Conceptual design study of concentrator enhanced solar arrays for space applications. Performance evaluation of 5 kw and 20 kw systems in Si and GaAs at 1 au employing a flat plate trough concentrator. final report

Technical Report · Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1980

OSTI ID:5746806

A simple, efficient and very lightweight preliminary design for a 5 KW and 20 KW BOL output concentrated array evolved and is described by drawings. The relative effectiveness of this design, as compared to an unconcentrated planar array of equal power output, was measured by comparing power to mass performance of and the solar cell area required by each. Improvements in power to mass performance as high as 42% together with array area size reduction of 57% are possible in GaAs systems. By contrast, when the same concentrator design is applied to silicon systems, no improvement in power to mass can be obtained although array area reductions as high as 35% are obtainable.

• Research Organization: Hughes Aircraft Co., El Segundo, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5746806
• Report Number(s): NASA-CR-164038
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
CONCENTRATOR SOLAR CELLS
DESIGN
GALLIUM ARSENIDE SOLAR CELLS
PERFORMANCE
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
POWER RANGE 1-10 KW
POWER RANGE 10-100 KW
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EQUIPMENT
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
140501* - Solar Energy Conversion- Photovoltaic Conversion
140600 - Solar Energy- Photovoltaic Power Systems