Patent Application
20130139809
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a linear solar energy concentrator adapted for a solar energy generator.
2. The Prior Arts
Conventional solar energy generators utilize a solar panel to receive solar energy from sunlight and then convert it to electricity. Since the incident angle of sunlight constantly changes, the sunlight can not directly irradiate onto the solar panel at a best angle and thus utilization of the solar energy is decreased. In order to promote the utilization of the solar energy, a complicated sun tracking apparatus including a sun tracker and a transmission mechanism has to be extra installed thereon. The sun tracker constantly detects the position of the sun and sends a signal to the transmission mechanism for driving the solar panel to face the sun. However, the conventional solar energy generator having a sun tracking apparatus is often more expensive.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a linear solar energy concentrator adapted for a solar energy generator, which can improve the disadvantages of the conventional solar energy generators that includes a complicated sun tracking apparatus with a high production cost.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a linear solar energy concentrator that can concentrate different directional incident sunlight onto a focal line. A solar panel of the linear solar energy concentrator can be located at the focal line and thereby a relatively smaller area of the solar panel is required for absorbing a same amount of solar energy as that without a light concentrator.
To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, a linear solar energy concentrator is provided, which can focus a large amount of sunlight onto a small area of a solar panel to generate electricity. The linear solar energy concentrator according to the present invention comprises a fastening rack, a concentrating lens, and a line-shaped solar panel. The concentrating lens is fastened' on the fastening rack and has a linear geometric structure. When sunlight irradiates on and penetrates through the concentrating lens, the light is concentrated onto a focal line parallel to a direction of the linear geometric structure of the concentrating lens. The line-shaped solar panel is installed under the concentrating lens and located at the focal line, wherein when an incident angle of sunlight constantly changes, the light irradiating on and penetrating through the concentrating lens still is able to be concentrated onto a same location or onto locations slightly shifted each other along the focal line on the line-shaped solar panel, so as to perform an energy conversion from solar energy to electricity at a substantially same amount of light without being affected by the incident angle of sunlight.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the concentrating lens can be made of any translucent material, such as glass or polymer. The concentrating lens may be of a tubular shape or an arc sheet shape each with a proper curvature, so as to concentrate the incident light onto a focal line on the line-shaped solar panel. The concentrating lens may be a toroidal lens or a toroidal Fresnel lens.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the tubular shaped concentrating lens comprises an outer ring member and an inner core surrounded by and being concentric with the outer ring member. The outer ring member and the inner core each have a different refractive index from each other, for refracting, internally reflecting, and concentrating the incident light to the focal line. The inner core of the tubular-shaped concentrating lens is a liquid or a gas, which is capable of absorbing the infrared of the sunlight for achieving a cooling purpose, the heated liquid or gas by the sunlight is capable of being recycled and used for other purposes, so as to save energy. Furthermore, the concentrating lens may comprise multiple ring members and multiple cores each surrounded between two adjacent ring members. The ring members and the cores each have a different refractive index from each other, for refracting and internally reflecting the incident light to a focal line parallel to a direction of a linear geometric structure of the concentrating lens. The cores of the concentrating lens are a liquid, such as water, or other liquids, or a gas.
In comparison with the conventional arts, the concentrating lens of the linear solar energy concentrator according to the present invention can concentrate incident light onto a relatively small area of the solar panel, which will not be affected by the incident angle of light; and thereby the required area of the solar panel can be reduced.
The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
a is a schematic view showing a reflecting path of a light beam between a concentrating lens and a solar panel; and
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Furthermore, the concentrating lens 1 may comprise multiple ring members and multiple cores each surrounded between two adjacent ring members. The ring members and the cores each have a different refractive index from each other, for refracting and internally reflecting the incident light to a focal line parallel to a direction of a linear geometric structure of the concentrating lens. The cores of the concentrating lens are a liquid, such as water, or other liquids, or a gas.
By making use of the linear solar energy concentrator shown in
In consideration of increasing electricity generation, the linear solar energy concentrator according to the present invention may include a plurality of concentrating lens, a plurality of line-shaped solar panels 2, and a plurality of fastening racks 3. The plurality of concentrating lens may be arranged to form a concentrating lens array.
When the sunlight irradiates onto the arc sheet shaped concentrating lens 1′, the light is refracted, reflected between the concentrating lens 1′ and the line-shaped solar panel 2′, and concentrated onto a focal line where the line-shaped solar panel 2′ is placed thereto. The concentrated light is absorbed and converted to electricity by the line-shaped solar panel 2′. The concentration characteristic of the linear solar energy concentrator allows for producing a much smaller area of the line-shaped solar panel 2′, and thereby resulting in a less expensive production cost.
By making use of the linear solar energy concentrator shown in
Furthermore, in order to prevent two ends of the focal line from shift, the concentrating lens 1′ may be designed to have an end light reflector 4′ located at both ends of the concentrating lens to reflect the light back to the solar panel (see
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.
