Concentrating Photovoltaic systems are good candidates for low cost and clean
electricity generation from solar energy. CPV means replacing much of the
expensive semiconductor photovoltaic cells with the cheaper optics. Although the
idea is simple, CPV systems have several problems inherent to their system design,
such as module thickness, expensive PV cells and overheating. Light guide systems
are good alternatives to classical CPV systems that can clear off most of the
problems of those systems. In this thesis we explore a new light-guide based solar
concentrator by optical design and simulations. It is shown that this solar
concentrator can reach 1000x geometric concentration, 96.5% optical efficiency
with a ± / 1 degree acceptance angle. As a result of simulations, effectiveness of the
horizontally staggered light guide solar concentrators is proved. A practical module
study is carried on to improve the knowledge related to light guide CPV systems.
The concentrator geometry is fabricated as a medium concentrator system with a
geometric concentration of 45x and +-2 degrees acceptance angle. With the
prototype level injection molding 74% optical efficiency is achieved and can be
improved with a better mold manufacturing. A cost analyses is also performed with
real manufacturing parameters and it is shown that grid parity can be achieved
with this kind of light guide solar concentrators.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12615639/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 January 2013 |
| Creators | Selimoglu, Ozgur |
| Contributors | Turan, Rasit |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Ph.D. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | Access forbidden for 1 year |
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