Wafer integrated micro‐scale concentrating photovoltaics

Recent development of a novel micro-scale PV/CPV technology is presented. The Wafer Integrated Microscale PV approach (WPV) seamlessly integrates multijunction micro-cells with a multi-functional silicon platform that provides optical micro-concentration, hybrid photovoltaic, and mechanical micro-assembly. The wafer-embedded microconcentrating elements is shown to considerably improve the concentration-acceptance-angle product, potentially leading to dramatically reduced module materials and fabrication costs, sufficient angular tolerance for low-cost trackers, and an ultra-compact optical architecture, which makes the WPV module compatible with commercial flat panel infrastructures. The PV/CPV hybrid architecture further allows the collection of both direct and diffuse sunlight, thus extending the geographic and market domains for cost-effective PV system deployment. The WPV approach can potentially benefits from both the high performance of multijunction cells and the low cost of flat plate Si PV systems.

[1]  John A Rogers,et al.  Wide-angle planar microtracking for quasi-static microcell concentrating photovoltaics , 2015, Nature Communications.

[2]  Murat Okandan,et al.  Cost analysis of flat-plate concentrators employing microscale photovoltaic cells for high energy per unit area applications , 2014, 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC).

[3]  Richard M. Swanson,et al.  The promise of concentrators , 2000 .

[4]  Gerald Siefer,et al.  43% Sunlight to Electricity Conversion Efficiency Using CPV , 2016, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.

[5]  Christian A. Gueymard,et al.  Fixed or tracking solar collectors? Helping the decision process with the Solar Resource Enhancement Factor , 2008, Optics + Photonics for Sustainable Energy.

[6]  Rubén Mohedano,et al.  Free-form optics for Fresnel-lens-based photovoltaic concentrators. , 2013, Optics express.

[7]  Murat Okandan,et al.  Micro-concentrators for a microsystems-enabled photovoltaic system. , 2014, Optics express.

[8]  A. Lentine,et al.  Voltage Matching and Optimal Cell Compositions for Microsystem-Enabled Photovoltaic Modules , 2014, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.

[9]  Roland Winston,et al.  The thermodynamic limits of light concentrators , 1990 .

[10]  Daryl R. Myers,et al.  A comparison of theoretical efficiencies of multi‐junction concentrator solar cells , 2008 .

[11]  Anthony L. Lentine,et al.  Leveraging scale effects to create next-generation photovoltaic systems through micro- and nanotechnologies , 2012, Defense, Security, and Sensing.

[12]  Brent Fisher,et al.  Semprius Field Results and Progress in System Development , 2014, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.

[13]  Gautam Agrawal,et al.  Hybrid micro-scale CPV/PV architecture , 2014, 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC).

[14]  Ryutaro Futakuchi,et al.  A Novel Thin Concentrator Photovoltaic With Microsolar Cells Directly Attached to a Lens Array , 2014, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.

[15]  Greg P. Smestad,et al.  A bottom-up cost analysis of a high concentration PV module , 2015 .

[16]  R. Margolis,et al.  A wafer-based monocrystalline silicon photovoltaics road map: Utilizing known technology improvement opportunities for further reductions in manufacturing costs , 2013 .

[17]  Martin A. Green,et al.  Solar cell efficiency tables (version 47) , 2016 .

[18]  Roland Winston,et al.  High Collection Nonimaging Optics , 1989, Other Conferences.

[19]  Jung Woo Lee,et al.  Concentrator photovoltaic module architectures with capabilities for capture and conversion of full global solar radiation , 2016, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[20]  Murat Okandan,et al.  Micro-concentrator module for Microsystems-Enabled Photovoltaics: Optical performance characterization, modelling and analysis , 2015, 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC).

[21]  Tian Gu,et al.  Wafer-level Integrated Micro-Concentrating Photovoltaics , 2016 .

[22]  I. Luque-Heredia,et al.  Photovoltaic concentration at the onset of its commercial deployment , 2006 .

[23]  Tian Gu,et al.  Wafer Integrated Micro-scale Concentrating Photovoltaics , 2017 .

[24]  Audrey M. Bowen,et al.  Transfer Printing Techniques for Materials Assembly and Micro/Nanodevice Fabrication , 2012, Advanced materials.

[25]  J. Rogers,et al.  Printing-based assembly of quadruple-junction four-terminal microscale solar cells and their use in high-efficiency modules. , 2014, Nature materials.

[26]  Roland Winston,et al.  Concentration of sunlight to solar-surface levels using non-imaging optics , 1989, Nature.

[27]  R. A. Matula.  Electrical resistivity of copper, gold, palladium, and silver , 1979 .

[28]  A. Cvetković,et al.  High performance Fresnel-based photovoltaic concentrator. , 2010, Optics express.