While solar collectors are used worldwide for producing heat for home and industry and for electricity production by photovoltaic cells, Feuermann and Gordon, collaborating with professors at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, are adapting their mini-collectors for use with state-of-the-art high efficiencyphotovoltaics. These cells convert more than 30% of incident light energy into electricity. Because they operate at extremely high flux levels – namely, of the order of 1,000 times ambient sunlight they can provide over 4 watts of delivered electric power per mini-dish when the sky is clear. The BIDR group has already designed a collector consisting of a reflective mini-dish with a short, square glass rod that homogenizes and carries concentrated light to a photovoltaic cell attached to a heat sink.


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Figure 6: Schematic drawing of a solar mini-dish photovoltaic concentrator.

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Figure 7: Sample advanced solar cell on a heat sink.


Credits

Studies of the use of mini-collectors for solar surgery and nano-material synthesis are being supported by the Altura Foundation of Los Angeles, California. The work on mini-collectors for the production of electricity is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.​


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