Performance characterization of a small form-factor 100X micro-optic concentrator

Author

Agrawal, Gagan ; Tian Gu ; Haney, Michael W.

Author_Institution

Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

8-13 June 2014

Firstpage

2912

Lastpage

2916

Abstract

Optical performance of micro-concentrator optics developed under the Microsystems-Enabled Photovoltaics (MEPV) program is investigated experimentally. The second generation prototype module is designed to have a 100X geometric concentration ratio, ±2.5° acceptance angle and a lens “sandwich” thickness of 5.30mm. Indoor experimental measurements with simulated light sources on optical modules without AR coatings show a focused transmission of ~76% (air-optics-air) across 400-1127nm for the current prototype, with losses due to interface reflection, scattering, material absorption and imperfect optical edge effects. With appropriate AR coatings and solar cells immersed in the optics, it is projected that a fully assembled module will achieve a focused optical transmission of over 84%. Outdoor characterization of the optical modules under natural sunlight is being performed.

Keywords

light absorption; light reflection; light scattering; light transmission; microlenses; solar cells; solar energy concentrators; AR coatings; MEPV program; current prototype; focused optical transmission; interface reflection; lens; light sources; material absorption; microconcentrator optics; microsystem-enabled photovoltaics; natural sunlight; optical edge effects; optical modules; scattering; small form-factor 100X microoptic concentrator; solar cells; Adaptive optics; Optical imaging; Optical reflection; Optical scattering; Optical variables measurement; Prototypes; Spectroscopy; microoptics; multijunction solar cells; photovoltaic cells; photovoltaic systems; solar energy;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th

Conference_Location

Denver, CO

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2014.6925541

Filename

6925541