Heat pipe-based cooling systems for photovoltaic cells under concentrated solar radiation

Concentrating solar radiation onto photovoltaic solar cells does not generally produce a uniform distribution of solar radiation at the surface of the cells. In this work a unique profile for the reflecting surfaces has been developed such that the solar cells are evenly illuminated under any degree of concentration. Also introduced is a passive method based on thermosyphons which can effectively cool the solar cells under concentrated light. A prototype of an east-west trough solar concentrator using the profile developed for the reflecting surface, and incorporating a thermosyphon cooling system for the photovoltaic cells, has been manufactured and successfully tested. The results are reported.