The present invention relates generally to a fixing apparatus for ball lens, and particularly to a fixing apparatus for ball lens used for improving the assembly efficiency and accuracy of a concentrator solar cell receiver module as well as protecting its circuit from burnout due to the off-axis illumination of sunlight.
The most basic operational method of solar power generation is to illuminate sunlight on the surface of solar cells. Currently, there is a concentrator solar cell receiver module, which uses a concentrating lens to concentrate more photo energy for enhancing power generating efficiency. These concentrator solar cell receiver modules shrink the size of solar cells by increasing the concentrating multiple and using automatic production. Consequently, the costs of the materials for solar cells can be saved.
In practice, small-area solar cells need to use secondary optical devices such as ball lenses for shrinking concentrating spots, increasing tolerance of sunlight angle, and shortening focal length. Nonetheless, the current fixing method for ball lens is relatively difficult and complicated.
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According to the structure according to the prior art as shown in
Another important issue of the prior art is that when the sunlight is off-axis, the focused light by the concentrating lens 65 may not be concentrated at the ball lens 5; it may illuminate directly on other devices, such as the conductive circuit 62, of the concentrator solar cell receiver module. Because the focus temperature may reach as high as 1100° C., if the material of the conductive circuit 62 is copper, which has a melting point of 1083° C., it will be burned out.
Accordingly, given the requirement of using ball lenses for miniature concentrator solar cell receiver modules and considering their complicated installation, difficult control of their accuracy, and the risk of permanent damage in structure due to off-axis illumination of sunlight for applications without or with malfunctioned sun tracking systems, it is necessary to provide a solution for these issues for reducing the manufacturing and operating costs of the solar power generating systems and thus increasing their market values.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a fixing apparatus for ball lens, which is exempt from installation of supporting devices such as pads or O-rings one by one when a user is installing the ball lenses of a concentrator solar cell receiver module. Hence, the processing steps are reduced substantially. The installation of fixing apparatuses for ball lens to a power generating array with a great amount of solar cells can be finished at a time. Thereby, the operating efficiency is enhanced. In addition, the structural flaws in products caused by positioning errors of pads or O-rings can be avoided.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a fixing apparatus for ball lens. In addition to improving the processing efficiency, the circuit board of the concentrator solar cell receiver module is also sheltered and protected. Thereby, damages and burnout of the circuit board due to off-axis illumination can be prevented.
For achieving the objectives described above, the present invention discloses a fixing apparatus for ball lens used for fixing at least a ball lens of a concentrator solar cell receiver module. The structure of the fixing apparatus comprises a plate and at least a fixing recess. The plate has a plurality of supporting legs underneath. The fixing recess is disposed on the surface of the plate and has a gap part at its bottom and penetrating the plate. The diameter or the longest diagonal of the gap part is shorter than the diameter of the ball lens. Besides, the ball lens contacts the top of an inner edge of the gap part. According to the design of the structure, after the solar cell receiver is placed on the substrate, the circuit intolerable of high temperature can be protected from burnout due to off-axis illumination of sunlight. In addition, the installation speed and quality of ball lens are improved significantly.
In order to make the structure and characteristics as well as the effectiveness of the present invention to be further understood and recognized, the detailed description of the present invention is provided as follows along with embodiments and accompanying figures.
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In the structure according to the present invention, the plate 1 is used for providing support and positioning the bulk of the ball lens of the solar cell receiver module. In addition, the plate 1 is also used as the light-blocking structure for sheltering the circuit of the solar cell receiver module. The material of the plate 1 can be metal or any material resistive to deformation for bearing the weight of multiple ball lenses. Considering that the surface of the plate 1 will be illuminated by the sunlight, in addition to the rigid property, adoption of thermally conductive material can further facilitate heat dissipation. The manufacturing method of the plate 1 is not limited; any process technology can be adopted.
As described above, the plate 1 can provide support and position the ball lens of the solar cell receiver module. In order to fix the rollable ball lens on the plate 1, the fixing recess 3 on the plate 1 according to the present invention can be used as the characteristic structure for limiting the movement of the ball lens. Concurrently, the location of the fixing recess 3 on the surface of the plate 1 also has the effects of positioning the ball lenses and arranging the ball lenses in an array.
The fixing recess 3 is a recess structure on the surface of the plate 1. The gap part 4 is further disposed at the bottom of center of the fixing recess 3, so that when the ball lens is placed in the fixing recess 3, the ball lens is carried and fixed by contacting the top of the inner edge of the gap part 4. Please refer to
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On the substrate 61, general structures and devices, such as the conductive circuit 62, the solar cell 63, and the gold wires 64 shown in
Except the solar cell 63, the devices on the substrate 61 as described above benefit by the shelter of the plate 1 and thereby will not be damaged and burned out due to the focus of off-axis sunlight. In addition, by means of the supporting legs 2, the plate 1 provides the accommodating space 7 for allowing the plurality of devices to be located in this region and protected by the shelter.
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The depth of the fixing recess 3 will influence the distance between the ball lens 5 and the solar cell 63 and can be adjusted during the fabrication process of the present invention according to the requirement. Once the depth of the fixing recess 3 is determined during the fabrication process, the distance between the ball lens 5 and the solar cell 63 will be fixed accordingly. Thereby, while using the present invention as the medium for positioning the ball lens 5, accurate control of the distance between the ball lens 5 and the solar cell 63 is another advantage of the present invention, which makes the assembly quality of the array of solar cell receiver modules superior.
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To sum up, the present invention discloses the structure of a fixing apparatus for ball lens. For improving the power generating effect, solar cell receiver modules are disposed in a large-area array. Due to its complicated assembly and error proneness, the present invention is provided for solving the inconvenience and drawbacks in assembly at a time. In addition, the present invention can further avoid structural damages caused by off-axis illumination. Consequently, the lifetime of solar cell receiver modules can be extended and the possibility of failure is reduced as well. Thereby, the present invention undoubtedly provides a fixing apparatus for ball lens having practical values.
Accordingly, the present invention conforms to the legal requirements owing to its novelty, nonobviousness, and utility. However, the foregoing description is only embodiments of the present invention, not used to limit the scope and range of the present invention. Those equivalent changes or modifications made according to the shape, structure, feature, or spirit described in the claims of the present invention are included in the appended claims of the present invention.