A new solar concentrator based on one-dimensional grating

Guohua Liu, Xuechang Ren*, Canhui Wang, Xiaoyun Chen, Jianzhong Li

Department of Physics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Peoples Republic of China * xuechangren@xmu.edu.cn
AbstractA new way of concentrating sunlight, which is based on one-dimensional grating, and could be used for concentrator photovoltaic, is described. The light changes its direction in the plane perpendicular to the grating direction, the diffracted lights translates through the glass and radiates on the solar cell which is on the edge of the glass. The diffraction efficiency is calculated in theory, and the concentration ratio is estimated. Keywords- grating; total internal reflection; photovoltaic; concentrator photovoltaic (CPV); building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV)

I.

INTRODUCTION

The photovoltaic is playing a more and more important role in the world. The concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) is a promising part in this field. The CPV could improve the performance of the cell and reduce the cost of the photovoltaic generation [1]. The most common concentrators are consisted of lenses or mirrors [2-5]. In the high-concentrating systems, as the acceptance angle is small, the automatic tracking system is necessary to make sure the lights are received within a specific angel. This increases the cost of the concentration system. Besides, as the automatic tracking system is seated outside, the environment factor has a big influence on the system. It restricts the development of the CPV. In this paper, a new method to concentrate sunlight is proposed. It is based on a one-dimensional grating made on glass, and collects the diffracted lights. The grating is placed in such a way that the sunlight can change its direction in the plane perpendicular to the grating direction throughout the day. The grating is designed to make the diffraction angle meet total reflection condition, and then the diffracted lights will propagate inside the glass substrate and reach the solar cell on the edge of the glass. Compared with traditional concentrators, the advantages of this one are as follows: (1) The grating could be made through holographic print, so the cost could be very low. (2) Since the concentrator is just based on grating made on glass, the CPV system is simplified, and easily to be installed and maintained. (3) It is convenient to be combined with buildings. II. THE THERORY OF THE CONCENTRATION Define the plane which is perpendicular to the groove as the principle plane, the plane which is parallel to the groove

and perpendicular to the glass as the secondary plane. The direction of the incidence ray could be described by two parameters (incidence angel) and i (the angel between incidence plane and principle plane). The direction of the emergent ray could be described by (emergence angle) and (the angel between exit plane and principle plane). Fig. 1 shows the situation of = 0 , and the groove is perpendicular to the paper. The direction of rays changes in the plane perpendicular to the paper. Define ' as the angel between incidence ray and principle plane, '' as the angel between incidence ray and secondary plane, ' as the angel between emergent ray and the principle plane, '' as the angel between emergent ray and the secondary plane. Then we have these equations [6]
sin sin i = sin ' sin cos i = sin '' sin sin k = sin
'

(1)

sin cos k = sin ''

The diffraction equation

nd sin '' d sin '' = k

(2)

According to these equations, the emergence angel could be wrote as

= sin 1
sin 2 k + ( )2 n2 nd
(3)

The k is the diffraction order, and k=1here. The function

Fig.1 The ray illuminate the grating vertically

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 = ( ) has the plus slew rate in (0, ) .This means that 2 if the ray could be totally reflected when = 0 , it would must be totally reflected when the incidence angel increasing. The concentration ratio n is related with the width and thickness of the glass, the diffraction efficiency, and the transmission loss of the glass. In order to find the relationship among them, consider the situation simplified as Fig.2. Define S1 as the area of a piece of solar cell, S0 as the area of a part of the grating which diffracts the rays to the cell, d as the thickness of the glass (and the width of the cell at the same time), L as the length of the piece of grating, ( ) as the diffraction efficiency when the incidence angel is , W ( L) as the ratio of the energy the cell receives in practice to the energy the cell could receive when there was no transmission loss, n as the concentration ratio, what is the ratio of the energy the cell could receive in this way to the energy the cell could receive in the air, as the most energy could receive in unit time, unit area in the plane perpendicular to the ray. Then
S ( )W ( L) L = ( )W ( L ) n= 0 S1 d
(4)

In order to estimate the form of W ( L) , consider the model showed as Fig.3. The light emitted by tiny volume element S dx transmitted to the edge of the glass through a distance of ( L x) , there the S is the area of the cross section of the glass, x and ( L x) are the distances of the volume element to the two edges of the glass, L is the width of the glass, is the energy in the unit length. The energy the right edge received from this volume element could be wrote as

dI = dxe ( L x )

(5)

There the is the attenuation coefficient of the glass. The whole energy transmitted to the edge could be wrote as

I = dI = e ( L x ) dx =
0

(1 e L )

(6)

The energy the cell could receive when there was no transmission loss is I 0 = L .Then

I W ( L) = = I0 (1 e L ) 1 e L L

(7)

So the concentration ratio could be wrote as

n= L ( )(1 e L ) ( )W ( L) = d d

(8)

Based on this equation, the needed n could be achieved. III. THE CAULCULATION OF THE DIFFRACTION EFFICIENCY AND ESTIMATION OF THE CONCENTRATION RATIO
Fig.2 The mathematic schematic of the concentrator

The relationship between diffraction efficiency and incident angel could be find easily with GSolver[7]. Set the pi=90, theta=[0,90], period=400nm, thickness=480nm, refractive of superstrate=0, refractive of substrate=1.5, wavelength of incident light=420nm, alpha=0, beta=0. Then the light of 400nm < < 600nm could all be totally reflected. As the light of wavelength=420nm for example, the relationship between diffraction efficiency and incident angel could be get as Fig.4. The concentration ratio relates to diffraction efficiency as Eq.(8). The order of magnitude of the attenuation coefficient could be estimated as 10-1 cm-1 by experiment. As a glass of thickness=0.2cm, L=50cm for example, the concentration ratio
n= 1 e L 1 e 0.150 ( ) = ( ) = 50 ( ) d 0.2 * 0.1

Fig.3 The mathematic schematic of a tiny volume emitting rays to the edge

(9)

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is simple and easy to apply. As it is most suitable to be combined with the window, it need not any tracking system, and avoids the maintenance what exists in the most concentrator. Third, the cost is very low. It just needs a glass with a grating and two pieces of cell fixed on the edge of the glass. There are also some disadvantages in our work. The function W ( L) which represents the attenuation of the ray in the glass, has not be accurately ascertained, just estimated the order of magnitude of the attenuation coefficient .So the result is just an approximation. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Fig.4 The change of diffraction efficiency with the increase of the incident angel

The authors would like to thank professor Shou Liu for guidance in this research work. REFERENCES
[1] [2] CHEN Nuo-Fu, BAI Yi-Ming, Concentrating photovoltaic system, PHYSICS, 36, pp.862-868, 2007 (in Chinese) Lin Haihao, Zhang Xuemei, Zhong Yingjie, Technical progress in photovoltaic concentrator, SOLAR ENERGY, 8, pp.34-39, 2008 (in Chinese) NING Duo , LIU Fei-hang , WU Yan-rui , DI Liang, YAO Xi, QU Yi, Non-tracking Transmission Solar Concentrators, ACTA PHOTONICA SINICA, 37, pp. 2284-2287, 2008 (in Chinese) LIU Ling-zhi, LI Ji-hong, The optical performance of compound parabolic concentrators (CPC), ENERGY TECHNOLOGY, 27, pp.52-57, 2006 (in Chinese) Xu Zhilong, Liu Judong, Feng Peifeng, Hou Dapan, Zhang Jianyi, Zhang Yaoming, Research on a butterfly concentrator for photovoltaic generation, ACTA ENERGIAE SOLARIS SINICA, 28, pp.174-177, 2007 (in Chinese) Zhang Shanzhong, Measurement grating technology, China Machine Press, 1985 (in Chinese) www.GSlvoer.com

Then the figure of concentration ratio- incident angel could be drawn as Fig.5. It can be found that for the light of wavelength=420nm, the concentration ratio is larger than 1 in a major region and it is large in the region of = (0, 30) . It is advantageous as it is just near the noon when the sun radiation is strongest. The conclusion demonstrated here is for the light of = 400nm , but for the light of > 400nm the concentration ratio would be much more, as the long wavelength means the large diffraction angel, the short optical path length, the less reflection in the glass, and the small attenuation coefficient. And it can be approved by experiment, as the intensity of the red light is stronger. IV. CONCLUSION A new way of concentration is described. Compared with the existing way, the new one has many advantages. First, it is especially applicable to the BIPV. As the concentrator makes use of the diffracted lights only and the transmission light is still a large part of the incident light, it could be installed in the window glass. Then, it not only reduces the lights irradiated into the room, but also transforms the redundant solar energy to electric energy. Second, the device

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6] [7]

Fig.5 The change of concentration ratio with the increase of the incident angel

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