Development of a commercial photovoltaic concentrator module

Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:7058844

Saifee, S T; Hutchison, G ^[1]

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1. Solar Kinetics, Inc., Dallas, TX (United States)

The ojective of this work was to develop the design and prototype of a commercial high-concentration photovoltaic (PV) module. The design is for a 282-sun point-focus concentrating module. Most of the components, subassemblies, and design features incorporate simplifications and ease of manufacturing. The Solar Kinetics, Inc. (SKI) module is designed to incorporate high-efficiency, single-crystal silicon PV cells. The housing is made with aluminum laminated for voltage stand-off and simultaneously providing high thermal conductivity. The Fresnel lens injection molded by American Optical (AO) as singles. The cell assembly consists of a copper heat spreader, a photovoltaic cell soldered, a top and bottom contact, and a reflective secondary optical element (SOE). The cell assemblies passed all of the initial electrical characterization and high-potential tests. Under environmental cycling, the only bond that failed was the PV cell-to-heat spreader interface. The other components (top contact, bottom contact, SOE) passed all the environmental cycling tests. The cell assemblies were designed to be mounted onto the receiver section with a thermally conductive RTV. This geometry was subjected to environmental testing. There was no delamination of this bond nor was there electrical breakdown when the assemblies were subjected to the hi-pot test. A mock module was fabricated for environmental evaluation. This module was subjected to the humidity/freeze cycling to assess the performance of the lens mounting design. This module was also subjected to the rain test after the humidity/freeze cycling and checked for water leaks. The lens showed small displacement from its original position after the environmental cycling. One tablespoon of water did collect inside the module.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States); Solar Kinetics, Inc., Dallas, TX (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 7058844
• Report Number(s): SAND-92-7001; ON: DE93002594
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501 -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
CONVERSION
DESIGN
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ENERGY CONVERSION
EQUIPMENT
FRESNEL LENS
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
LENSES
MANUFACTURING
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CONVERSION
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CONCENTRATORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SURFACE PROPERTIES
THERMAL ANALYSIS