Heliostat field collector hfc point 1001500 1502000 twoaxes parabolic dish reflector pdr point 100 100500 tracking. Prospect and challenges abdulrahim abdulbaqi toyin department of mechanical engineering, university of maiduguri, nigeria. It is widely used as a reflecting solar concentrator. New type of solar concentrator doesnt block the view. Structural concepts for large solar concentrators john m. If youve installed solar panels on your roof, chances are you did it more to help the environment than to save money on your power bill.
A luminescent solar concentrator lsc is a device for concentrating radiation, solar radiation in particular, to produce electricity. Solar concentrators utilize optical devices which absorb a large area of sunlight. Luminescent solar concentrators lscs are costeffective components easily integrated in photovoltaics pv that can enhance solar cells performance and promote the integration of pv architectural elements into buildings, with unprecedented possibilities for energy harvesting in facade design, urban furnishings and wearable fabrics. Concentrators work best when there is a single source of light and the concentrator can be pointed right at it. There are many possible uses for solar concentrators. Jul 10, 2008 mit solar concentrator improves solar cell efficiency and design options mit solar concentrator innovation. Concentration of radiation aims at increasing the energy density e of the radiant energy, in order to allow a better use of it. Optical design and characterization of solar concentrators for photovoltaics 4 ruption of the translational symmetry when the microstructured reflectors were introduced. Amorphous solar cells might dont produce as much power as. Concentration ratio is defined as the aperture area divided by the receiverabsorber area of the collector. A generic concentrator see figure 1 consists of a concentrator entrance aperture area. Luminescent solar concentrators explained mit energy initiative.
The expected optical performance of rac exceeding that of dishparabolic mirrors and simultaneously improving the operation performances and manufacture allowance prompt for considering the design as an ultimate improvement of reflective solar optics. It is important to note that with a single collector, it is always possible to. Skyline solar, a new startup, is combining conventional technologies to lower solar power costs. Skyline solar, a new startup, is combining conventional technologies to lower solarpower costs.
In france, for example, the largest solar furnace, with paraboloidal solar concentrators 54 m in diameter, began operation in 1968. Solar power csp the concept of harnessing the sunos energy dates back as far as 1774 when antoine lavoisier created a large device that had a glass lens that focused the sunlight into a focal point over material for combustion. Miller astro aerospace corporation carpinteria, cazifornia prepared for langley research center under contract nas 1 175 36 nasa national aeronautics and space administration scientific and technical information office 1987. Linear solar concentrators use troughshaped mirrors to reflect the sunlight onto a pipe containing a fluid. Mit solar concentrator improves solar cell efficiency and. Solar concentrators collect light over large areas and focus it onto smaller areas of solar cells. Linear solar concentrators alternative energy primer. Greg schmidt, research engineer at the institute of optics, explains how light guide solar concentrators are designed to direct and concentrate sunlight in o. This significantly magnifies the power of the sun, generating intense amounts of heat. The performance of biracial solar cells in static solar. Small concentrators generate heat for cooking and domestic hot water. We have developed unique solar concentrators for solarpumped solidstate lasers to improve both efficiency and laser output power. A conceptual representation of a solar concentrator used in harnessing the power from the sun to generate electricity is shown in figure 1. The study found that concentrated solar power could account for up to 25% of the worlds energy needs by 2050.
In the ussr the first large solar concentrator, in the form of a paraboloid 10 m in diameter, was built in 1946 in tashkent. May 19, 2009 in addition to solar concentrators, baldo is researching biological models for making solar cells more efficient. It is quite simple in design and has a good concentration ratio. In this type of solar concentrators, the mirrors are used to reflect radiation to the absorber plate. Consider accordant literature where gathered information about five mine types of solar collectors described below. Flat plate concentrators with plane reflectors and adjustable mirrors. Pdf for efficient and cost effective utilization solar energy solar concentrators are vital. A new take on an existing solarpower technology could change that. Osa development of solar concentrators for highpower solar. Edmonds department of physics, queensland university of technologp, brisbane, australia with suitable optics to bring radiation onto bifacial solar cells the power output per unit area of. Later in 1878 a parabolic collector was showcased and reected. Solar concentrators use mirrors and lenses to capture light and direct it towards smaller areas of photovoltaic pv material where the solar energy is. This is ideal in space, where the sun is a single light source.
A conceptual representation of a solar concentrator used in harnessing the power. Lowcost concentrating solar collector for steam generation. Design and analysis of a highefficiency, costeffective. It will also analyse on some of the existing solar concentrators used in the solar technology for the past four decades. Similar paraboloidal solar concentrators were constructed in france, the usa, and japan. The solarbeamtm concentrator is the most efficient. The solar concentrators also have the advantage that the solar cells can be spaced farther apart since light can be focused on each cell. Aug 19, 2014 new type of solar concentrator doesnt block the view by michigan state university solar power with a view. The design and performance of each concentrator will be explained and compared. Solar concentrators rensselaer polytechnic institute. Ray tracing study to determine the characteristics of the. Solar concentrators developments scholarlink research. Jul 31, 2015 solar concentrators use mirrors and lenses to capture light and direct it towards smaller areas of photovoltaic pv material where the solar energy is converted into electricity 1. A parabolic solar concentrator is a curved array of mirrors that reflects all incident light onto a single point.
These photovoltaic pv cells convert the light into electricityclean, homegrown, and pollution freethat we can use to run our appliances or light our homes. Lowcost concentrating solar collector for steam generation by john dascomb a thesis submitted to the department of mechanical engineering in partial ful llment of the requirements for the degree of master of science degree awarded. Types of concentrating solar collectors your electrical. Classification of solar collectors depending of number of covers in fig. The solar cells are typically some of the most expensive parts of an installed solar panel. Sep 29, 2014 greg schmidt, research engineer at the institute of optics, explains how light guide solar concentrators are designed to direct and concentrate sunlight in o. Solar concentrator is the most favourable solution to this problem 10. Expected optical performance of novel type multielement high. The final solar panel and stand was built at the university of western sydney. It will consist of two 4watt amorphous solar panels connected in series to obtain output voltage and output current readings of each result with respect to the tests. Spain is the leader in concentrated solar power technology, with more than 50 governmentapproved projects in the works. Optical design and characterization of solar concentrators. Jul 10, 2008 solar cells are packaged into solar panels, which can be installed on rooftops or large fields.
Msu doctoral student yimu zhao holds up a transparent luminescent solar concentrator module. Hi friends, in this article, i am going to discuss about types of concentrating solar collectors and hope you will find it useful. Solar concentrating systems can also be used to power desalination systems, either by directly providing heat energy or via conversion to electrical energy. In section 3 three technical concepts of high temperature solar concentrators are presented. This type of solar concentrator can collect a temperature of more than 800c, which is an innovative developing concentration technology. Most concentrators follow the sun as it crosses the sky, either. Comparison of solar concentrators ari rabl solar energy group, argonne national laboratory, argonne, il 60439, u. Parabolas have the unique property of reflecting incoming light to a central focal point, thereby concentrating it. Solar energy conversion and photoenergy systems high temperature solar concentrators robert pitzpaal surface area. This can be either a heat absorber to harvest thermal energy or a photovoltaic cell to convert light to electric energy. Natural sunlight is collected by a primary concentrator which is a 2 m. Could luminescent solar concentrators make solar power more.
The use of solar energy requires optimizing each part of a photovoltaic system. Luminescent solar concentrators operate on the principle of collecting radiation over a large area, converting it by luminescence specifically by fluorescence and directing the generated radiation into a relatively small output target. They function on the idea of focusing a bundle of sunlight on a small area with the assistance of a mirror or optical equipment. The performance of biracial solar cells in static solar concentrators i. The primary concentrators of a solar concentrator system are those parts that first receive the solar irradiation, and first concentrate it. White butterflies as solar photovoltaic concentrators. The increase in investment would be from 2 billion worldwide to 92. A distinct property that it has is that it can focus all the parallel rays from the sun to a single focus point, f as shown in figure 2. A new solar concentrator design from an electrical engineering ph. Abstract solar radiation has been identified as the largest renewable resource on earth. Printed in great britain comparison of solar concentrators ari rabl solar energy group, argonne national laboratory, argonne, il 60439, u. The design and performance of each concentrator will be.
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