Nanocrystals for luminescent solar concentrators liam r. Design and performance of nanostructurebased luminescent. A solar concentrator doesnt require a cooling system, and there are no moving parts, making it less expensive than a solar tracker. Software and codes for analysis of concentrating solar power. Luminescent solar concentrators explained mit energy. A planar solar concentrator, or psc, which is the particular embodiment of an lsc. Will only power up phones, lap tops, 100 watt fridge and lamp of 100 watts. In this work, the possibility of producing a more e cient luminescent solar concentrator is explored by reducing the potential losses of the system. When must run a concentrator around the clock or charge up batteries to run that concentrator, there is no such thing as waiting for the sun to come back out or for a wind to kick up. Luminescent solar concentrators lscs offer a novel approach for the utilization of solar irradiation in the form of transparent glazing systems that have the. In our earlier paper we referred to the generic device as a planar solar concentrator, or psc. The study found that concentrated solar power could account for up to 25% of the worlds energy needs by 2050. The dye absorbs light and then fluoresces creating a glow that propagates by total internal reflection to the edge of the sheet where the light is absorbed by a narrow solar cell. I high temperature solar concentrators robert pitzpaal encyclopedia of life support systems eolss 2.
The increased awareness of greenhouse gas emissions on longterm climate trends has put the spotlight back on the development of renewable energy technologies to mitigate these processes. Solar concentrators, parabolic reflectors, photovoltaic cells, photovoltaicthermal. While the light energy bounces around in the plastic, it sometimes gets reabsorbed into the dye molecules and ends up emitted as heat. Ghosh a aschool of natural sciences, university of california, merced, 5200 north lake rd. Thermodynamic limits of light concentrators 101 fl 2 fig. It takes the sunlight that strikes a wide area and bunches it together.
A wide variety of solar concentrator options are available to you, such as pressurized, vacuum solar collector, and flat panel. Optical design and characterization of solar concentrators for photovoltaics 4 ruption of the translational symmetry when the microstructured reflectors were introduced. What you need is a reliable system of renewable energy that will never run out, and will. Spain is the leader in concentrated solar power technology, with more than 50 governmentapproved projects in the works. The solar concentrators used in csp systems can often also be used to provide. Optical design and characterization of solar concentrators. However, several challenges still existed, such as quantum yields qys at highloading contents, scatteringreabsorption losses, and stability.
Three parabolic trough solar concentrators ptscs of dimensions. Another solution to the efficiency problem in solar panels is the solar concentrator. Following this reasoning an lsc with fiber geometry should have a. However, the luminescent solar concentrator exhibits several potential light loss mechanisms that limit its e ciency and practicality for many potential applications. Luminescent solar concentrator lsc incorporated with quantum dots qds have been widely regarded as one of the most important development trends of. High performance fresnelbased photovoltaic concentrator light. A new concept in solar energy concentration technology has been evolving over the past several years, which has given rise to a device called a luminescent solar concentrator, or lsc see appendix a for an historical account. Purchased a solar generator from a company only to find out it would not power my oxygen concentrator or the sump pumps. In the rst two cases, the incident solar radiation is at or better than 1.
New type of solar concentrator doesnt block the view. Luminescent solar concentrator lsc incorporated with quantum dots qds have been widely regarded as one of the most important development trends of costeffective solar energy. A wide variety of solar concentrator options are available to you. The increase in investment would be from 2 billion worldwide to 92. A solar startup looks to break with tradition with the concept of photovoltaic material that can move to meet the light. Greg schmidt, research engineer at the institute of optics, explains how light guide solar concentrators are designed to direct and concentrate sunlight in o. Osa luminescent solar concentrators with fiber geometry. The design is lossfree when the bundle of collected rays mc coincides with mi. Download limit exceeded you have exceeded your daily download allowance. Visibletransparent luminescent solar concentrators vtlscs can be integrated with solar cells for designing solar glasses.
A supertwist liquid crystalline luminescent solar concentrator lsc smart window is fabricated which can be switched electrically between three states. Highly efficient largearea colourless luminescent solar concentrators using heavy metal free colloidal quantum dots francesco meinardi, hunter mc daniel, francesco carulli, annalisa colombo, kirill a. Such concentrators do not require tracking, and they can reduce the cost of solar energy conversion by reducing the required area of photovoltaic cells. Luminescent solar concentrator lsc development program at owensillinois under the sponsorship of the united states department of energy. Archived from the original pdf on 15 september 2014. This makes much more focused light come to each solar cell, making the cells vastly more efficient. The potential of a fibre luminescent solar concentrator has been explored by means of both analytical and raytracing techniques.
The company says that their solar concentrator could produce up to kw of heat per hour, far exceeding the needs of a normal home. Merced, ca 95343, usa bschool of engineering, university of california, merced, 5200 north lake rd. A luminescent solar concentrator lsc is a device that has luminescent molecules embedded in a polymeric or glass waveguide to generate electricity from sunlight via a photovoltaic cell attachment. Highly efficient largearea colourless luminescent solar.
The alignmentfree tir collectors are assembled on the waveguide without requiring alignment. A stack of luminescent solar concentrator sheets has been developed, which utilises three different coloured fluorescent dyes to produce a concentrated nearwhite light source to be coupled into flexible polymer sheets and transported up to 10 m. Sep 29, 2014 greg schmidt, research engineer at the institute of optics, explains how light guide solar concentrators are designed to direct and concentrate sunlight in o. Thermal analysis of the performance of linear fresnel. Luminescent solar concentrator clean energy institute. Lsc technology works by trapping incident solar radiation, converting the spectrum to the wavelengthband of interest and concentrating the light by total internal reflection tir to the edge of the lsc where photovoltaic pv solar cell is attached. The proposed te solar concentrator was composed of a parabolic dish collector with an aperture of 1. Unesco eolss sample chapters solar energy conversion and photoenergy systems vol. A luminescent solar concentrator lsc is a device for concentrating radiation, solar radiation in particular, to produce electricity. In this work, the potential for a solarthermal concentrator to produce steam has been studied. A novel method to characterize luminescent solar concentrators is proposed.
Each triangular mirror is cut from a commercial flat glass mirror with a reflection factor of 0. Flat facet parabolic solar concentrator with support cell. Msu doctoral student yimu zhao holds up a transparent luminescent solar concentrator module. Light management in luminescent solar concentrators. Download fulltext pdf luminescent solar concentrators. We have developed new technologies that address the weaknesses of traditional solar concentrators. Solar energy conversion and photoenergy systems vol. Concentrated solar power csp, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight onto a receiver.
Coated fibres have been found to be more efficient than homogeneously doped fibres, at low absorption. For example, it is wasteful to employ large areas of crystalline silicon merely to absorb light. This is ideal in space, where the sun is a single light source. Pdf nanoparticles for luminescent solar concentrators. It will also analyse on some of the existing solar concentrators used in the solar technology for the past four decades. Recently, rareearth complexes, semiconductor nanocrystals, and carbon nanodots cnds have been applied in developing vtlscs. We have conducted the following experimental and theoretical investigations in order to optimize the lscs.
With this demonstration, we develop kits for educating students about renewable and solar energy while promoting a sense of creativity often lacking in stem demonstrations. New solar concentrators advance solar power possibilities. Could luminescent solar concentrators make solar power. Luminescent solar concentrators with fiber geometry. Well, solar beam, a canadian company now produces solar concentrators, based on the same principle eric used, but aimed at heating your home and providing hot water for free. In atable membrane solar concentration systems for space.
Highly efficient largearea colourless luminescent solar concentrators using heavymetal free. Solar thermal power plants with concentration technologies are. Consider the challenges brought up in the abstract. The coolest part of the system is that it doesnt just concentrate the sunlight. A free download of soltrace is available at the following website. Large stokes shift and high efficiency luminescent solar. New type of solar concentrator doesnt block the view by michigan state university solar power with a view. Development of a compound parabolic solar concentrator to. Sunlight strikes this surface, and the dye, which can be tuned or colored to trap specific wavelengths of light, emits light back to solar cells along the edge of the plate.
This is a less expensive method, and its the one massachusetts institute of technology researchers recently improved upon in a way that could revolutionize solar power technology. Visibletransparent luminescent solar concentrators based. The lsc device can function in diffused light as well as direct light, and may come in a variety of colors, shapes and transparencies. Incident solar radiation for earth, mars, jupiter, etc. Optical design and characterization of solar concentrators for. Wikipedia free encyclopedia 2010, solar thermal energy processes. Solar energy group, argonne national laboratory, argonne, il 60439, u. Gamelin, department of chemistry, university of washington, seattle, washington 981951700, united states mathematics department, western washington university, 516 high street, bellingham, washington 98225, united states.
Concentrator photovoltaics antonio luque lopez springer. Incident sunlight is absorbed by the luminescent species and emitted with high quantum efficiency, such that emitted light is trapped in the sheet and travels to the edges where it can be collected by solar cells. Theres a drawback to the traditional design, though. Design and performance of nanostructurebased luminescent solar concentrators g. The ensuing lumi nescence can either escape back out of the face a or be trapped by. Highly efficient largearea colourless luminescent solar concentrators using heavy metal free colloidal quantum dots. Power generation study of luminescent solar concentrator. Challenges for lanthanidebased organicinorganic hybrid materials article pdf available march 2014 with 926 reads. Solar high temperature designs require concentration systems, such as parabolic reflectors.
Solar concentrator is a device that allows the collection of sunlight from a large area and focusing it on a smaller receiver or exit. Watch in 360 the inside of a nuclear reactor from the size of an atom with virtual reality duration. Luminescent solar concentrator lsc can absorb largearea incident sunlight, then emit luminescence with high quantum efficiency, which finally be collected by a small photovoltaic pv system. Electrical power consumption in buildings may be reduced considerably by more efficient use of sunlight for indoor lighting. Luminescent solar concentrators operate on the principle of collecting radiation over a large area, converting it by luminescence specifically by fluorescence and directing the generated radiation into a relatively small output target. Could luminescent solar concentrators make solar power more. Typical arrangement for a geometrical or passive concentrator. It was concluded that structured reflectors are used at their largest benefit if they are applied in new concentrators designed for structures. A solar concentrator does exactly what its name implies.
Design and analysis of a highefficiency, costeffective. The characteristic of a cylinder is that the longer and thinner it is, the larger the arearatio between the illuminated surface and the edges. A luminescent solar concentrator lsc is an optical waveguide of transparent host material doped with luminophores. A 1 m long, radius 1 mm, fibre lsc doped with lumogen red 305 is predicted to. Experimental study of a parabolic solar concentrator cder.
The ring at the end of the string is free to move along the rod from. Electricity generation from a solar parabolic concentrator. For practical fibres concentration is predicted to be linear with fibre length. For the very first time the main loss channels can be distinguished. For the practical realisation of lsc technology, the ability to create large area devices, which contain considerable volumes of high quality luminescent speci celebrating excellence in research. Solar concentrators put one of these lenses on top of every solar cell. A luminescent solar concentrator lsc greenhouse and an identical control greenhouse were constructed with photovoltaic pv cells attached to the roof panels of both structures. Luminescent solar concentrators lscs have the potential to significantly contribute to solar energy harvesting strategies in the built environment.
Luminescent solar concentrators lsc are being investigated as a lowcost route to expand solar energy harvesting into new spaces. Concentrators work best when there is a single source of light and the concentrator can be pointed right at it. Broadband enhancement of light harvesting in luminescent. Planar solar concentrator featuring alignmentfree total. Solar based electricity generation has gained widespread recognition as a viable source of renewable energy but has been slowed by a number of factors including cost and available application areas. The results are independent of excitation wavelength which simplifies measurements. Luminescent solar concentrators lscs generally consist of transparent polymer sheets doped with luminescent species. For spacebased pv systems, the nal destination has three possible locations. Background on our return to india from germany, we have worked on the development of solar concentrators with input and collaboration of german and austrian inventors.
A linear fresnel solar concentrator may have a lower efficiency than the other concentrating geometries, but the likely reduced cost may well compensate that, providing a solution for costeffective solar energy collection on a large scale 1. Flat facet parabolic solar concentrator with support cell for. A luminescent solar concentrator lsc is a transparent piece of plastic or glass that has a fluorescent dye or quantum dots embedded or painted on it. A solar energy plant takes solar energy and converts it to useful energy andor products. Electricity is generated when the concentrated light is converted to heat solar thermal energy, which drives a heat engine usually a steam turbine connected to an electrical power. The luminescent solar concentrator lsc allows sunlight to be concentrated through the use of light pipe trapping of luminescence. Large area quantum dot luminescent solar concentrators for.
Polarizationindependent filters for luminescent solar. Although attractive for lowering solar energy costs, lscs remain severely limited by luminophore reabsorption losses. Planar waveguide concentrator used with a seasonal tracker. Polarizationindependent filters for luminescent solar concentrators dick k. It was concluded that structured reflectors are used at their largest benefit if they. Concentrated solar power, simultaneous multiple surface method. Solar concentrators rensselaer polytechnic institute. An overview of various configurations of luminescent solar. The lightharvesting area of the pv system is much smaller than that of the lsc system, potentially improving the efficiency and reducing the cost of solar cells. Mar 19, 20 watch in 360 the inside of a nuclear reactor from the size of an atom with virtual reality duration.
Luminescent solar concentrators for buildingintegrated. A solar concentrator, which collects light for a small solar cell, promises to be cheaper and more efficient. Luminescent solar concentrators lscs harvest sunlight over large areas and concentrate this energy onto photovoltaics or for other uses by transporting photons through macroscopic waveguides. Development of a compound parabolic solar concentrator to increase solar 167 12. Luminescent solar concentrators explained mit energy initiative. The solarbeamtm concentrator is the most efficient. Concentrated solar power systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to. Due to a corporate reorganization at owensillinois in early 1984, the lsc group was disbanded, thereby making completion of this report a much more difficult task. May 19, 2009 his solar concentrator utilizes inexpensive material like glass or plastic onto which a thin film of dye has been painted. The experimental setup required is the same as used for quantum yield measurements. Aug 19, 2014 new type of solar concentrator doesnt block the view by michigan state university solar power with a view. A solar plant takes solar energy and converts it to usable energy. Luminescent solar concentrators with flat plate and cylindrical geometries.
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