Planar solar concentrator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10797638-B2
Application number	US-201916656263-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2019
Priority date	Jan 25, 2019
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

A planar solar concentrator includes a light collecting assembly and a light condensing unit. The light collecting assembly includes a light collecting unit and a waveguide slab extending in a longitudinal direction. The light collecting unit includes a light collector having an input surface, an output surface, and a curved surface to direct an incident light toward a collecting zone on the output surface. The light condensing unit is slidably coupled to a rear end of the waveguide slab for condensing the incident light from the waveguide slab, and is coupled such that based on an elevation angle of the light source, the light condensing unit is permitted to be driven to slide in a transverse direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A planar solar concentrator comprising:
a light collecting assembly including
a light collecting unit including a light collector which has an input surface that is for receiving an incident light from a light source, an output surface that is opposite to said input surface in an upright direction, and a curved surface that extends to interconnect said input and output surfaces, and that has a curvature to direct the incident light toward a collecting zone on said output surface, and
a waveguide slab extending in a longitudinal direction to terminate at a rear end segment and a front end segment which is coupled to said collecting zone so as to permit the incident light to be introduced into said waveguide slab, said waveguide slab being configured to permit the incident light from said light collector to be directed toward a rear end surface of said rear end segment, said waveguide slab further extending in a transverse direction relative to the longitudinal direction; and
a light condensing unit which is slidably coupled to said rear end surface, and which is configured for condensing the incident light from said waveguide slab, said light condensing unit being coupled such that based on an elevation angle of the light source, said light condensing unit is permitted to be driven to slide in the transverse direction.

2. The planar solar concentrator according to claim 1 , wherein said front end segment has a front end surface which is inclined relative to the upright direction.

3. The planar solar concentrator according to claim 2 , wherein said curved surface is disposed forwardly of said front end segment.

4. The planar solar concentrator according to claim 1 , wherein
said front end segment includes a plurality of first regions which are displaced from each other in the longitudinal direction, and which are forwardly and downwardly stepped, each of said first regions having a front end surface which is inclined relative to the upright direction; and
said light collecting unit includes a plurality of said light collectors, said collecting zones of said output surfaces of said light collectors being respectively coupled to said first regions of said front end segment so as to permit the incident lights entering said light collectors to be introduced into said waveguide slab.

5. The planar solar concentrator according to claim 4 , wherein said curved surface of each of said light collectors is disposed forwardly of a respective one of said first regions.

6. The planar solar concentrator according to claim 1 , wherein said light condensing unit includes a plurality of light condensers which are displaced from each other in the transverse direction, and which have different widths in the transverse direction.

7. The planar solar concentrator according to claim 6 , wherein each of light condensers is tapered rearwardly.

8. The planar solar concentrator according to claim 1 , wherein said light condensing unit includes a first light condenser, a second light condenser, and a third light condenser which are displaced from each other in the transverse direction, and which have first, second, third widths in the transverse direction, respectively, the second width being smaller than the first width, the third width being smaller than the second width.

9. The planar solar concentrator according to claim 8 , further comprising a first flat prism and a second flat prism, which are respectively disposed inside said first and second light condensers in contact with or in proximity to said rear end surface, and which are configured to direct the incident light from said waveguide slab toward rear ends of said first and second light condensers, respectively.

10. The planar solar concentrator according to claim 8 , which comprises a plurality of said light collecting assemblies stacked in the upright direction such that an upper one of said light collecting assemblies is disposed on said waveguide slab of a lower one of said light collecting assemblies, said planar solar concentrator further comprising a plurality of coupling members each having a front end which is slidably coupled to said rear end surface of said waveguide slab of a respective one of said light collecting assemblies, and a rear end which is coupled to slide with said light condensing unit so as to permit the incident light from said respective light collecting assembly to be introduced into said light condensing unit, said coupling members having different lengths in the longitudinal directions such that said rear ends of said coupling members are flush with each other.

11. The planar solar concentrator according to claim 10 , further comprising
a plurality of third flat prisms each of which is disposed in a respective one of said coupling members in contact with or in proximity to said respective waveguide slab, and each of which corresponds in position to said first light condenser, and
a plurality of fourth flat prisms each of which is disposed in said respective coupling members in contact with or in proximity to said respective waveguide slab, and each of which corresponds in position to said second light condenser.

Assignees

• Univ Nat Taiwan Normal

Inventors

• Teng Tun-Chien
• Kuo Chih-Hsuan
• Zheng yu-jia

Classifications

• H10F77/488

  Reflecting light-concentrating means, e.g. parabolic mirrors or concentrators using total internal reflection · CPC title

• F24S23/12

  Light guides · CPC title

• F24S23/10

  Prisms · CPC title

• G02B6/4298

  coupling with non-coherent light sources and/or radiation detectors, e.g. lamps, incandescent bulbs, scintillation chambers · CPC title

• G02B19/0042 Primary

  for use with direct solar radiation · CPC title