Journal ArticleDOI
High-Concentration Photovoltaics—Effect of Inhomogeneous Spectral Irradiation
Yves Martin,Peter D. Kirchner,Theodore G. Van Kessel,Brent A. Wacaser,Robert L. Sandstrom,Dhiren Patel,Ben Kim,Alhassan Badahdah,Hussam Khonkar,Ralf Leutz,Ling Fu,Hans Philipp Annen +11 more
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TLDR
In this article, the authors identified a ripple effect in the output current with respect to the pointing angle of the concentrated PV (CPV) system to the sun direction, which can lower cell current by as much as 15% at 1600x concentration in full sun.Abstract:
At high solar concentration, subtle optical and electrical effects in combination can have a substantial impact on photovoltaic power (PV) generation. We have identified such an effect through its clear signature: a “ripple” in the output current with respect to the pointing angle of the concentrated PV (CPV) system to sun direction. At small angular misalignment, this effect can lower cell current by as much as 15% at 1600x concentration in full sun. At medium concentration between 500 and 1000x, while not as clearly visible in single cells, the effect also reduces output by a smaller amount. The disappearance of the “ripple” signature at low concentrations below 300x indicates that the effect is not a linear effect, such as a light loss. We attribute the pronounced angular sensitivity of power output at high concentrations to a combination of inhomogeneous spectral irradiation incident on the multijunction solar cell and of the impact of the finite lateral resistance of the cell.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
The illumination angle dependency of CPV solar cell electrical performance
TL;DR: In this article, the electrical performance of TJ CPV solar cells for varying angles of incident illumination is studied in detail, and the solar cells suffer a loss of performance of up to 58% for oblique illumination.
Journal ArticleDOI
Influence of laterally split spectral illumination on multi-junction CPV solar cell performance
L.A.A. Bunthof,E.J. Haverkamp,D. van der Woude,Gerard Bauhuis,W.H.M. Corbeek,S. Veelenturf,Elias Vlieg,John J. Schermer +7 more
TL;DR: In this article, the electrical parameters of concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) solar cells under severe laterally split spectra are investigated experimentally, and the short-circuit current exhibits a reduction under spectral splitting associated with reduced cell illumination.
Journal ArticleDOI
Partially shaded III-V concentrator solar cell performance
L.A.A. Bunthof,S. Veelenturf,E.J. Haverkamp,W.H.M. Corbeek,D. van der Woude,Gerard Bauhuis,Peter Mulder,Elias Vlieg,John J. Schermer +8 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the electrical parameters of CPV cells are investigated under inhomogeneous illumination intensity profiles, and the effect of perimeter recombination on the cell performance is found to be independent of the location of illumination.
Journal ArticleDOI
Optimizing Defocus to Increase Efficiency in Concentrator Photovoltaic Modules
Brent A. Wacaser,Abdulaziz Alyahya,Peter D. Kirchner,Abdullah Alowais,Yves Martin,Mohammad Halawani,Robert L. Sandstrom,Nunilo N. Eugenio,Mazzen Aljuwaied,Alhassan Badahdah,Theodore G. VanKessel,Hussam Khonkar +11 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe a process for increasing power efficiency of concentrator photovoltaic systems by optimizing the lens-to-cell spacing, which in combination can result in a more than 10% enhancement.
Proceedings ArticleDOI
Optimizing defocus to increase efficiency in concentrator photovoltaic modules
Brent A. Wacaser,Abdulaziz Alyahya,Peter D. Kirchner,Abdullah Alowais,Yves Martin,Mohammad Halawani,Robert L. Sandstrom,Nunilo N. Eugenio,Mazzen Aljuwaied,Alhassan Badahdah,Theodore G. VanKessel,Hussam Khonkar +11 more
TL;DR: There is an optimum defocus position with improved power output and reduced sensitivity to pointing errors, which, in combination, can result in a more than 10% enhancement.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Strong Internal and External Luminescence as Solar Cells Approach the Shockley–Queisser Limit
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that a great solar cell also needs to be a great light-emitting diode, which is a necessity for approaching the Shockley-Queisser (SQ) efficiency limit.
Journal ArticleDOI
The promise of concentrators
TL;DR: A critical look at the requirements to propel concentrators to a prominent market role in large-scale power production is presented, and various concentrator and flat-plate PV system approaches are compared by computing the expected cost of energy, and conclusions are drawn.
Journal ArticleDOI
High performance Fresnel-based photovoltaic concentrator
Pablo Benítez,Juan C. Miñano,Pablo Zamora,Rubén Mohedano,Aleksandra Cvetkovic,Marina Buljan,Julio Chaves,Maikel Hernandez +7 more
TL;DR: An advanced concentrator optic comprising a Fresnel lens and a refractive secondary element, both with broken rotational symmetry, an optic producing both the desired light concentration with high tolerance (high acceptance angle) as well as an excellent light homogenization by Köhler integration.
Proceedings ArticleDOI
High performance Fresnel-based photovoltaic concentrator
Pablo Zamora,Pablo Benítez,Juan C. Miñano,Rubén Mohedano,Aleksandra Cvetkovic,Marina Buljan,Julio Chaves +6 more
TL;DR: The Fresnel Köhler concentrator (FK) is presented, an advanced optical concentrator comprising a Fresnel lens as a primary element and a refractive secondary element, both presenting free-form surfaces that produces both the desired light concentration and high tolerance.
Proceedings ArticleDOI
Study of non-uniform light profiles on high concentration III–V solar cells using quasi-3D distributed models
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of non-uniform profiles, generated by the concentrator optics, on the performance of a concentrator solar cell is analyzed. And the design of the front grid is then optimized to minimize the losses introduced by the light distribution, even taking into account the effects of the tracking system misalignment.
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