Aims:
Field test for the conversion efficiency determination of high concentrating solar cells with parabolic dish
concentrating system in a tropical location.
Background:
Typical solar cell system using in a tropical location is a fixed panel via commercial grade mono crystalline,
poly crystalline or amorphous solar panels. They have low conversion efficiency so they need wide area to enhance the
electrical energy. The consequence is low yielding in terms of economics and unpopular used in urban zone.
Objective:
To test for the conversion efficiency determination of high concentrating solar cells with parabolic dish concentrating system in a tropical location.
Method:
The research was conducted at the top of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University(NRRU) Science Center Building, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. The four multi junction solar cells were connected together to receive the reflecting
concentrated sunlight from the parabolic dish. I also determined the conversion efficiency of the 160 watts peak mono
crystalline solar cell panel for a comparing purpose. Multi junction solar cells with parabolic dish concentrating and cooling
systems, solar cell panel, pyrheliometer, pyranometer and light sensor were set up on the dual axes sun tracker. Data were
gathered every 5 minutes all day from January 2018 to February 2019 for all 3 seasons via the automatic data logging
system.
Result: The results had presented that the average conversion efficiency of high concentrating solar cell module with parabolic dish concentrating system for 100x and of the 160 watts peak mono crystalline solar cell panel were 15.18% and 9.46%
respectively, with the percentage difference of 56.45%. While, the average output powers per unit area per year of multi
junction solar cells with concentrating system and mono crystalline solar cell panel were 98,544.92watt/m2
and
664.37watt/m2
respectively, with the ratio of 148.33.
Conclusion:
It is clearly seen that, in terms of conversion efficiency and output power per unit area per year, the multi
junction solar cells with parabolic dish concentrating system has more advantage than the typical mono crystalline solar cell
panel.
Other:
Especially for economical aspect, the utilization of parabolic dish concentrating system with MJ solar cells can
reduce the land investment cost and also encourage of solar cell utilization not only in rural but also in urban for the tropical
climate countries.
Standardization of Methodology of Light-to-Heat Conversion Efficiency Determination for Colloidal Nanoheaters
