Peripheral Contact Photovoltaic Component for Concentrated Solar
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional photovoltaic cells face limitations in efficiency under concentrated solar flux due to resistive effects of the front layer, which leads to reduced yields and increased material usage, especially with rare elements like indium and tellurium.
Innovation Solution
A photovoltaic component with a novel architecture featuring microcells contacted at the periphery, eliminating the need for a collection grid, and utilizing a discontinuous absorbent layer and structured insulating and conductive layers to optimize light concentration and reduce material usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a collection grid is used on the front face to improve electrical contact, then electrical conductivity is improved, but the grid shades the cell and reduces light absorption
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the collection grid function from the front face by implementing peripheral contact architecture. The current collection function is taken out from the front surface grid and relocated to peripheral contacts on the edges of the photovoltaic cell, eliminating the shading problem while maintaining electrical collection efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions the electrical contact from a two-dimensional front surface grid to a one-dimensional peripheral edge contact. By moving the contact points to the perimeter of the cell, the solution eliminates the trade-off between conductivity and light absorption that plagues front-surface grids.
2Productivity
If light concentration is increased to improve conversion efficiency, then energy conversion is improved, but resistive effects from the front layer become too great
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the electrical contact function from the light-absorbing front layer by implementing peripheral contacts. This removes the source of resistive losses from the active photovoltaic zone, allowing high light concentration to be applied without the detrimental resistive effects that limit conventional cells.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention segments the photovoltaic cell into a central active zone for light absorption and peripheral zones for electrical contact. This segmentation separates the optical function from the electrical collection function, enabling high concentration operation without resistive losses in the light path.
3Quantity of substance
If conventional thin film structures are used to reduce material usage, then material consumption is reduced, but yields under concentration remain limited
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the cell structure into distinct functional zones: a thin central absorbent layer for light absorption and peripheral contact regions for electrical collection. This segmentation allows the use of minimal thin film materials in the active zone while maintaining high efficiency under concentration through the peripheral contact architecture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design achieves theoretical efficiencies of up to 30% under high concentration (over 40,000 suns), significantly exceeding previous limits, while minimizing the use of rare materials and enhancing energy production per unit of material used.
Implementation Method 1
Photovoltaic component for application under concentrated solar flux
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 1C~2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
One aspect of the invention relates to a photovoltaic component (10) comprising a set of layers suitable for the production of a photovoltaic device, of which at least a first layer (101) is made from a conductive material in order to form a rear electric contact, a second layer (102) is made from a material that is absorbent in the solar spectrum, and a third layer (106) is made from a transparent conductive material in order to form a front electric contact. The component also comprises an electrically insulating layer (103) disposed between the rear electric contact and the front electric contact, said layer being discontinuous such that the layers of the layer assembly can be stacked in one or more areas (100) in order to form a photovoltaic active zone in each of these areas. The component further comprises a layer (104) of conductive material, which is in electric contact with the aforementioned third layer of transparent conductive material and which is structured to form a peripheral electric contact for each of the photovoltaic micro-cells.