A new design of luminescent solar concentrator and its trial run

• Published in: International journal of energy research Vol. 34; no. 15; pp. 1372 - 1385
• Main Authors: Wang, Chen, Abdul-Rahman, H., Rao, S. P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.12.2010; Wiley
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Color; Concentrators; Design engineering; Energy; Exact sciences and technology; Flux; Light sources; LSC; Luminous efficacy; Optical fibers; solar energy; Sun; Transport; Transportation; Solar energy; Radiation flux; optical fibers; LSC; Optical fiber; Point source
• ISSN: 0363-907X; 1099-114X; 1099-114X
• DOI: 10.1002/er.1681

Normal luminescent solar concentrators (LSC) have a great limitation in their light transportation because the light produced by the recently reported LSCs is not a point light source. In order to enable LSCs to use optical fibers as the effective remote light transport media, a new design of LSC, which uses three color luminescent fibers for solar absorption and uses clear optical fiber bundles to transport the absorbed sunlight into a remote place, is fabricated and tested. Radiation flux ratios with a mean value of 5.7%, the luminous flux up to 114.1 lumens, and the light efficiency of 0.56% have been achieved during the trial run. The luminous efficacy as 0.643 lm W−1 is higher than that of combusting candles (0.3 lm W−1) but lower than that of the incandescent light bulbs (16–40 lm W−1). Further, since the sun light is free, different from electrical light sources, the luminous efficacy of the new LSC does not result in any electricity consumption when it is under operation. A color analysis and spectrum test proves that the light produced by the new LSC performs a great match to the direct sun light in color. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.