Photovoltaic Conversion Efficiency Terms +

(solar electricity technical terms applying to electricity, power generation, concentrating solar power, or CSP, solar heating, solar lighting, and solar electricity)

float life
The number of years that a battery can keep its stated capacity when it is kept at float charge.
float service
A battery operation in which the battery is normally connected to an external current source; for instance, a battery charger which supplies the battery load under normal conditions, while also providing enough energy input to the battery to make up for its internal quiescent losses, thus keeping the battery always up to full power and ready for service.
float-zone process, foat zone process, floatzone process
A method of growing a large-size, high-quality crystal whereby coils heat a polycrystalline ingot placed on top of a single-crystal seed.

As the coils are slowly raised the molten interface beneath the coils becomes single crystal.

frequency
The number of repetitions or cycles per unit time of a complete waveform, expressed in Hertz (Hz).

Shortwaves pass the point at high frequencies, longer ones at low frequencies.

frequency regulation
This indicates the variability in the output frequency.

Some loads will switch off or not operate properly if frequency variations exceed one percent.

fresnel lens
An optical device that focuses light like a magnifying glass; concentric rings are faced at slightly different angles so that light falling on any ring is focused to the same point.
full sun
The amount of power density in sunlight received at the earth's surface at noon on a clear day (about 1,000 Watts/square meter).
gallium arsenide; GaAs
A crystalline, high-efficiency compound used to make certain types of solar cells and semiconductor material.
gallium; Ga
A chemical element, metallic in nature, used in making certain kinds of solar cells and semiconductor devices.
gassing
The evolution of gas from one or more of the electrodes in the cells of a battery.

Gassing commonly results from local action self-discharge or from the electrolysis of water in the electrolyte during charging.

gassing current
The portion of charge current that goes into electrolytical production of hydrogen and oxygen from the electrolytic liquid.

This current increases with increasing voltage and temperature.

gel-type battery, gel type battery, geltype battery
Lead-acid battery in which the electrolyte is composed of a silica gel matrix.
gigawatt; GW
A unit of power equal to one billion Watts; one million kilowatts, or 1,000 megawatts.
grid lines
Metallic contacts fused to the surface of the solar cell to provide a low resistance path for electrons to flow out to the cell interconnect wires.
grid-connected system, grid connected system, gridconnected system; grid-interactive system, grid interactive system
A solar electric or photovoltaic (PV) system in which the PV array acts like a central generating plant, supplying power to the grid.
—The information for the entries in this unit were compiled primarily from data
provided in the following source:

"U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy"
consisting of definitions of many important terms having to do with electricity,
power generation, concentrating solar power (CSP), solar heating, solar lighting,
and solar electricity, also known as photovoltaic (PV).

Information was also compiled from the

Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology; Edited by Christopher Morris;
Academic Press; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers; New York; 1992;
as well as,
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th edition;
Sybil P. Parker, editor in chief; McGraw-Hill, Inc.; 1989.

Index of additional Scientific and Technological Topics.