Concentration of solar radiation by white painted transparent plates
Abstract:
A simple flat-plate solar concentrator is described in this paper. The device is composed of a white painted transparent plate with a photovoltaic cell fixed to an unpainted area on the bottom of the plate. Light scattering off the white material is either lost or directed to the solar cell. Experimental concentrations of up to 1.9 times the incident solar flux have been achieved using white clays. These values are close to those predicted by theory for the experimental parameters investigated. A theory of the device operation is developed. Using this theory suggestions are made for optimizing the concentrator system. For reasonable choices of cell and plate size and reflectivities of 80% concentrations of over 2x are possible. The concentrator has the advantage over other systems in that the concentration is independent of incidence angle and the concentrator is easy to produce. The device needs no tracking system and will concentrate on a cloudy day.
Related Concept Videos
Radiation Pressure: Problem Solving
The average value of the rate of momentum transfer divided by the absorbing area represents the average force per...
Radiation: Applications
The average...
Absorption of Radiation
Conduction, Convection and Radiation: Problem Solving
In order to solve a problem related to heat transfer, first of all, the situation needs to be examined to determine the type of heat transfer involved. This could...
P-N junction
The Antenna Complex


