Modelling and experimental analysis of the angular distribution of the emitted light from the edge of luminescent solar concentrators

Abstract

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSC) have the potential to provide cheap solar electricity by significantly reducing the solar cell area. However, these devices are still at the research level and several aspects of their behaviour need investigation in order to improve efficiencies. Understanding how light is absorbed/emitted and concentrated to the edge of LSCs is required to design a high efficiency device as well as identifying and overcoming the various losses present. One strategy for investigating the photon absorption and transport in LSCs as well as pinpointing the sources of losses in these devices is to look at the luminescence escaping the LSC as a function of angle. This paper presents a new model that reveals the main features of the angular distribution of light escaping a LSC edge. We compare this model with experimental measurements and provide an assessment of non-ideal losses and identify which emission angles are affected most by these losses. We investigated experimentally the effects of the absorption profile of the chromophores and re-absorption on the photon flux travelling at different angles. The effect of back surface reflectors, commonly 2 used to 'recycle lost photons', on the edge emission of LSCs has also been investigated in this work.

Luminescent Solar Collectors: Quo Vadis?

“…The modelization of LSCs has been developed in numerous publications. [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] Some of them are essentially focused on the thermodynamics aspects of light conversion, [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] while other loss factors and in particular SA or recent technical developments such as photonic band filters or chromophore orientation have been also considered with the aid of ray-tracing programs and Monte-Carlo methods. [41,42] In many cases, modelization focuses on some particular factors while some others are neglected, for example, matrix absorption, or assumed to be quantitative, for instance TIR or φ PL .…”

Enhancing brightness of Lambertian light sources with luminescent concentrators: the light extraction issue

“…An increase in the extracted power of up to 50% was observed, corresponding to a concentration factor of 8. The intensity indicatrix was measured in one angular dimension with a simplified version of the experiment described by Parel et al [23] that is shown in Fig. 3a.…”

Lifecycle-based feasibility indicators for floating solar photovoltaic plants along with implementable energy enhancement strategies and framework-driven assessment approaches leading to advancements in the simulation tool

“…The solar reflector aims to receive maximum solar radiation that can maximize the output power. An FTCC method is proposed in (Parel et al, 2015) that considers the angular distribution of light to enhance PV system efficiency. An FTCC technology is developed in (Wu et al, 2016) that includes 3-D tracking techniques.…”