Shedding Light on Solar Energy: 2018

My first independent engineering project was for my freshman “agriscience” project, a required science fair/final for my sustainable agricultural biology class. For this project, I used an Arduino, a solar panel, and a light sensor to monitor ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light and the incoming voltage of the solar panel. I then compared the voltage to the recorded amounts of light the sensor detected to determine which wavelength group affected solar power more. My results were somewhat inclusive, but I believed that UV(ultraviolet) light affected the voltage slightly more than IR (infrared), with visible light having the greatest effect.

This project was submitted to the 2018 UC Davis agriscience fair and 1st in my group and 5th overall.

Below is the paper showcased, official paper submitted, project log, and a few pictures (I apologize for the low quality, freshman me was a terrible photographer).