Dish-based high concentration PV system with Köhler optics

Coughenour, Blake; Stalcup, Thomas; Wheelwright, Brian; Geary, Andrew; Hammer, Kimberly; Angel, Roger

doi:10.1364/oe.22.00a211

Cited by 30 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Traditional concentrating PV (CPV) systems rely on large Fresnel lens 2 or mirror-based modules 3,4 that must be precisely oriented in the direction of the Sun to maintain high concentration ratio (CR4100). Although simple and effective, this mode of tracking demands robust and often costly mechanical tracking infrastructure to adequately control the movement of large-area CPV modules, especially in windy conditions 5 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide-angle planar microtracking for quasi-static microcell concentrating photovoltaics

Price

Sheng

Meulblok³

et al. 2015

Nat Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Concentrating photovoltaics offer a way to lower the cost of solar power. However, the existing paradigm based on precise orientation of large-area concentrator modules towards the Sun limits their deployment to large, open land areas. Here, we explore an alternate approach using high-efficiency microcell photovoltaics embedded between a pair of plastic lenslet arrays to demonstrate quasi-static concentrating photovoltaic panels o1 cm thick that accomplish full-day tracking with 4200x flux concentration ratio through small (o1 cm) lateral translation at fixed latitude tilt. Per unit of installed land area, cosine projection loss for fixed microtracking concentrating photovoltaic panels is ultimately offset by improved ground coverage relative to their conventional dual-axis counterparts, enabling a B1.9x increase in daily energy output that may open up a new opportunity for compact, high-efficiency concentrating photovoltaics to be installed on rooftops and other limited-space urban environments.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide-angle planar microtracking for quasi-static microcell concentrating photovoltaics

Price

Sheng

Meulblok³

et al. 2015

Nat Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The design strategy takes into account the next points: 1) The solar tracker design to be used with the concentration modules made by the University of Arizona [8].…”

Section: Solar Tracker Design Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As defined by Coughenour et al [8] the optical array of the technology created in the University of Arizona let the acceptance angle to be as long as Ө = ± .75°. Each module is made by a 1.65 × 1.65 m square shape parabolic mirror, with 1.5 m of focus length, where a second optic stage is made by a silica spherical lens, which distributed the solar radiation in a multi-junction PV cells placed behind the sphere in a curved surface, even when the tracking is out of axis.…”

Section: Defining the Maximum Aperture Angle Losesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of a Linear Actuator Driven Solar Tracker for High Concentration Photovoltaics Technologies

Dávila-Peralta¹,

Cabanillas-López²,

García-Gutiérrez³

et al. 2015

JOCET

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-A CPV solar tracker design is described using CAE tools. A virtual wind tunnel simulation and finite element analysis software to calculate the stress and deformation is used. A 'tilt-roll' tracker employs an inexpensive linear actuator and dampers system to drive the tilt axis, also a bar mechanism driven with another linear actuator in the 'roll' axis is utilized. The process to calculate the aperture angle losses caused by the wind drag is discussed.Index Terms-Solar tracker, CPV, finite element analysis. I. INTRODUCTIONThe CPV technology transforms solar radiation to electric energy. This process requires tracking the apparent moving of the sun along the day. To that purpose, it must integrate an automatic structure capable to track the sun, and place the optics of the concentrator in a way that the direct solar radiation is always focused on the modules during the day [1].According to Angel [2], HCPV technology should compete successfully against the fossil based electricity generation dropping total installation costs respect to flat PV systems. There are various types of solar tracking mechanisms described in literature. Mousazadeh [3] analyzed the principles and methods of solar tracking to maximize the power output of solar systems, finding that the most popular and efficient tracking architectures are the polar axis and altazimuth systems. Actually most of the commercially available CPV systems use a 2 axis tracking in an altazimuth configuration with a pedestal tracker followed by the "tilt-roll" or "polar" configuration.The first tracking control systems employed analog sensors to detect the sun and align the mechanism toward it, based on shadowing technologies with light sensors, integrating a closed loop control with motor that drove the mechanism. The developing of low cost microcontrollers motived the appearance of solar tracking systems, that no longer require Manuscript received May 8, 2015; revised July 30, 2015. This work was supported by the Mexican Science Council (CONACYT) with the grant "Fondo Sectorial de Sustentabilidad Energética" for the Mexican Energy Innovation Center (CEMIEsol) in the P03 project.Christian Dá vila-Peralta and Ricardo Rodrí guez-Carvajal are with the Industrial Engineer Department, University of Sonora, Hermosillo, SON 83000Mexico (e-mail: cdavila@vinculacion.uson.mx, ricardo@industrial.uson.mx).Rafael Cabanillas-López is with the Department of Chemical Engineering and Metallurgy, University of Sonora, Hermosillo, SON 83000 Mexico (e-mail: rcabani@iq.uson.mx).Rafael Garcí a-Gutié rrez is with the Physics Research Department, University of Sonora, Hermosillo, SON 83000 Mexico (e-mail: rgarcia@cifus.uson.mx).sensors and which are based only on the digital calculation of high precision analytics equations of solar positioning [1].The function of a concentration solar tracker is align permanently the aiming axis of the concentration system with the local solar vector, in a way that the maximum power output is produced. In flat PV systems the solar tracking wil...

show abstract

“…The basic idea of this concept is simple. The use of an inexpensive optical element such as Fresnel lens [11] or parabolic mirror [12] to concentrate sunlight onto very small area allowing the use of much less expensive solar cells materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical and thermal simulation for wide acceptance angle CPV module

Ahmad

Ota²,

Araki³

et al. 2017

AIP Conference Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Corresponding author: nc13005@student.miyazaki-u.ac.jpAbstract. Concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) technology has the potential to decrease the cost of systems in the near future by using less expensive optical elements in the system which replace the receiving surface aperture and concentrate the sunlight onto small solar cells. One of the main concerns of CPV is the need for high precision tracking system and the relation to the acceptance angle. In this paper, we proposed a CPV module with concentration ratio larger than 100 times and wide acceptance angle. An optical simulation for the module with S-TIM2 glass as a lens material was conducted to estimate the optical performance of the module. Thermal and electrical simulation was also conducted using COMSOL Multiphysics and SPICE respectively to evaluate the working temperature and electrical characteristics of the multijunction solar cell under concentration conditions.

show abstract

Dish-based high concentration PV system with Köhler optics

Cited by 30 publications

References 16 publications

Wide-angle planar microtracking for quasi-static microcell concentrating photovoltaics

Wide-angle planar microtracking for quasi-static microcell concentrating photovoltaics

Design of a Linear Actuator Driven Solar Tracker for High Concentration Photovoltaics Technologies

Optical and thermal simulation for wide acceptance angle CPV module

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About