: Solar Power Subsystem in the Context of the Solar Power System

For a discussion of how to configure a set of solar panels to achieve specific power requirements, see the vCalc collection:  Solar Panel Set configurations