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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Fabricating high-concentration GaAs cell photovoltaic modules

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5830944

This program comprises the design and manufacture of components of a GaAs-cell, passively-cooled concentrator. A Fresnel lens, 5.44-inches square, was used in conjunction with a solid glass, domed-top secondary optical element to concentrate the light on single-junction GaAs cells. The cell had an active area 0.2 inches in diameter and was soldered directly to the copper heatspreader. The heatspreader was bonded with heat-conductive RTV to an aluminum dissipator, which formed the module housing. The module was designed to be attached to a tracker at the center. Obtained were 26% cell efficiency in flash tests and 19.2% combined lens/cell efficiency outdoors. Optical transmission was lower than expected due to higher than expected losses in the secondary. The secondaries were made using a molding technique applicable to mass production.

Research Organization:
Varian Associates, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
5830944
Report Number(s):
SAND-85-7021; ON: DE86011705
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English