Solar street lights and how they work

SOLAR STREET LIGHTS:

IN RESONATION WITH ENVIRONMENT

INTRODUCTION

Back in the ancient era, many, many inventions were made in our ancestral world which later got adopted by the inventors in the modern world. These age-old tools and inventories were cleverly transformed into modern-era devices being integrated with latest technology to serve the same purpose but in a different and more efficient manner.

Street lights surprisingly, also had it’s ancestral roots stemmed from the ancient Roman empire. Of course, with advancement in science and electricity, street light concept was modernized and transformed from being held physically by a man to an upright pole with the light device being fixed on it’s top.

As the outlook of how a street light should look like was approved, there was yet a lot more to look for. Several concepts were explored by scientists to modernize this lighting device further so that the disadvantages observed in the nascent invention could be eradicated.

In a nutshell, we did find a good lighting device being the latest metal-halide luminaires, steel poles and whatnot !! Sadly, there were again loopholes that the scientists could no longer let them get ignored. This called for an hour of need to vigorously look for other alternate concept.

Soon, they found their gold in LED technology and physics of solar radiations and their seamless integration gave birth to solar LED street lights.

NASTY RAISINS IN THE FORMULATED
PIE

Metal halide lamps when finally invented, became a rage in the world. They would operate well and were considered as the best possible light source available in the late 90s. In fact, they were installed by manufacturers to make almost every street light. Even domestic lighting preferred using metal halide lamps than it’s predecessor inert gas infused devices.

Then why were the scientists forced to look for a completely different concept other than gas-infused, conventional street lights to replace them ?

Despite the concept being carried forward ever since the invention of gas bulbs in mid nineteenth century, what possibly went so wrong that the idea of gas-infused street light lamps at all was discarded ?

The reasons being the nasty raisins in the pie (conventional street light) are dispelled below

THE Raisins

RAISIN ONE:

The mercury inside the metal-halide lamps is a toxic metal which is extremely harmful to the environment. Now, this metal in these lamps hold a good chance to leak from hairline cracks formed in the glass covering of the lamp. The cracks develop in the lamps , especially when they are installed in the coastal cities, due to frequent weather changes and differing wind pressure.

RAISIN 2:

Water droplets including those occurring as moisture in the air and humidity in coastal regions deteriorate the functioning of this lighting device.

RAISIN 3:

Electricians cannot directly place their bare hands on the glass bulb even when cold. The oil from their fingers will heat shortening the life of the lamp. This luminaire is hazardous especially when casually disposed. Dangerous luminaire!!

RAISIN 4:

The metal-vapor lamps had a short life. They could provide a relatively low powered illumination and also would soon start flickering after continuous usage.

RAISIN 5:

The vapor infused bulbs and gas infused bulbs consume high amount of power to provide a powerful beam of light. It is also uncertain that these bulbs will deliver the same lumen output after a period of time

RAISIN 6:

These street lights are moderately efficient. They generally exuberate a shallow light which leaks away from two extreme ends of the lighting device at an angle greater than 180 degrees. Disturbing the atmosphere with its unrequired presence, this street light then becomes the root cause for generation of light pollution.

RAISIN 7:

Halogen lamps always generate a lot of heat. This makes it difficult for people to stand under the area illuminated by the street light for a longer time.

RAISIN 8:

Extra shielding of the lamp is required to prevent the exposure of excessive harmful radiations to the environment outside the device.

THE SUN GIVES US THE RUN
TO PRODUCE POWER ABOUT A TON

The above figure shows how a typical solar street looks like. The black colored panels are called as solar panels and the below two devices, each fixed on one of the branches of supporting pole are the luminaires, the lighting devices containing a plethora of LEDs embedded inside to collectively release a strong beam of light.

OH MY PANELS !!

POLYCRYSTALLINE PANELS

Now, imagine the same solar panels as shown in the picture and replace the color of the panels to a dark blue color with white grids.

The rest is the same although not structurally inside at molecular level.

These blue panels are nothing but solar panels made of polycrystalline (poly) material doped with certain impurities to make the crystal extra sensitive to the solar radiations.

Polycrystalline solar panels are relatively cheaper, especially when compared to the black panels. Yet, poly solar panels are not as efficient as the black solar panels due to variation in crystalline structure at different dimensions and angles.

MONOCRYSTALLINE PANELS

Now, let’s return back to the black panels to finally unveil what exactly they are. The black panels are the only alternate to the poly solar panels and are called as monocrystalline solar panels, in short mono panels. These panels have a uniform crystalline structure.

The structure is the symmetrical and has same structural arrangement at all possible dimensions and angles. This is good since the possibility of collision of electrons with the solid cell atoms is less. A pure Silicon structure includes the periodic repetition of loosely bonded electron orbitals which on little absorption of energy can throw electrons out. As a consequence, they are highly sensitive to light.

Manufacturing a mono solar panel is very tough and requires many complicated machinery to process the material to extract pure Silicon with the structure we so dearly desire. Hence, mono solar panels are very expensive despite being very effective.

HOW DO SOLAR STREET LIGHTS WORK ?

The main way of operation designed for the solar street light to produce light is to have solar panels which absorb solar radiations and convert the energy contained in the radiations absorbed by panels to electrical energy. These panels form the unique distinguished feature to use the solar energy.

As we zoom on a scale of micrometers into the solar panel, we observe a plethora of photodiodes completely locked with one another in the same plane to form a group. Later, these groups vigorously add with one another to form a bigger unit. Several such formed units again aggregate together to form a huge unit called as a module. A frame containing several of such modules then form a panel. Such is the structure of a solar panel which again is a marvel on it’s own. A device smaller than the size of a dot converts solar energy to electric current and millions of them inside one small module produce a sharp electric current. The module may be as small as a palm of a human hand and as thin as a paper. Yet, it holds the capability to deliver substantial amount of current on exposure to sun.

The formed electric output stream flows from the panel to charge a battery inside the LED street light device during the day. By the night, the battery charges up and as a consecutive reaction, pumps the electric energy to the lighting device. The lighting device then soaks in the supplied input to convert it to a powerful beam of light energy via LED dies.,

Solar powered LED street lights are the new alternative to conventional street lights.

They can integrate themselves with the most seasoned technology including IoT (as seen in smart street lights) with an extremely long life.

GLO LED SOLAR STREET LIGHTING DEVICES

SOLAR INTEGRATED

Battery, panel and light are all present in a single set

Easy to install

2 Yrs warranty

SOLAR
SEMI-INTEGRATED

Panel is separate from the light and battery

Higher wattages can be attained

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About Us

GLO LED Private Limited is a leading manufacturer and supplier of LED lighting solutions. GLO LED provides end-to-end solutions, from Consulting, Design, manufacturing, Supply, and Product Installation. The company has the expertise to deliver the orders to a wide range of industries

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