TRACKLESS HOLOGRAPHIC CONCENTRATOR FOR MW-SCALE PV PLANTS

摘要

A novel concept of a trackless concentrator is presented. The structure consists of a Ⅴ-shaped cavity, at which bottom 32 mm wide solar cells are series connected in one string. The 1 meter high device has an aperture of 1 meter. Therefore, a geometric concentration factor of 32X is achieved. The optics is placed on the cavity's internal lateral sides, and combines diffraction and reflection effects. A hologram and a reflective surface capture the whole range of radiation incidence angles from winter to summer, and sunrise to sunset. They diffract and reflect it towards the solar cell with steep angles, so that optical losses are greatly reduced and are estimated below a total of 30%. Heat sink is necessary, but also reduced, because the hologram sends to the cell only the range of wavelengths where the cell absorbs. Except for the solar cell and the heat sink, the whole module is made of plastic. All of the above shows calculations of costs per W_p of EUR 0.57 for orders of only 100 kW_p, which shows a lot of potential for competitiveness in the market.