Design of a lens-to-channel waveguide system as a solar concentrator structure

Liu, Yu-Xiao; Huang, Ran; Madsen, C.K.

doi:10.1364/oe.22.00a198

Cited by 23 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Because the relative location of the light source (the Sun) changes with the rotation and revolution of the Earth, solar tracking systems are employed to align these optical concentrators and solar cells toward the Sun by precisely controlling the angle of the CPV panels, based on GPS or vision sensors . However, conventional solar trackers tend to be bulky and heavy, requiring dedicated installation or resistance to wind loading , and to address these issues, relatively thin and light planar‐type concentrators or waveguide systems have been developed to collect incident light onto the solar cells, usually with a compromise in the acceptance angle of light. More recent developments include a folded optical path , tracking integration , seasonal waveguide tracking , a kirigami structure , flexible structure or bio‐inspired structure for planar‐type concentrators.…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automated dual‐axis planar solar tracker with controllable vertical displacement for concentrating solar microcell arrays

Lim

Kwak

Song

et al. 2016

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Concentrator photovoltaics are able to maintain power output for extended hours while reducing the quantity of expensive high performance compound semiconductor solar materials. One of the limitations in concentrator photovoltaics is the bulky and heavy form factors of solar tracking systems which usually require dedicated installation locations and resistance to wind loading. This paper describes a planar solar tracker that requires only micro or millimeter scale lateral and vertical displacements of a microlens array to maintain both the optimum lateral locations and focal lengths at various incident angles of light, using dual-axis actuations. Experimental results for lateral solar tracker were obtained under a solar simulator considering the effects of the rotation and revolution of the Earth, and under the Sun on a rooftop with the actual system, to demonstrate the concept and practical performance.

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Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automated dual‐axis planar solar tracker with controllable vertical displacement for concentrating solar microcell arrays

Lim

Kwak

Song

et al. 2016

Progress in Photovoltaics

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“…in which f is the lens paraxial focal length, D is the lens diameter and δ is the incident light angle before the lens 8 . In order to find the best coupler angle, the simulation results are shown in Figure 2.…”

Section: Waveguide Unitmentioning

confidence: 99%

First demonstration of a novel 2D-waveguiding solar concentrator

2014

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The first experimental demonstration results will be presented for a novel, two-dimensional waveguiding solar concentrator consisting of a primary concentrator (a microlens array) and a secondary concentrator (tapered multimode waveguides). The microlens array collects the incident sun light and focuses it onto a turning mirror. The turning mirror couples the light into a tapered multimode waveguide, which alleviates connection, cooling and uniformity issues associated with conventional solar concentrating systems. Therefore, a large area of light can be efficiently concentrated to a small waveguide cross-section and guided to an array of co-located photovoltaic cells with high optical efficiency. To achieve the maximum coupling efficiency of the light to the waveguide, the design of the turning mirror and waveguides are optimized to avoid any inherent decoupling loss in the subsequent waveguide propagation. Experimental results indicate that a 38 mm diameter lens with a multimode waveguide that is 3 mm x 3 mm x 10 cm, using only total internal reflection surfaces, can achieve 126x concentration with 62.8% optical efficiency. We will present details on the experimental device characterization. A critical requirement for this design is maintaining low waveguide propagation losses, which as we demonstrate can be less than 0.1 dB/cm. Considering 100% TIR coupling and the use of antireflection layers, the theoretical efficiency limit for this particular system is ~88%.

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“…The total internal reflection (TIR) based approach using waveguides for solar concentration is a promising alternative method. Waveguide concentrators have been investigated well in the area of concentrating photovoltaics, as it minimizes the quantity of expensive semiconductor material for a given power density [8][9][10][11][12]; however, the concept is new for CST applications. Total internal reflection in waveguides concentrator is realized using (a) luminescent solar concentrators [13][14][15][16][17][18] or (b) micro-optics based solar concentrators based on coupling topography [8,9,11,19,20], which is the focus of the present study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis and Optimization of a Novel Hexagonal Waveguide Concentrator for Solar Thermal Applications

2021

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This paper analyzes a novel, cost-effective planar waveguide solar concentrator design that is inspired by cellular hexagonal structures in nature with the benefits of facile installation and low operation and maintenance cost. A coupled thermal and optical analysis of solar irradiation through an ideal hexagonal waveguide concentrator integrated with a linear receiver is presented, along with a cost analysis methodology, to establish the upper limit of performance. The techno-economic model, coupled with numerical optimization, is used to determine designs that maximized power density and minimized the cost of heat in the temperature range of 100–250 °C, which constitutes more than half of the industrial process heat demand. Depending on the incident solar irradiation and the application temperature, the cost of heat for the optimal design configuration ranged between 0.1–0.27 $/W and 0.075–0.18 $/W for waveguide made of ZK7 glass and polycarbonate, respectively. A techno-economic analysis showed the potential of the technology to achieve cost as low as 80 $/m2 and 61 $/m2 for waveguide made of ZK7 glass and polycarbonate material, respectively, which is less than half the cost of state-of-the-art parabolic trough concentrators. Overall, the hexagonal waveguide solar concentrator technology shows immense potential for decarbonizing the industrial process heat and thermal desalination sectors.

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Design of a lens-to-channel waveguide system as a solar concentrator structure

Cited by 23 publications

References 10 publications

Automated dual‐axis planar solar tracker with controllable vertical displacement for concentrating solar microcell arrays

Automated dual‐axis planar solar tracker with controllable vertical displacement for concentrating solar microcell arrays

First demonstration of a novel 2D-waveguiding solar concentrator

Analysis and Optimization of a Novel Hexagonal Waveguide Concentrator for Solar Thermal Applications

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