INFRARED TRANSMISSIVE CONCENTRATED PHOTOVOLTAICS FOR COUPLING SOLAR ELECTRIC ENERGY CONVERSION TO SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY UTILIZATION

The use of photovoltaic (PV) cells to convert solar energy to electricity is becoming increasingly prevalent; however, there are still significant limitations associated with the widespread adoption of PV cells for electricity needs. There is a clear need for a high efficiency solar power system tha...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: ESCARRA, MATTHEW, DAVID, OLLANIK, ADAM, XU, QI, LEWSON, BENJAMIN, JI, YAPING
Format: Patent
Sprache:eng ; fre
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Zusammenfassung:The use of photovoltaic (PV) cells to convert solar energy to electricity is becoming increasingly prevalent; however, there are still significant limitations associated with the widespread adoption of PV cells for electricity needs. There is a clear need for a high efficiency solar power system that supplies electricity at a competitive cost and that provides for an on-demand supply of electricity as well as energy storage. By combining aspects of concentrated solar power and concentrated photovoltaics, the present invention provides a device that enables the conversion of sunlight to electricity at very high efficiencies and that enables the transmission of thermal energy to heat storage devices for later use. The disclosed device enables transmissive CPV through the use of a multijunction PV cell mounted on a transparent base. The use of a multijunction cell allows for highly efficient absorption of light above the bandgap of the lowest bandgap subcell. The transparent base permits transmission of a high percentage of the remaining light below the bandgap of the lowest bandgap subcell. The present invention also discloses a method of generating electricity through the use of a transmissive CPV device. Sunlight is concentrated onto one or more surfaces of the device. High energy light is absorbed by a multijunction PV cell and converted directly to electricity, while low energy light is transmitted through the device into a thermal storage device, which may then be coupled to a heat engine to generate dispatchable electricity. L'utilisation de cellules photovoltaïques (PV) pour convertir l'énergie solaire en électricité est de plus en plus répandue ; cependant, il existe encore d'importantes limitations associées à l'adoption à grande envergure de cellules PV pour les besoins en électricité. Il existe un très net besoin d'une installation d'énergie solaire à haut rendement qui fournisse de l'électricité à un coût compétitif et qui fournisse une alimentation à la demande en électricité, ainsi qu'un stockage d'énergie. En combinant des aspects d'énergie solaire concentrée et de système photovoltaïque concentré (CPV), la présente invention fournit un dispositif qui permet la conversion de la lumière solaire en électricité à des rendements très élevés, ainsi que la transmission d'énergie thermique à des dispositifs de stockage de chaleur pour une utilisation ultérieure. Le dispositif selon l'invention permet un CPV transmissif par utilisation d'une cellule P