Waveguide solar concentrator design with spectrally separated light

• Published in: Solar energy Vol. 157; pp. 1005 - 1016
• Main Authors: Michel, Céline, Blain, Pascal, Clermont, Lionel, Languy, Fabian, Lenaerts, Cédric, Fleury-Frenette, Karl, Décultot, Marc, Habraken, Serge, Vandormael, Denis, Cloots, Rudi, Thalluri, Gopala Krishna V.V., Henrist, Catherine, Colson, Pierre, Loicq, Jérôme
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: New York Elsevier Ltd 15-11-2017; Pergamon Press Inc; Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Collimation; Concentrators; Diffraction grating; Dye-sensitized solar cells; Fresnel lens; Light splitting; non-imaging optics; Nonimaging optics; Optimization; Photovoltaic cells; Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences; Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre; Solar cells; Solar concentrator; Solar energy; Spectra; Splitting; Studies; Sun; Waveguiding; Diffraction grating; Fresnel lens; Light splitting; Nonimaging optics; Solar concentrator; Waveguiding
• ISSN: 0038-092X; 1471-1257; 1471-1257
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2017.09.015

•Design of a solar concentrator with light splitting and waveguiding is proposed.•Light spectral spreading is achieved with a Fresnel lens/blazed diffraction grating combination.•Microstructures on waveguide select light spectra to be guided towards two spectrally adapted cells.•Optical design: modeling and optimization processes are presented.•Manufacturing and testing of an experimental prototype is exposed.
In this article, we propose a new solar concentrator based on spectral splitting of sunlight. Spectral splitting has the objective to collect different spectra onto spectrally adapted solar cells for a more efficient use of the Sun’s spectrum. Its combination with solar concentration makes an alternative to classical technologies. The proposed concentrator is composed of a diffractive/refractive optical element that spectrally splits and focuses the light onto a waveguide. The light is then conducted by total internal reflection towards the two specific solar cells. The optical concept and optimization of each element is presented in this paper. An adaptation for dye sensitized solar cells is performed. A geometrical factor around 5× is reached. Finally, theoretical optical efficiency, the manufacturing process and experimental testing with a collimated Sun simulator are presented.