IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v11y2018i9p2455-d170112.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ray Tracing Comparison between Triple-Junction and Four-Junction Solar Cells in PMMA Fresnel-Based High-CPV Units

Author

Listed:
  • Juan P. Ferrer-Rodríguez

    (IDEA Solar Research Group, Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy and Environment (CEAEMA), Electronics and Automation Department, Universidad de Jaén, Las Lagunillas Campus, Jaén 23071, Spain)

  • Alvaro Valera

    (IDEA Solar Research Group, Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy and Environment (CEAEMA), Electronics and Automation Department, Universidad de Jaén, Las Lagunillas Campus, Jaén 23071, Spain)

  • Eduardo F. Fernández

    (IDEA Solar Research Group, Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy and Environment (CEAEMA), Electronics and Automation Department, Universidad de Jaén, Las Lagunillas Campus, Jaén 23071, Spain)

  • Florencia Almonacid

    (IDEA Solar Research Group, Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy and Environment (CEAEMA), Electronics and Automation Department, Universidad de Jaén, Las Lagunillas Campus, Jaén 23071, Spain)

  • Pedro Pérez-Higueras

    (IDEA Solar Research Group, Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy and Environment (CEAEMA), Electronics and Automation Department, Universidad de Jaén, Las Lagunillas Campus, Jaén 23071, Spain)

Abstract

The recent development of wafer bonded four-junction concentrator solar cells (FJSCs) with record efficiency among all the existent photovoltaic (PV) cells offers new possibilities for improving the High Concentrator PV (HCPV) technology. However, the concentrator optical systems utilized in HCPV modules may have to be adapted to the new requirements of FJSC in order to properly take advantage of the increased number of p-n junctions. This research theoretically compares two identical optical concentrator systems, a Frensel lens plus a kind of refractive SILO (SIngle-Lens-Optical element) secondary (both made of PMMA, poly(methyl methacrylate)), which are equipped with a typical triple-junction concentrator solar cell (TJSC) in the one case, and with an FJSC in the other case. Both HCPV units are analyzed through ray tracing optical simulations applying an exhaustive optical modelling that takes into account the spectral responses of the different subcells within the multi-junction cells. The HCPV unit with the FJSC and PMMA SOE (secondary optical element) shows much less efficiency than that with the TJSC due to the light absorption through the PMMA SOE in the wavelength range of the bottom subcell. Therefore, PMMA SOEs may be not appropriate for FJSC in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan P. Ferrer-Rodríguez & Alvaro Valera & Eduardo F. Fernández & Florencia Almonacid & Pedro Pérez-Higueras, 2018. "Ray Tracing Comparison between Triple-Junction and Four-Junction Solar Cells in PMMA Fresnel-Based High-CPV Units," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-11, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:9:p:2455-:d:170112
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/9/2455/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/9/2455/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pérez-Higueras, Pedro & Ferrer-Rodríguez, Juan P. & Almonacid, Florencia & Fernández, Eduardo F., 2018. "Efficiency and acceptance angle of High Concentrator Photovoltaic modules: Current status and indoor measurements," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 143-153.
    2. Fernández, Eduardo F. & Almonacid, Florencia & Soria-Moya, Alberto & Terrados, Julio, 2015. "Experimental analysis of the spectral factor for quantifying the spectral influence on concentrator photovoltaic systems under real operating conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P2), pages 1878-1886.
    3. Shanks, Katie & Senthilarasu, S. & Mallick, Tapas K., 2016. "Optics for concentrating photovoltaics: Trends, limits and opportunities for materials and design," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 394-407.
    4. Baig, Hasan & Heasman, Keith C. & Mallick, Tapas K., 2012. "Non-uniform illumination in concentrating solar cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 5890-5909.
    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. Cameron, William James & Reddy, K. Srinivas & Mallick, Tapas Kumar, 2022. "Review of high concentration photovoltaic thermal hybrid systems for highly efficient energy cogeneration," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    2. Badr, Farouk & Radwan, Ali & Ahmed, Mahmoud & Hamed, Ahmed M., 2022. "An experimental study of the concentrator photovoltaic/thermoelectric generator performance using different passive cooling methods," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1078-1094.
    3. Renzi, Massimiliano & Cioccolanti, Luca & Barazza, Giorgio & Egidi, Lorenzo & Comodi, Gabriele, 2017. "Design and experimental test of refractive secondary optics on the electrical performance of a 3-junction cell used in CPV systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P1), pages 233-243.
    4. Bushra, Nayab & Hartmann, Timo, 2019. "A review of state-of-the-art reflective two-stage solar concentrators: Technology categorization and research trends," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Li, Guiqiang & Xuan, Qingdong & Pei, Gang & Su, Yuehong & Ji, Jie, 2018. "Effect of non-uniform illumination and temperature distribution on concentrating solar cell - A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1119-1136.
    6. Qu, Wanjun & Hong, Hui & Jin, Hongguang, 2019. "A spectral splitting solar concentrator for cascading solar energy utilization by integrating photovoltaics and solar thermal fuel," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C), pages 162-173.
    7. Yassir A. Alamri & Saad Mahmoud & Raya Al-Dadah & Shivangi Sharma & J. N. Roy & Yulong Ding, 2021. "Optical Performance of Single Point-Focus Fresnel Lens Concentrator System for Multiple Multi-Junction Solar Cells—A Numerical Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-18, July.
    8. Saura, José M. & Chemisana, Daniel & Rodrigo, Pedro M. & Almonacid, Florencia M. & Fernández, Eduardo F., 2022. "Effect of non-uniformity on concentrator multi-junction solar cells equipped with refractive secondary optics under shading conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PC).
    9. Andrea Salimbeni & Mario Porru & Luca Massidda & Alfonso Damiano, 2020. "A Forecasting-Based Control Algorithm for Improving Energy Managment in High Concentrator Photovoltaic Power Plant Integrated with Energy Storage Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.
    10. Giannuzzi, Alessandra & Diolaiti, Emiliano & Lombini, Matteo & De Rosa, Adriano & Marano, Bruno & Bregoli, Giovanni & Cosentino, Giuseppe & Foppiani, Italo & Schreiber, Laura, 2015. "Enhancing the efficiency of solar concentrators by controlled optical aberrations: Method and photovoltaic application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 211-222.
    11. Fernández, Eduardo F. & Talavera, D.L. & Almonacid, Florencia M. & Smestad, Greg P., 2016. "Investigating the impact of weather variables on the energy yield and cost of energy of grid-connected solar concentrator systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 790-801.
    12. Xu, Jintao & Chen, Fei & Xia, Entong & Gao, Chong & Deng, Chenggang, 2020. "An optimization design method and optical performance analysis on multi-sectioned compound parabolic concentrator with cylindrical absorber," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    13. Przemyslaw Zawadzki & Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki & Siti Hawa Abu-Bakar & Nurul Aini Bani & Abdullahi Abubakar Mas’ud & Jorge Alfredo Ardila-Rey & Abu Bakar Munir, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of a Rotationally Asymmetrical Compound Parabolic Concentrator (RACPC)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, June.
    14. Daxini, Rajiv & Wu, Yupeng, 2024. "Review of methods to account for the solar spectral influence on photovoltaic device performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    15. Almonacid, Florencia & Rodrigo, Pedro & Fernández, Eduardo F., 2016. "Determination of the current–voltage characteristics of concentrator systems by using different adapted conventional techniques," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 146-160.
    16. Freier, Daria & Ramirez-Iniguez, Roberto & Jafry, Tahseen & Muhammad-Sukki, Firdaus & Gamio, Carlos, 2018. "A review of optical concentrators for portable solar photovoltaic systems for developing countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 957-968.
    17. Baig, Hasan & Sarmah, Nabin & Chemisana, Daniel & Rosell, Joan & Mallick, Tapas K., 2014. "Enhancing performance of a linear dielectric based concentrating photovoltaic system using a reflective film along the edge," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 177-191.
    18. Shan, Feng & Fang, Guiyin & Zhao, Lei & Zhu, Yunzhi, 2024. "Optical, electrical, and thermal performance of low-concentrating photovoltaic/thermal system using microencapsulated phase change material suspension as a coolant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    19. Gilmore, Nicholas & Timchenko, Victoria & Menictas, Chris, 2018. "Microchannel cooling of concentrator photovoltaics: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1041-1059.
    20. Perez-Enciso, Ricardo & Gallo, Alessandro & Riveros-Rosas, David & Fuentealba-Vidal, Edward & Perez-Rábago, Carlos, 2016. "A simple method to achieve a uniform flux distribution in a multi-faceted point focus concentrator," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 115-124.

    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:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:9:p:2455-:d:170112. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.