Li Y., Shi F.
Texas A&M University, US
Keywords: circuit, high efficiency, low cost, solar cell
Among the various solar energy application technologies, the photovoltaic technology is, in particular, the most desirable technology for large-scale applications due to the fact that the solar energy in optical form is directly transformed into electrical form in a quite simple way. However, photovoltaic technology suffers from low conversion efficiency and high cost. The drawback stems out the intuitive properties of solar energy itself and the current technical approach to photovoltaic conversion. The parallel integrated multiple solar cell circuits for split solar spectrum light source presented in this paper takes a different approach. It manipulates the incident solar radiation by splitting the broad-band solar spectrum into narrow band components through optical instruments which are easily integrated into photovoltaic system, and then guides the components onto the parallel integrated multiple solar cell arrays for different solar cells to convert each of the components with different photon energy. This approach processes concentrated solar radiation first, then converts the processed components respectively with parallel integrated solar cell array and collects photon-induced current in integrated electrode circuits. This approach adapts integrated circuitry to deal with concentrated sunlight so that significantly reduces the area of the semiconductor and therefore greatly lowers the consumption of materials.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 3, Nanotechnology 2009: Biofuels, Renewable Energy, Coatings, Fluidics and Compact Modeling
Published: May 3, 2009
Pages: 130 - 133
Industry sector: Energy & Sustainability
Topic: Solar Technologies
ISBN: 978-1-4398-1784-1