Related papers: Mini-Optics Solar Energy Concentrator
A novel electronic film solar energy concentrator with embedded micro-mirrors that track the sun is described. The potential viability of this new concept is presented. Due to miniaturization, the amount of material needed for the optical…
Electricity is one of the most crucial resources that drives any given nation's growth and development. The latest Sustainable Development Goals report indicates Africa still has a high deficit in electricity generation. Concentrating solar…
In this paper we present and experimentally validate a low-cost design of a spectral splitting concentrator for the efficient conversion of solar energy. The optical device consists of a dispersive prismatic lens made of polycarbonate…
Renewable energy systems are an increasingly popular way to generate electricity. As with any new technological paradigm, new challenges have emerged which are unique to the utilization of renewable energy systems. One of these challenges…
Solar energy is clean and renewable but has a low flux density. The lack of a continuous and reliable power supply reduces their average daily output. Since the infrared part is not utilized to produce electricity, conventional photovoltaic…
We propose a solar thermal energy conversion system consisting of a solar absorber, a thermoradiative cell or negative illumination photodiode, and a photovoltaic cell. Because it is a heat engine, this system can also be paired with…
The challenge in solar energy today is not the cost of photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation, already competing with fossil fuel prices, but rather utility-scale energy storage and flexibility in supply. Low-cost thermal energy storage…
Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are able to concentrate both direct and diffuse solar radiation and this ability has led to great interest in using them to improve solar energy capture when coupled to traditional photovoltaics (PV).…
Organic solar cells have the potential to be low-cost and efficient solar energy converters, with a promising energy balance. They are made from carbon-based semiconductors, which exhibit favourable light absorption and charge generation…
Micro-inverter technologies are becoming increasingly popular as a choice of grid connection for small-scale photovoltaic systems. Efficiently harvesting the maximum energy from a photovoltaic system reduces the Levelized cost for solar…
Due to an ever growing shortage of conventional energy sources, there is an increasingly intense interest in harnessing solar energy. The instant invention can contribute to the goal of achieving environmentally clean solar energy to be…
This paper gives a personal global point of view on two sciences: electronics and photonics towards plasmonics and solar energy conversion. The new research directions in these two sciences are pointed out by comparison and in the…
Solar energy is rapidly becoming a robust renewable energy source to conventional finite resources such as fossil fuels. It is harvested using interconnected photovoltaic panels, typically built with crystalline silicon cells, i.e.…
Solar photons possessing energy less than the band-gap of a single-junction solar cell can be utilized via the up-conversion (UC) of two or more photons, resulting in the emission of a single above-bandgap photon. Due to the non-linear…
In Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants based on Parabolic Trough Collectors (PTC), the Sun is tracked at discrete time intervals, with each interval representing a movement of the collector system. The act of moving heavy mechanical…
Near-eye display plays an important role in emerging spatial computing systems, providing a distinctive visual effect of virtual-real fusion. However, its application for all-day wear is greatly limited by the bulky structure, energy…
Use of lighter than air platforms (aerostats and airships) for reconnaissance and surveillance over long periods can be facilitated by generation of power on-board through solar photovoltaic arrays. Attempts to integrate solar photovoltaic…
Traditional concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems utilize multijunction cells to minimize thermalization losses, but cannot efficiently capture diffuse sunlight, which contributes to a high levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and limits…
We propose a charge pump which converts solar energy into DC electricity. It is based on cyclic changes in the spontaneous electric polarization of a photoferroelectric material, which allows a transfer of charge from a low to a high…
Solar cells have generated a lot of interest as a potential source of clean renewable energy for the future. However a big bottleneck in wide scale deployment of these energy sources remain the low efficiency of these conversion devices.…