Development, characterisation and 1000 Suns outdoor tests of GaAs monolithic interconnected module (MIM) receivers

Abstract

Monolithic interconnected modules (MIMs) are large area, high voltage PV devices which perform well at very high light intensities. They are therefore well suited for the assembly of dense array receivers. The latter can be employed in solar concentrator systems such as parabolic dishes at a concentration ratio of 1000 Suns or more. This paper reports on progress in the development and testing of GaAs MIMs and of water‐cooled dense array receivers assembled from MIMs. The MIMs are electrically protected by integrated bypass diodes and, under indoor laboratory tests, reach an efficiency of 20·0% at 1000 Suns and 22·9% at 200 Suns. Several dense array receivers have been assembled, one of which was tested outdoors at 1‐Sun and at concentration ratios of several hundred Suns and up to slightly above 1000 Suns using the PETAL solar dish facility in Sede Boqer, Israel. In addition to I–V curve measurements, the high‐concentration tests included measurements that quantified the light intensity distribution over the dense array. Deformations in some of the I–V plots were observed for intensity distributions that departed substantially from perfect uniformity. The shapes of these plots were successfully reproduced by an electronic network simulation of the inhomogeneously illuminated receiver. 1‐Sun I–V curve measurements and visual inspections performed before and after exposure of the module to concentrated sunlight revealed no indications of degradation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Advanced liquid cooling in HCPVT systems to achieve higher energy efficiencies

“…Because of the low currents, power losses due to series resistance can be kept small. Each segment of the MIM is protected by a bypass diode which is monolithically integrated into the semiconductor structure [1]. The MIM cell was bonded to a manifold microchannel heat sink, which is based on the backside heat removal solutions [7].…”

“…Hence, the module efficiency can be maximized due to minimization of the interconnection area between adjacent photovoltaic cells. By using monolithic interconnected modules (MIMs) a very small interconnection area and, consequently, a high packing factor can be achieved [1,2].…”

CPV-T mirror dish system combined with water desalination systems

“…A well-known concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system design consists of mirror dishes focusing the light onto actively cooled dense array receivers also called compact concentrator modules (CCM) [1,2]. Mirror optics shows no chromatic aberration and therefore concentration factors of more than 1000x with high optical efficiency can be achieved.…”

III-V Multi-junction solar cells and concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems

“…Here, the diameter of the concentrating mirror is 1.2 m, while the receiver has an area of 4.5 × 4.5 cm 2 consisting of four single-junction monolithically interconnected modules (MIMs) [55].…”