No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation describes the design, development, and field validation of a concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar energy system. The challenges of creating a highly efficient yet low-cost system architecture come from many sources. The solid-state physics of photovoltaic devices present fundamental limits to photoelectron conversion efficiency, while the electrical and thermal characteristics of widely available materials limit the design arena. Furthermore, the need for high solar spectral throughput, evenly concentrated sunlight, and tolerance to off-axis pointing places strict illumination requirements on the optical design. To be commercially viable, the cost associated with all components must be minimized so that when taken together, the absolute installed cost of the system in kWh is lower than any other solar energy method, and competitive with fossil fuel power generation. The work detailed herein focuses specifically on unique optical design and illumination concepts discovered when developing a viable commercial CPV system. By designing from the ground up with the fundamental physics of photovoltaic devices and the required system tolerances in mind, a select range of optical designs are determined and modeled. Component cost analysis, assembly effort, and development time frame further influence design choices to arrive at a final optical system design. When coupled with the collecting mirror, the final optical hardware unit placed at the focus generates more than 800W, yet is small and lightweight enough to hold in your hand. After fabrication and installation, the completed system's illumination, spectral, and thermal performance is validated with on-sun operational testing.

Ongoing efforts to improve the efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells emphasize the significance of the architecture of molecular assemblies in thin films, at nanometer and micron length scales, to enhance both exciton diffusion and charge transport, in donor and acceptor layers. Controlled growth of molecules via self-assembly techniques presents new opportunities to develop nano-structured organic thin films for electronic devices. This thesis is focused on controlling the orientation of phthalocyanine molecular assemblies in thin films in order to demonstrate the impact of microscopic control of molecular order on electrical properties and organic solar cell device performance.The studies performed here provide insights into the self-assembling behavior, film morphology, nanoscale electrical conductivity, and photovoltaic properties of a disk-shaped peripherally substituted phthalocyanine (Pc) molecule possessing amide functional groups in the side chains. Amide functionality was integrated in the side chains of this phthalocyanine molecule with the purpose of increasing the intra-columnar interaction through formation of a hydrogen bonding network between molecules, and to guide columnar orientation in a preferred direction via specific surface-molecule interactions. It is realized that molecule-substrate interactions must dominate over molecule-molecule interactions to achieve control over the deposition of molecules in a preferred direction for organic solar cell applications. Microscopic imaging and spectroscopic studies confirm the formation of flat-lying, well ordered, layered phthalocyanine films as anticipated.The remarkable electrical conductivity of the flat-lying phthalocyanine molecules, as studied by Conducting tip Atomic Force Microscopy (C-AFM) provide the impetus for the formation of organic solar cells based on layers of these hydrogen bonding phthalocyanine molecules. The photocurrent from devices that are made with the ordered Pc molecules and disordered Pc molecules as the primary photoactive donor layer, and vacuum deposited C60 as the acceptor material, were evaluated. The results presented here demonstrate the feasibility of increasing the photogenerated current by controlling the molecular organization in the photo active layer.

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) offer the prospect of inexpensive processing compared with conventional crystalline semiconductor cells. These cells are still lower in efficiency than their inorganic counterparts, in part because a detailed understanding of the role that interfaces play in these devices is lacking. The electronic properties of the surface of the common transparent electrode Indium:Tin Oxide (ITO) have been studied both on a macroscopic and nanoscopic scale, and the interface between ITO and organic materials has been studied on a macroscopic scale as well. Little work has been done on the nanoscopic properties of the ITO/organic interface. This dissertation introduces a new conducting-probe atomic force microscope (CP-AFM) technique, Scanning Current Spectroscopy (SCS), for probing the nanoscopic lateral variation in the electronic properties of this interface, and demonstrates its utility by examining the ITO/copperphthalocyanine (CuPc) interface. SCS demonstrates large lateral variations in the hole collection efficiency at that interface on a nanometer length scale, and that the distribution of these variations is affected by ITO pretreatment. Measurements on OPVs demonstrate that the performance of these devices is dependant on the nanoscopic lateral variation in surface properties that SCS measures, and that in the case of the ITO/CuPcinterface SCS explains the observed device behavior better than techniques that yield macroscopic average electronic properties, such as photoelectron spectroscopy. Additionally, this dissertation discusses advances made in the design of an integrated optical refractive index sensor. The sensor uses organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and OPVs as integrated light-sources and detectors on top of a slab waveguide substrate. The platform offers potentially high sensitivities to refractive index changes (and the selective binding of chemical and biological analytes), and is amenable to largescale integration for on-chip multiplexed detection. The refractive index response has been demonstrated previously, but the performance was limited by electrical noise and OLED drift. The use of different absorbing species in the OPV, integration of multiplesensors on a single substrate, addition of a reference channel to monitor OLED drift andthe use of lock-in amplification for signal processing allow the sensor to detect changesof 10-4 refractive index units.

Bakalaurinį darbą sudaro: anotacija, įvadas, 4 skyriai, išvados, literatūros sąrašas ir priedai. Darbo apimtis – 42 puslapiai. Bakalaurinio darbo pirmajame skyriuje yra pateikta teorinė medžiaga apie Saulės sandarą bei jos energetinį potencialą. Antrajame skyriuje analizuota ir aprašyta FE sandara, charakteristikos, parametrai, FVM energijos konversijos efektyvumas. Aptarta užsienio autorių aprašyti eksperimentiniai tyrimai su FVM tiriant energetinio efektyvumo priklausomybę nuo modulių temperatūros. Trečias skyrius - praktinė dalis, kurioje aprašyti laboratorijoje atlikti eksperimentinių tyrimų su FVM rezultatai. Analizuota, kaip kinta FVM parametrai (trumpo jungimo srovė, atviros grandinės įtampa, galia). Ketvirtajame skyriuje aprašytos fotoelektros vystymosi tendencijos ir plėtros perspektyvos. / The bachelor thesis includes the summary, the introduction, four sections, the conclusion, the literature list and appendices. The thesis consists of 42 pages. The first section outlines the theoretical material about the structure of the sun and its energy potential. The second section analyses and describes the structure of PV, properties, parameters, and the efficiency of PVM energy conversion. The thesis includes the experimental analyses of foreign authors on the efficiency of PVMs depending on the temperature of the modules. The third section is the empirical part, which presents the results of the laboratory experiment with PVMs. The analysis includes the variability of parameters of PVMs (short circuit current, open circuit voltage, power). The fourth section describer the prospects of photovoltaic electricity and its development potential.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

A mismatch in a photovoltaic array implies differences in the I-V characteristics of the modules forming the array which can lead to significant energy losses known as mismatch losses. The sources of mismatch losses could be easy- or difficult-to-predict sources. This thesis proposes novel designs for photovoltaic arrays to reduce mismatch losses. The mismatch from easy-to-predict sources and its resulting losses can be reduced by altering the interconnection of the array. Therefore, this thesis proposes an optimal total-cross-tied interconnection, based on a thorough mathematical formulation, which can significantly reduce mismatch losses from easy-to-predict sources. Application examples of the operation of the optimal total-cross-tied interconnection under partial shading are presented. The effect of partial shading caused by easy- or difficult-to-predict sources can be considerably reduced by photovoltaic array reconfiguration. This thesis proposes a novel mathematical formulation for the optimal reconfiguration of photovoltaic arrays to minimize partial shading losses. The thesis formulates the reconfiguration problem as a mixed integer quadratic programming problem and finds the optimal solution using branch-and-bound algorithm. The proposed formulation can be used for equal or non-equal number of modules per row. Moreover, it can be used for fully reconfigurable or partially-reconfigurable arrays. Application examples of the operation of the reconfigurable photovoltaic array under partial shading are presented. Finally, the recently updated American National Electric Code requires the presence of a series arc fault detector in any Photovoltaic installation operating at a voltage greater than or equal to 80V. However, the Photovoltaic market nowadays lacks the presence of an accurate series arc fault detector that can detect series arc faults and discriminate between them and partial shading. The work in this thesis proposes an algorithm that can detect series arc faults and discriminate between them and partial shading in total-cross-tied arrays. This algorithm is based on the measurement of instantaneous row voltages.