Performance Optimization of Luminescent Solar Concentrators under Several Shading Conditions

Abstract

The need of clean energy is constantly increasing, and Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic (BIPV) technologies represent valuable assets to expand even further the photovoltaic market. Thanks to BIPVs. a new concept of local electric microgrid will probably emerge as this kind of technology can turn buildings from energy wells to energy sources. Luminescent Solar Concentrator (LSC) panels are perfect to achieve this goal, indeed, contrary to standard flat PhotoVoltaic (PV) modules, they can be exploited in transparent or semi-transparent building façades. Thus, the purpose of this work was the optimization of the performance of LSC panels for BIPV applications. Being an application-oriented study, we paid particular attention to the scalability of the assembling process and the use of LSC slabs functionalized only with widely available organic commercial dyes and high-performance commercial silicon solar cells. The electrical and optical performance of the LSC panels were firstly simulated and then, once the most promising configurations were identified, the respective prototypes were assembled to compare the simulation results with the experimental measurements. These analyses were performed both under uniform illumination and in some relevant shading configurations typical for BIPV devices in operating conditions. The obtained results show that LSC panels that employ PV cells coupled with reflective films can yield a higher efficiency than a traditional system with cells placed along four sides.

Review of Luminescence-Based Light Spectrum Modifications Methods and Materials for Photovoltaics Applications

“…The main idea of this device is rather old [125], and is based on the absorption of re-emitted light on the edge of a large, flat absorbing layer that is enhanced by luminescent agents, which is presented in Figure 9. In this case, many authors proposed a thin concentrator structure with light trapping and guided light direction [127,128]. The effective advantages of this approach are the large optical absorption area of the luminescent layer and the limited costs, due to the low share of the semiconductor structure in the total module volume.…”

Elliptic Array Luminescent Solar Concentrators for Combined Power Generation and Microalgae Growth

“…The use of sidewall mirrors is discussed in more details in Ref. [50]. At a steady state, the emission losses for the EASSS and conventional LSC panels are 7.4 and 25.8%, respectively, resulting in a 24.8% improvement in emission efficiency.…”

Environmental Effects on the Performance of Quantum Dot Luminescent Solar Concentrators

“…After a few decades of apparent waning interest, the advent of colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) as reabsorption-free NIR LSC emitters nearly a decade ago has revived research in the field, − leading to significant advances in power efficiency and device size, both of which are essential for real-world implementation. ,,− Important advances have been made in the design of so-called Stokes-shift-engineered QDs with large spectral separation between their absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra and in the development of industrial-scale fabrication protocols for QD-LSC waveguides. ,,− To date, the highest efficiencies have been achieved with I–III–VI 2 QDs such as CuInS 2 and related heterostructures (e.g., CuInS 2 /ZnS), which have a natural wide Stokes shift and NIR PL, ,,,− although important advances have also been demonstrated with binary chalcogenides − and metal halides. − Despite this progress in the design of LSC waveguides, very little has been done toward a real-world implementation of this technology, which necessarily involves an assessment of the impact of environmental factors on LSC performance, − which ultimately determines the relevance and type of encapsulation/protection required for operation in a real-world context. A compelling example of this is the effect of various types of dry or wet deposits on an LSC waveguide, which in addition to reducing the amount of solar light that can reach the waveguide and be converted into useful guided PLas it commonly occurs for direct charge generation in conventional PV modulescan also affect the transport of light energy to the device edges by disrupting the waveguiding by total internal reflection.…”