CPV module design optimization for advanced multi-junction solar cell concepts

Steiner, Marc; Kiefel, Peter; Siefer, Gerald; Wiesenfarth, Maike; Dimroth, Frank; Krause, R.; Gombert, Andreas; Bett, Andreas W.

doi:10.1063/1.4931552

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Especially for lenses with chromatic aberration, the distance influences the amount of photons available for absorption and the lateral distribution of photons in the subcells. 83,159 Figure 13 shows the impact of the cell-lens-distance on the current-voltage characteristics of a multi-junction solar cell. The graph (a) in Fig.…”

Section: Uniform Illumination Is Required As Difference In Fluxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges in the design of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules to achieve highest efficiencies

Wiesenfarth

Antón

Bett

2018

Applied Physics Reviews

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Concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) is a special high efficiency system technology in the world of PV-technologies. The idea of CPV is to use optical light concentrators to increase the incident power on solar cells. The solar cell area is comparatively tiny, thus saving expensive semiconductor materials and allowing the use of more sophisticated and more costly multi-junction solar cells. The highest CPV module efficiency achieved is 38.9%. This CPV module uses four-junction III-Vbased solar cells. Moreover, mini-modules have already achieved an efficiency of 43.4%. The interaction between optics, cells, and layout of the module and tracker determines the overall field performance. Today, some utility scale CPV plants are installed. The CPV technology allows for many technical solutions for system designs and for optimizing performance while maintaining the economics. This paper will review the achievements and discuss the challenges for the CPV module technology and its components. We discuss the different components and the most important effects regarding the module design. Furthermore, we present the module designs that have shown the highest efficiencies.

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Section: Uniform Illumination Is Required As Difference In Fluxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges in the design of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules to achieve highest efficiencies

Wiesenfarth

Antón

Bett

2018

Applied Physics Reviews

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“…The bandgap energies were set to 1.87 eV, 1.41 eV and 0.66 eV with a top cell transparency of 5.5 % (see [6] and references therein for details). Of course, for an optimization of a real CPV system one would use the measured EQE of a real solar cell or a more sophisticated model of the solar cell [12].…”

Section: Interaction Of Optics and Solar Cellmentioning

confidence: 99%

The distance temperature map as method to analyze the optical properties of Fresnel lenses and their interaction with multi-junction solar cells

Hornung

Kiefel

Nitz

2015

AIP Conference Proceedings

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The optical efficiency of Fresnel lens based solar concentrators varies with the temperature of the Fresnel lens. The dependency of any quantity of interest (e.g. optical efficiency) on Fresnel lens temperature can be visualized by 2d color plots that simultaneously show it as a function of the distance between solar cell and Fresnel lens and as a function of Fresnel lens temperature. This visualization, which is called DTmap, strongly facilitates the analysis of the thermal behavior of a Fresnel lens and the optimization of module height. Based on DTmaps we reveal and discuss serveral details of the thermal behavior of silicone on glass (SOG) Fresnel lenses. In addition, the DTmap is shown for the efficiency of a system consisting of a Fresnel lens and a lattice matched three-junction and a four-junction solar cell. The results demonstrate that the interaction of the concentrator optics and the solar cell is not trivial and may also be studied using DTmaps.

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“…Directly imaging the Sun onto the front surface of the solar cell results in a concentrated non-uniform flux distribution, 17 which can lead to a non-uniform photon-generated current density and a consequent voltage drop arising from series resistance power losses in the emitter and contact/metal resistance losses of the solar cell. 18,19 Consequently, secondary optical elements, such as homogenizers, are employed to improve the homogeneity of the round focused flux that results from the primary concentrator. 20 However, although the solar flux can be effectively "homogenized" with this strategy, it is at the expense of the angular distribution of the incident light which increases during this process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical analysis of light management for finger designs in CPV systems

Liu

Römer

Ekins-Daukes

et al. 2022

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems can achieve high energy conversion efficiencies due to their use of concentrating optics and highly efficient solar cells; however, power losses arising from the front surface reflection and metallization shading typically contribute a significant fraction to the total power loss for these devices. In flat silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules, the front‐metal finger shape is often shaped to minimize shading losses. Finger shape is even more relevant for CPV cells where the current density and front metal shading are much higher. This study compares the optical performance of five light management finger designs in CPV systems with two different refractive homogenizers. The optical efficiency and loss analysis were determined using ray‐tracing simulations. It is shown that shaped, light diverting metal fingers can improve the optical efficiency in CPV systems by up to 9.9% absolute compared to rectangular fingers, corresponding to an absolute cell efficiency increase of 3.0%. Although sharp edged triangular finger structures may be challenging to fabricate, significant optical gains can still be achieved with trapezoid or rounded cap finger shapes.

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CPV module design optimization for advanced multi-junction solar cell concepts

Cited by 8 publications

References 10 publications

Challenges in the design of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules to achieve highest efficiencies

Challenges in the design of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules to achieve highest efficiencies

The distance temperature map as method to analyze the optical properties of Fresnel lenses and their interaction with multi-junction solar cells

Optical analysis of light management for finger designs in CPV systems

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