Optical Performance of Single Point-Focus Fresnel Lens Concentrator System for Multiple Multi-Junction Solar Cells—A Numerical Study

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential of a new integrated solar concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) system that uses a solo point focus Fresnel lens for multiple multi-junction solar cells (MJSCs). The proposed system comprises of an FL concentrator as the primary optical element, a multi-leg homogeniser as the secondary optical element (SOE), a plano-concave lens, and four MJSCs. A three-dimensional model of this system was developed using the ray tracing method to predict the influence of aperture width, height, and position with respect to MJSCs of different reflective and refractive SOE on the overall optical efficiency of the system and the irradiance uniformity achieved on the MJSCs’ surfaces. The results show that the refractive homogeniser using N-BK7 glass can achieve higher optical efficiency (79%) compared to the reflective homogeniser (57.5%). In addition, the peak to average ratio of illumination at MJSCs for the reflective homogeniser ranges from 1.07 to 1.14, while for the refractive homogeniser, it ranges from 1.06 to 1.34, causing minimum effects on the electrical performance of the MJSCs. The novelty of this paper is the development of a high concentration CPV system that integrates multiple MJSCs with a uniform distribution of rays, unlike the conventional CPV systems that utilise a single concentrator onto a single MJSC. The optical efficiency of the CPV system was also examined using both the types of homogeniser (reflective and refractive).

Innovative Approach of Concentrated Solar Sphere to Generate Electrical Power

“…Solar cells have recently surpassed their previous efficiency record of 40.7%, which was achieved with a MJSC by Boeing Spectro Lab Inc. in December 2006 in Washington, DC, USA [43], or such as those from the business Azurspace, attain efficiencies of up to 42.1% [44,45]. When compared to traditional solar cells comprised of a single layer of semiconductor material, using novel technology in the creation of III-V MJ solar cells enables greater efficiencies that approach 43% at high concentrations [46,47]. Now, Solar Junction (San Jose, CA, USA) has announced a new world-record conversion efficiency of 44% for a production-ready solar photovoltaic (PV) cell using its multi-junction technology.…”

Indoor Experimental Analysis of Serpentine-Based Cooling Scheme for High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal Systems

“…At 1500 suns, the solar cell efficiency reached 35.7% and the total system exegetic efficiency reached 35.0% when modelled with uniform irradiance. Alamri et al [6,7] combined COMSOL Multiphysics' Ray Optics and Heat Transfer in Solids and Fluids physics packages. The cooling system is simple as the focus is placed on the ray tracing section.…”