Patent Application
20130104984
The present invention relates to concentrating photovoltaic solar energy collection apparatus. More particularly this invention relates to a low concentration solar energy collection photovoltaic apparatus using a light guide based on total internal reflection.
Photovoltaic (PV) solar energy collection apparatus are used to generate electric power from solar energy. Flat panel collectors generally include PV cell arrays formed on semiconductor substrates (e.g., monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon or thin-films such as cadmium telluride). The electrical energy output from flat photovoltaic collectors is a direct function of the area of the array, thereby requiring large, expensive semiconductor substrates.
Concentrating solar collectors reduce the need for large semiconductor substrates by concentrating solar light using a variety of optical elements such as reflectors or lenses that focus and direct the sunlight onto a smaller area that is used to place a much smaller PV cell. In this way, concentrating solar collectors are generally more efficient and cost less than flat-panel collectors.
Depending on the ratio between the input solar collection area and the size of the output concentrated sunlight spot at the level of the PV cell, optical concentrators can provide low concentration such as 2×-10×-20× of and high concentration such as up to 500×-1000×-2000×
Low concentration photovoltaic solar collectors are known. Low concentration photovoltaic solar collectors using light guide optical elements are known. Low concentration photovoltaic solar collectors using light guide optical elements based on total internal reflection (TIR) are also known. Low concentration photovoltaic solar collectors based on TIR consisting of a solar focusing component and a separate light guide are also known. Reference is made in this regard to US 2011/0096426 to Ghosh and to WO 2010/033859 to Ford. In these two referenced designs the alignment issues between the separate focusing components and reflectors in the waveguide create efficiency problems in manufacturing and in operation. Monolithic or a single piece low concentration photovoltaic solar collectors using a light guide having focusing elements on an entry surface and mirror coated reflectors on a separate surface not based on TIR are also known. Reference is made in this regard to US 2007/0251568. In this design, the use of mirror coated reflectors becomes not only a manufacturing and a cost issue but also an output efficiency issue since the mirror coated layer has to have a high reflectance over the local solar spectrum at each location, it creates an inherent loss and is vulnerable to degradation. If the degradation differs between the individual concentrators of a panel, the total output of the panel will be decided by the lowest performance reflector.
A need exists for new and improved low solar photovoltaic concentrator that achieve not only higher performance but which are also simpler and cost-effective to manufacture, maintain, operate and service.
This relates to
a non-imaging solar energy concentrator consisting of a solid, one-piece, light transmitting optical element, having an entry surface including focusing elements and a stepped surface opposed to the entry surface including light reflectors corresponding to the focusing elements and a solar cell coupled to the concentrator. According to an embodiment of the invention the sunlight reaching the solar cell is directly coupled onto the PV cell from the reflectors that are positioned relative to the focusing elements under an angle to ensure total internal reflection of the focused sunlight by the reflectors and thus without using a reflecting coating. According to another embodiment of the invention the sunlight reaching the solar cell is coupled onto the PV cell from the reflectors via an additional optical element that is part of the concentrator. According to another embodiment of the invention the additional optical element operates based on total internal reflection.
The solar cell may be a silicon or multi-junction photovoltaic (PV) cell.
The invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings, in which:
As used herein, directional terms such as “upper,” “top,” “lower,” “bottom,” “above,” below,” “horizontal,” “vertical,” etc. are intended to provide relative positions for the purpose of description and are not intended to designate an absolute frame of reference.
The term “comprising” means including but not limited to the recited integer(s). The term “consisting of” means including only the recited integer(s) and no other additional elements.
“Angle of acceptance” means the maximum angle, relative to the light axis, at which the incident light beams may enter the system and for which the power generation is 90% of the maximum.
“Thickness” means the maximum dimension between first and second opposed surfaces of optical elements according to the invention. In the present drawings, the thickness is shown in the vertical dimension.
“Aspect ratio” means the ratio between the longest length of the top collecting surface of the optic to the thickness of the optical element. For circular embodiments of solar concentrators described herein, the longest length will be the diameter of the optical element.
“Collection area” is defined herein to mean the area of the solar concentrator that is normal to the incident solar radiation, including inactive portions thereof.
The term, “concentration ratio” means the ratio of the collection area to the area of the exit surface.
The optical element 12 comprises (i) an entry or an input surface 14 and a series of focusing elements 16 that together form a top collecting surface for collecting sunlight beams 17. As can be seen in
The optical element 12 further comprises a stepped surface 22 opposed to the first surface 14, including a series of light reflecting steps 24 optically coupled and thus corresponding to the focusing elements 16.
The entry surface of the focusing elements 16 in all the embodiments shown in
The reflectors 25 of the stepped surface 22 in all the embodiments shown in
As is known in the art, “total internal reflection” occurs when the angle of a light beam incident on a boundary from a more optically dense medium to a less optically dense medium is greater than a critical angle θc given by:
where n2 is the refractive index of the less optically dense medium, and n1 is the refractive index of the more optically dense medium. The angle of incidence is measured with respect to the normal at the refractive boundary.
Referring now to
In this embodiment, the collection area is larger than the area of the focusing elements 516 normal to incident light, the latter being roughly equivalent to 2× the width “X” multiplied by transverse distance “Y” shown in
Optical elements according to the invention need not have linearly extending focusing elements.
The shape of the focusing elements of embodiments according to the invention may be hyperbolic, parabolic, spherical, aspherical, parabolic, elliptical or any free-form. Likewise, the shape of the light reflecting steps may be straight, curved, elliptical, parabolic, hyperbolic or any free-form.
The dimensions of the optical element will depend on a number of factors including the size and shape of the focusing elements, manufacturing tolerances, and whether the element is linear or circular.
For linear embodiments, the length may range for example from 10 mm to 500 mm. The widths may range for example from 10 mm to 500 mm. The thickness of the output surface may range for example from 2 mm to 80 mm. The concentration ratio may range for example from 2 to 50. The aspect ratio may range for example from 2 to 50.
For example, one embodiment of a linear optical element according to the present invention has a thickness of about 4 mm, a length of about 60 mm, a width of about 100 mm and a concentration ratio of about 15.
Circular embodiments of optical elements according to invention will have diameters (i.e. lengths) ranging from 25 mm to 50 mm, 40 mm to 200 mm, or from 100 mm to 400 mm. The thickness may range from 1 mm to 3 mm, 2 mm to 5 mm or from 5 mm to 15 mm. The concentration ratio may range from 10 to 300, or from 5 to 20. The aspect ratio may range from 3 to 6, or from 5 to 10, or from 2 to 20.
Preferred embodiments are those designed to provide higher concentration ratios for more efficient power generation and to reduce the amount of material used and manufacturing costs.
The optical element may be made of any material that exhibits high optical clarity and can be made of glass, plastic (e.g. acrylic and polycarbonate), silicone, urethane and copolymers. Suitable materials that can be used to make the present optical elements having a low density and high index of refraction are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,669 to Grateau et al.
Optical elements according to the invention may be made by a variety of methods of manufacture including injection molding, compression molding, coining, sintering, machining, cold casting and hot casting. The actual method employed will depend on the material that is used as will be understood by the person of ordinary skill in the art. For example, plastics can be injection molded while glass can be compression molded.
Embodiments according to the invention are solid, one-piece units shaped and sized to reflect light internally without “free space” propagation, i.e. transmission of light beams through air downstream of the focusing elements 16 and upstream of the concentrated light receiving region of the optical element. In other words, there is only one refraction of light which occurs at the first surface that define the focusing elements. This serves to reduce energy losses occurring at the boundary of materials having different refractive indices. Each reflection occurring within the optical element is preferably but need not be with total internal reflection. It will be appreciated that minor variations in angles of reflecting surfaces are possible while still producing a commercially viable product. Nonetheless, total internal reflections within the optical element are preferred in order to minimize energy losses as the light travels through the optical element. It will be appreciated that some energy will be lost even in systems designed to provide total internal reflection due to absorption of energy by the material itself and minor defects in material surfaces caused by conventional manufacturing methods and tolerances.
Unlike the prior art documents such as US 2007/0251568 the embodiments of the invention described above in
There can be numerous variations to the embodiments described above. The foregoing description is by way of example only and is not to be construed to limit the scope of the invention, as defined by the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 61/354,039, filed Jun. 11, 2010, and U.S. provisional application 61/374,499, filed Aug. 17, 2010, under 35 U.S.C.s. 119(e), which applications are herein incorporated by reference.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CA2011/000693 | 6/10/2011 | WO | 00 | 12/10/2012 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61354039 | Jun 2010 | US | |
| 61374499 | Aug 2010 | US |
