Throughout the recent centuries, the limits of using energy resources due to the cost and environmental issues became one of the scientists’ concerns. Because of the huge amount of energy received by the Earth from the sun, the application of photovoltaic solar cells has become popular in the world. The photovoltaic (PV) efficiency can be increased by several factors; concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system is one of the important tools for efficiency improvement and enables for a reduction in the cell area requirement. The limits of the PV area can reduce the amount of absorbing irradiation; CPV systems can concentrate a large amount of sunlight into a smaller one by applying lenses or curved and flat mirrors. However, the additional costs on concentrating optics and cooling systems made CPV less common than nonconcentrated photovoltaic. This paper reviews the different types of PV concentrators, their performance with advantages and disadvantages, concentration ratio, acceptance angle, brief comparison between their efficiencies, and appropriate cooling system.

Numerical study has been performed to investigate the influence of rectangular block on mean Nusselt number of hot wall in a square cavity of porous media. Top and bottom walls are insulated and the right and left walls are cold and hot, respectively, at constant temperature which are heated differentially assuaging a steady condition. 4 distinct cases are introduced regarding the block position: The block at the bottom/top edge with variable distance from the hot wall and the block at the middle edge of bottom/top with variable height. Mean Nusselt numbers are normalized with the simple case of no insulated block. Results show a significant dependence of mean Nusselt on the block position. It also affects the dimensionless time to reach a steady status..

Transient natural convection within a 2D square cavity filled with a porous medium is numerically investigated. The left wall is suddenly heated to a constant temperature Th, while the right wall is suddenly cooled to a constant temperature Tc. Both the horizontal walls are insulated. The Finite Volume numerical method is used to solve the dimensionless governing equations. The results are obtained for the initial transient state assuaging to the steady state, and for Rayleigh number values of 102–104. It is indicated that the average Nusselt number showing an undershoot during the transient period and that the time needed to reach the steady state is longer for low Rayleigh number and shorter for high Rayleigh number.