The effect of non-uniform irradiation on PV cell performance in a lens-walled CPC

This study first describes the principle of a lens-walled CPC (compound parabolic concentrator) which compromises the advantages of common mirror CPC and solid dielectric CPC, by applying a lens shape on the surface of a common CPC. Due to the structural feature of a CPC, the irradiation on the base of a CPC is non-uniform, where a PV cell is installed in a CPC-PV application. A lens-walled CPC has a potential of producing more unform irradiation. The profiles of irradiation are obtained with an optical simulation software Photopia for three types of CPC, i.e., mirror, solid and the proposed lens-walled CPCs. The profiles are then applied as a boundary condition in a finite element model of PV cell to evaluate the effect of non-uniform irradiation on the PV cell. The finite element model of a PV cell is validated against its specification data. The obtained IV curves and the corresponding maximum power points are compared between these three types of CPCs to check the advantage of a lens-walled CPC, for several incidence angles.