Noel C. Giebink, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Penn State University (PSU), announced the development of a concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) panel technology that is only 1cm thick and requires no external solar tracking device. People can set up CPV panels on the roof of individual houses.
The Giebink Research Laboratory used a 3D printer to make a small resin-made condenser with a diameter of 12.7 mm, and a multi-junction compound solar cell with about 1 mm square was placed between the two condensers. The solar cell is attached to a transparent resin plate, and moves along with the resin plate to a level opposite to the direction of the sun's movement. The distance between the condensers is 1 to 2 mm, and the thickness of the panel including the condenser is about 1 cm.
Of the two condenser lenses, the upper condenser lens serves as an ordinary convex lens, and the lower condenser lens functions as a concave mirror. The condenser designed by Giebink's laboratory allows the sunlight passing through the upper condenser to be reflected by the lower condenser mirror, just in the position of the solar cell. Taking into account that the strongest wavelength of sunlight will change during the day, they also designed the curvature of the condenser. When the sun's rays enter from the front of the condenser before and after noon, the curvature of the condenser is optimized to be the wavelength of blue light, and when the sunlight enters the condenser obliquely in the morning and evening, it is optimized as red light.
According to Giebink's research office, the battery cell's moving distance is about 1cm a day and can achieve 8 hours of solar power per day. The theoretical spotlight magnification is up to 200 times. However, due to the low precision of 3D printers, the concentration ratio of the solar panels actually produced by the Giebink Research Laboratory is only 100 times.
In addition, although the power generation efficiency of the multi-junction compound solar cell is 2 or more times that of the ordinary Si-based solar cell, the price is as high as 100 times that of the Si-type solar cell of the same area. Therefore, its use is limited to satellites, solar car racing and CPV systems.
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