Design and testing of 3D printed cross compound parabolic concentrators for LCPV system

Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) Systems has the potential to increase the power output and reduce the cost of PV systems. This work demonstrates a successful attempt to fabricate high performance Cross Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CCPC) using 3D printing. The performance of the 3D printed CCPCs was characterized using a testing setup that consists of a monocrystalline silicon solar cell (10mm × 10mm) mounted on a cooling/rotation stage. Five CCPCs of varied concentration ratio (2.9×, 4.0×, 6.0×, 7.8× and 9.0×) were fabricated and their performance were evaluated. The results show that the optical efficiency of these 3D printed CCPC ranges from 82% to 89%, representing the highest values reported to date. In addition, the angular responses of the concentrators were also evaluated.