Thermal Performance of the SunPower Alpha-2 PV Concentrator

Author

Linderman, Ryan J. ; Judkins, Zachary S. ; Shoecraft, Michael ; Dawson, Matt J.

Author_Institution

SunPower Corp., San Jose, CA, USA

Volume

2

Issue

2

fYear

2012

fDate

4/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

196

Lastpage

201

Abstract

Concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems typically rely on passive airflow and a low thermal resistance cell package to maintain safe and reliable cell operating temperatures. Due to the high variability of outdoor ambient temperatures, wind conditions, and irradiance values, it is important to validate operating temperatures in a realistic field setting. This study focuses on a full thermal characterization of the 7x geometric SunPower Alpha-2 CPV system as well as a side-by-side thermal comparison with SunPower standard (E19) high-efficiency photovoltaic modules mounted to the same rotational axis.

Keywords

photovoltaic power systems; solar cells; solar energy concentrators; thermal resistance; SunPower Alpha-2 PV concentrator; SunPower standard high-efficiency photovoltaic modules; ambient temperature; concentrator photovoltaic systems; irradiance value; passive airflow; rotational axis; thermal resistance; wind conditions; Heat sinks; Land surface temperature; Monitoring; Photovoltaic systems; Temperature measurement; Thermal resistance; Wind speed; Concentrator photovoltaic systems;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

2156-3381

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOTOV.2011.2178397

Filename

6118301