Patent Grant
8026440
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the design and assembly of a single photovoltaic modular unit and ancillary hardware into a modular package for use under highly concentrated sunlight to convert sunlight to electricity reliably and inexpensively.
2. Prior Art
In traditional one-sun solar panels, photovoltaic devices are tightly packed or coated onto a flat substrate to capture the radiation impinging on the surface. The cells are interconnected electrically and the entire unit is encapsulated to protect it from terrestrial elements. The tightly packaged cells minimize the area not covered by the photovoltaic material, making interconnection simple and encapsulation efficient. To make photovoltaics competitive with other energy sources, the cost of the system must come down. Since the photovoltaic material can be 50% or more of the system costs, one method to reduce this cost is to minimize the amount of photovoltaic material by concentrating the solar energy to a smaller area using refractive or reflective means. This method can require individual receiver packages for each solar cell to further decrease the material costs. The smaller discrete packages however, come with concomitant disadvantages including such things as increased difficulty in interconnection, encapsulation, mechanical alignment, and thermal management requirements associated with high concentration photovoltaics.
The requirements of such packages are typically at least as stringent as those seen in one-sun applications.
1. There is the requirement of high voltage isolation from ground potential (near 2000 VDC).
2. There is the need for the protection of any active electrical parts from moisture and the elements.
3. There is the need to dissipate a higher localized heat load present on the small photovoltaic cell due to high radiation fluxes intrinsic to concentrating the sunlight.
4. There is the need for all parts of the receiving unit to withstand highly concentrated sunlight either through a prudent choice of materials or a protective element in case on any errors in tracking.
5. There is the need to accurately redirect errant rays from the primary concentrator onto the cell due to concentrator manufacturing tolerances, imaging alignment errors, or sun tracking errors.
Prior attempts to meet all of these requirements have involved either expensive materials or many different parts, with a complex and expensive assembly process. Yields and throughput have suffered as a result. Reliability problems also have resulted due in part to the high piece part count.
The principal object of the present invention is to meet the varied requirements of a cell package under concentrated sunlight in an integrated manner. It secondarily allows for efficient manufacturability and assembly of the package ultimately bringing the cost of the system down.
The package consists of a thermally conductive material with high dielectric strength, laminated to a thermally conductive substrate on the bottom and to an electrically conductive layer on the top for the transport of the generated carriers. The substrate is of laminate construction allowing for the use of common printed circuit board technology widely available in many parts of the world. The dielectrics is highly thermally conductive allowing for a temperature rise across it of less than 10 degrees C. under operating conditions of 20 W/cm2. The lower temperatures not only increases the power output of a solar cell, but also extends its reliability. This substrate is then attached to a heat spreader that doubles as a structural element for optimal heat dissipation.
On the topside of the cell, a secondary optical element (SOE) is attached to or suspended above the substrate to capture the rays not focused by the primary element onto the cell. This primary element can take the form of a refractive element that bends the rays back onto the cell, or a reflective element that reflects errant rays back onto the cell. The element is correctly aligned with the lens and cell optical path through alignment pins fabricated into a holding base and holes fabricated into the substrate. This holding base is made from inexpensive material and also integrates the sealing function to help meet the moisture intrusion requirements. The base also allows for a simple interface with the protective element that covers any sensitive areas of the receiving unit to concentrated sunlight in the case of tracking error or loss. This protective sun-shield is made from a material that can accommodate the high fluxes and/or temperatures generated by concentrated sunlight. These might include materials such as aluminum, aluminized polymers, mirrored glass, ceramic, porcelain, clay, or fiberglass. Again, the sunshield has the ability to interface with the integrated SOE base/cowling in a snap fit for ease of assembly of the SOE.
This invention takes the various components and assembles them in a way that is more conducive to mass production. It allows for easy assembly of the entire package with minimal use of adhesives or fasteners by using “snap-fits” between many of the parts. This saves costs in both part numbers and assembly time. The substrate uses printed circuit board technology for ease of technology transfer between vendors and for ease of modification without any hard tooling costs. The secondary optical element utilizes a highly reflective material shaped to take advantage of cheap manufacturing methods. The SOE base has high tolerance alignment pins that register to the substrate to ensure proper alignment of the optical element to the cell. It secondarily acts to seal the package from water intrusion should moisture ever enter the module. It also allows for a snap-fit with the sunshield. Finally, the substrate is attached to the structural element which doubles as a heat spreader. A heat sink behind to enhance thermal dissipation.
The invention will now be discussed by referring to
One of the solar cell modular units 40 is illustrated in
Substrate 42 is illustrated in
Base assembly 44 is best illustrated in
Although this invention has been described in connection with specific forms and embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated that various modifications other than those discussed above may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. For example, equivalent elements may be substituted for those specifically shown and described, certain features may be used independently of other features, and the number and configuration of various components described above may be altered, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended Claims.
This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/714,599 filed Sep. 7, 2005.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60714599 | Sep 2005 | US |
