IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v218y2023ics0960148123012296.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Theoretical investigation of asymmetric light interfaces for increasing optical efficiency of luminescent solar concentrators via integration of finite element simulation results with Monte Carlo ray tracing

Author

Listed:
  • Oliveto, Vincent
  • Patel, Bhakti
  • Park, Kai
  • Smith, Duncan E.
  • Hughes, Michael D.
  • Borca-Tasciuc, Diana-Andra

Abstract

The solar industry has reportedmassive growth in recent years and a niche market within that industry is luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). LSCs work by concentrating light from a large surface area onto a small surface area photovoltaic cells. LSCs have long been on the fringe of commercial solar products due to their low optical efficiency (OE), which is largely caused by top surface losses. Research efforts exploring nanopatterned surfaces to modulate surface transmission are emerging to address this shortcoming. While methods exist to predict optical properties of such surfaces using finite element modeling, there are no procedures to integrate these results with ray tracing simulations and understand the effect on the optical efficiency of an LSC. This paper presents a methodology to integrate optical properties of an asymmetric light transmission interface predicted by COMSOL with Monte Carlo simulations. The integration technique was first validated with a plain air/matrix interface. Comparing the optical efficiency of an LSC with a plain interface to that of an LSC with an asymmetric light transmission interface, a significant increase was found. Part of this increase is due to the transmission difference; however, light scattering effects underneath the surface nanopattern also play an important role.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliveto, Vincent & Patel, Bhakti & Park, Kai & Smith, Duncan E. & Hughes, Michael D. & Borca-Tasciuc, Diana-Andra, 2023. "Theoretical investigation of asymmetric light interfaces for increasing optical efficiency of luminescent solar concentrators via integration of finite element simulation results with Monte Carlo ray ," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:218:y:2023:i:c:s0960148123012296
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2023.119314
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148123012296
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2023.119314?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duncan E. Smith & Michael D. Hughes & Bhakti Patel & Diana-Andra Borca-Tasciuc, 2021. "An Open-Source Monte Carlo Ray-Tracing Simulation Tool for Luminescent Solar Concentrators with Validation Studies Employing Scattering Phosphor Films," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-28, January.
    2. Smith, Duncan E. & Hughes, Michael D. & Borca-Tasciuc, Diana-Andra, 2022. "Towards a standard approach for annual energy production of concentrator-based building-integrated photovoltaics," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 469-485.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Smith, Duncan E. & Hughes, Michael D. & Borca-Tasciuc, Diana-Andra, 2022. "Towards a standard approach for annual energy production of concentrator-based building-integrated photovoltaics," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 469-485.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:218:y:2023:i:c:s0960148123012296. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.