Evaluation Of Electrical And Thermal Performance Of A Linear Hybrid CPV-T Micro-Concentrator System

Abstract

Chromasun Inc. and The Australian National University have developed a low-concentration, linear, hybrid micro-concentrator (MCT) system suitable for urban rooftop installation. The system produces both electrical and thermal power, integrating the functionality of separate flat plate photovoltaic and solar hot water systems. The MCT system utilises industry-standard components, including modified mono-crystalline silicon one-sun solar cells, commonly used in flat panel applications. The MCT manufacturing processes are designed around low-cost methods, and tap directly into existing economies of scale. Initial test results without any system optimisation has demonstrated an electrical output of more than 300 W, and a thermal output of more than 1500 W at 950 W/m 2 DNI.

Advances and limitations of increasing solar irradiance for concentrating photovoltaics thermal system

“…The antireflective material increased the transmittance by about 5% in [57] to achieve a concentration ratio of 1.33 suns. Anodized aluminum [47,49,56,[58][59][60] as an optical material is highly desirable for optical concentrators in parabolic trough systems due to its high reflectance. Aluminum reflects well for 200-400 nm ultraviolet and 3000-10000 nm infrared [61].…”

“…[79] 30 Linear Fresnel reflector 1-mm thick rear-silvered glass 1-mm thick galvanised steel 0.0000196 [80] / 0.0000123 [81] 593 [66,80] / 420 [66] • Initial field results of [59] for micro concentrator CPVT system. • The average electrical and thermal efficiencies were 8% and 50%, respectively.…”

Photovoltaic-Thermal (PV-T) Systems for Combined Cooling, Heating and Power in Buildings: A Review

“…The results showed a more uniform distribution of the reflected solar radiation on the PV surface, increasing the solar input by 50% in the best case [58]. Other authors [125][126][127] developed a low concentration, linear, hybrid micro-concentrator collector for rooftop installation, replacing solar PV cells with inexpensive optics and tracking systems, consisting of low-cost, ultra-light-weight Fresnel mirror arrays, which allow increasing the concentrating ratio by up to 20×-30×, which is enough for the domestic market needs [125,126]. There are also examples of CPV-T collectors where a multi-port flat extruded aluminium tube in a serpentine format acts as the evaporator of a low-concentrating PV-T parabolic collector (concentration ratio of 1.6) [128].…”

A review of concentrated photovoltaic-thermal (CPVT) hybrid solar systems with waste heat recovery (WHR)

“…The design of linear Fresnel reflectors can be more compact and modularized to achieve a better market performance. A formerly commercially available CPVT system was co-developed by Australian National University (ANU) and Chromasun Inc. for domestic applications [125][126][127][128]. As presented in Fig.…”