High-efficiency thin and compact concentrator photovoltaics using micro-solar cells with via-holes sandwiched between thin lens-array and circuit board

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics Vol. 53; no. 4S; pp. 4 - 1-04ER01-5
• Main Authors: Itou, Akihiro, Asano, Tetsuya, Inoue, Daijiro, Arase, Hidekazu, Matsushita, Akio, Hayashi, Nobuhiko, Futakuchi, Ryutaro, Inoue, Kazuo, Yamamoto, Masaki, Fujii, Eiji, Nakagawa, Tohru, Anda, Yoshiharu, Ishida, Hidetoshi, Ueda, Tetsuzo, Fidaner, Onur, Wiemer, Michael, Ueda, Daisuke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Japan Society of Applied Physics 2014
• Subjects: Carrier recombination; Circuit boards; Concentrators; Electrodes; Energy conversion efficiency; Illumination; Modules; Photovoltaic cells; Solar cells
• ISSN: 0021-4922; 1347-4065
• DOI: 10.7567/JJAP.53.04ER01

We have developed a compact concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) module that comprises micro-solar cells with an area of 0.6 × 0.6 mm2 sandwiched between a 20-mm-thick lens array and a 1-mm-thick circuit board with no air gap. To establish electrical connections between the circuit board and the micro-solar cells, we developed a micro-solar cell with positive and negative electrodes on the lower face of the cell. In this study, we demonstrated the photovoltaic performance of the micro-solar cell closely approaches that of the standard solar cell measuring 5 × 5 mm2 commonly used in conventional CPVs under concentrated illumination. Our study showed that the negative effect on PV performance of perimeter carrier recombination in the micro-solar cell was insignificant under concentrated illumination. Finally, we assembled our micro-solar cells into a CPV module and achieved the module energy conversion efficiency of 34.7% under outdoor solar illumination.