Solar Power System using Hybrid Trough and Photovoltaic Two-Stage Light Concentration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018019357-A1
Application number	US-201715713615-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 23, 2017
Priority date	Oct 1, 2014
Publication date	Jan 18, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A solar power method is provided using two-stage light concentration to drive concentrating photovoltaic conversion in conjunction with thermal collection. The method concentrates light rays received in a plurality of transverse planes towards a primary linear focus in an axial plane, which is orthogonal to the transverse planes. T band wavelengths of light are transmitted to the primary linear focus. R band wavelengths of light are reflected towards a secondary linear focus in the axial plane, which is parallel to the primary linear focus. The light received at the primary linear focus is translated into thermal energy. The light received at the secondary linear focus is focused by optical elements along a plurality of tertiary linear foci, which are orthogonal to the axial plane. The focused light in each tertiary primary focus is focused into a plurality of receiving areas, and translated into electrical energy.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A hybrid trough solar power system using two-stage light concentration to drive concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) conversion in conjunction with a thermal collector, the system comprising:
a reflective trough having a primary axis and a parabolic curved surface for concentrating light rays received in a plurality of transverse planes into a primary linear focus in an axial plane, orthogonal to the transverse planes; a dichroic spectrum splitter having a hyperbolically curved surface, an axis aligned in parallel to the primary linear focus, and a position between the reflective trough and the primary linear focus, the dichroic spectrum splitter transmitting T band wavelengths of light, and reflecting R band wavelengths of light to a secondary linear focus formed parallel to a vertex of the reflective trough in the axial plane; a thermal collection tube aligned along the primary linear focus for the T band wavelengths of light; a plurality of concentrating optics sections formed in series along the secondary linear focus, each concentrating optics section comprising:
one optical element focusing the R band wavelengths of light reflected by the dichroic spectrum splitter along a tertiary linear focus, orthogonal to the axial plane;
a plurality of optical funnels for concentrating the R band wavelengths of light focused by the optical element to a corresponding plurality of receiving areas; and,
a plurality of PV devices, each having an optical interface formed at one of the plurality of corresponding receiving areas.

2 . The system of claim 1 wherein each optical element has an optical input aperture elongated orthogonal to the axial plane; and,
wherein the plurality of optical funnels in each concentrating optics section each have an optical input aperture underlying the optical element and elongated orthogonal to the axial plane.

3 . The system of claim 2 wherein each optical element has an optical input aperture first axial plane-width in an aperture plane, where the aperture plane is orthogonal to the axial plane, and each optical element focuses reflected R band wavelengths of light along the tertiary linear focus to a second axial plane-width, smaller than the first axial plane width.

4 . The system of claim 3 wherein each concentrating optics section is rotatable about a corresponding local axis, each local axis formed orthogonal to the axial plane.

5 . The system of claim 2 wherein each optical element is selected from a group consisting of Fresnel lens, cylindrical lens, and acylindrical lens.

6 . The system of claim 1 wherein each optical funnel is hollow with inner reflective surfaces, with facets selected from a group consisting of curved and flat.

7 . The system of claim 1 wherein each optical funnel has curved exterior surfaces shaped as a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC).

8 . The system of claim 1 wherein each optical funnel is a dielectric material with exterior surface facets selected from a group consisting of flat and curved, transmitting R band wavelengths of light accepted at an optical input aperture, initially by refraction, and subsequently to a corresponding receiving surface via total internal reflection (TIR).

9 . The system of claim 1 where the PV devices are selected from the group consisting of single-junction and multi-junction cells, each junction having an energy bandgap converting R band wavelengths of light to electrical current.

10 . The system of claim 9 wherein the dichroic spectrum splitter reflects light in the R band of wavelengths between 500 and 810 nanometers (nm); and,
wherein the PV devices are selected from a group consisting of double junction tandem cells with energy bandgaps of 1.88 electron volts (eV) and 1.43 eV, and triple junction tandem cells with an energy bandgaps of 2.05 eV, 1.77 eV, and 1.43 eV.

11 . The system of claim 9 wherein the dichroic spectrum splitter reflects light in the R band of wavelengths between 650 and 850 nm; and,
wherein the PV devices are single junction cells with an energy bandgap of 1.43 eV.

12 . The system of claim 9 wherein the dichroic spectrum splitter reflects light in the R band of wavelengths between 700 and 1000 nm; and,
wherein the PV devices are single junction cells with an energy bandgap of 1.1 eV.

13 . The system of claim 1 wherein the reflective trough is rotatable about the primary axis.

14 . The system of claim 1 further comprising:
thermal cooling blocks attached to the PV devices.

15 . The system of claim 1 wherein dichroic spectrum splitter transmits T band wavelengths of light both greater than near infrared (NIR) and less than NIR, and reflects R band wavelengths in the NIR wavelengths of light.

16 . A solar power system using two-stage light concentration to drive concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) conversion, the system comprising:
a plurality of concentrating optics sections formed in series along a secondary linear focus, each concentrating optics section comprising:
an imaging optical element focusing R band wavelengths of light along a tertiary linear focus orthogonal to an axial plane;
a plurality of optical funnels aligned serially in a row along the tertiary linear focus of the imaging optical element, the plurality of optical funnels concentrating the R band wavelengths of light focused by the imaging optical element to a corresponding plurality of receiving areas;
for each optical funnel, a PV device having an optical interface formed at the corresponding receiving area of the plurality of corresponding receiving areas;
wherein each concentrating optics section is independently rotatable about a corresponding local axis, and each local axis is orthogonal to the axial plane; and, wherein the orthogonality of each imaging optical element to the R band wavelengths of light is responsive to the rotation of a corresponding concentrating optics section about its local axis.

17 . The system of claim 16 wherein each imaging optical element has an optical input aperture elongated orthogonal to the axial plane; and,
wherein the plurality of optical funnels in each concentrating optics section each have an optical input aperture underlying the corresponding imaging optical element and elongated orthogonal to the axial plane.

18 . The system of claim 17 wherein each imaging optical element has an optical input aperture first axial plane-width in an aperture plane, where the aperture plane is orthogonal to the axial plane, and each imaging optical element focuses light along the tertiary linear focus to a second axial plane-width, smaller than the first axial plane width.

19 . The system of claim 17 wherein each imaging optical element is selected from a group consisting of Fresnel lens, cylindrical lens, and acylindrical lens.

20 . The system of claim 17 wherein each optical funnel is hollow with inner reflective surfaces, with facets selected from a group consisting of curved and flat.

21 . The system of claim 17 wherein each optical funnel has curved exterior surfaces shaped as a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC).

22 . The system of claim 17 wherein each optical funnel is a dielectric material with exterior surface facets selected from a group consisting of flat and curved, transmitting R band wavelengths of light accepted at an optical input aperture, initially by refraction, and subsequently to a corresponding receiving surface via total internal reflection (TIR).

Assignees

• Sharp Laboratories America Inc

Inventors

• Wheelwright Brian
• Pan Wei
• Tweet Douglas

Classifications

• Y02E10/52

  PV systems with concentrators · CPC title

• H02S40/44

  Means to utilise heat energy, e.g. hybrid systems producing warm water and electricity at the same time (directly associated with the PV cell or integrated with the PV cell H10F77/67) · CPC title

• H02S40/22

  Light-reflecting or light-concentrating means (directly associated with the PV cell or integrated with the PV cell H10F77/42) · CPC title

• F24S23/30

  with lenses · CPC title

• F24S23/79

  with spaced and opposed interacting reflective surfaces · CPC title