Integrating sphere photovoltaic receiver employing multi-junction cells
OwnerUgur Ortabasiinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A photovoltaic module for converting laser radiation from a laser emitting light at a wavelength to electrical power is provided. The module comprises: (a) a housing having a cavity of generally optimized closed shape inside the housing, the cavity having an internal surface area As and including an opening for admitting the laser radiation into the cavity, the opening having an entrance aperture area Ai that is substantially smaller than As; and (b) a plurality of photovoltaic cells within the cavity, the photovoltaic cells having an energy bandgap to respond to the wavelength and generate the electrical power.
Claims18
A photovoltaic module for converting radiation into electrical power, said module comprising:
- (a) a housing having a cavity of generally optimized closed shape inside said housing, said cavity having an internal surface area As and including an opening or aperture for admitting said radiation into said cavity, said opening having an entrance aperture area Ai that is substantially smaller than As;
- and
- (b) a plurality of single junction, or mufti-junction, or a combination of single and multi-junction photovoltaic cells within said cavity, at least some of said photovoltaic cells having different energy band-gaps to generate said electrical power in response to said radiation;
- and
- (c) a filter, associated with each photovoltaic cell, each filter tuned to the band gap of its associated photovoltaic cell comprising a Rugate filter or a combination of a stacked interference filter and a Rugate filter for admitting radiation corresponding to said band gap and reflecting radiation outside of said band gap, said reflected radiation being recycled within the cavity for conversion by cells having a corresponding band gap.
A concentrating photovoltaic module for providing a concentration in the range of about 500 to over 1,000 suns and a power generation capacity in a range of a few to 50 kiloWatts, said concentrating photovoltaic module comprising:
- (a) a housing having a cavity of generally optimized closed shape inside said housing, said cavity having an internal surface area As and including an opening for admitting pre-focused, direct solar radiation into said cavity, said opening having an entrance aperture area Ai that is significantly smaller than As;
- (b) a plurality of single junction or mufti-junction or both single junction and multi-junction solar cells within said cavity, at least some of said solar cells each having different energy bandgaps so that their spectral responses simultaneously fully span the solar spectrum;
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- (c) at least one filter associated with each solar cell each filter tuned to the band gap of its associated photovoltaic cell for admitting solar radiation corresponding to said band gap and reflecting radiation outside of said band gap, said reflected solar radiation being recycled within the cavity for conversion by cells having a corresponding band gap said filter comprising a Rugate filter or a combination of a stacked interference filter and a Rugate filter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.