Self-tracking phase change concentrator device demonstrator

Concentration photovoltaic systems uses free-space optics to concentrate sunlight onto photovoltaic cells, using mechanical trackers to accurately track the sun's position and keep the focal spot on the PV cell. We recently proposed and demonstrated a proof-of concept of a self-tracking mechanism using a phase-change material to greatly extend the acceptance angle of the concentration device. The light responsive mechanism allows for efficient waveguide coupling and light concentration independent of the angle of incidence inside its angular range of acceptance. The system uses a lens pair to achieve a flat Petzval field curvature over the acceptance angle range. A waveguide slab acts as the concentrating device. The use of a dichroic prism membrane separates the solar spectrum into two parts, lower wavelengths (750nm) is used to power the self-tracking mechanism. The energy in this part of the spectrum is absorbed by a carbon black paraffin wax mixture that undergoes a phase change and subsequently creates a coupling feature due to thermal expansion which allows the lower wavelength part to be coupled into the waveguide. We show the extension of our proof-of concept to a device-like demonstrator, featuring the extension to a lens array and much larger dimensions. All parts of the proof-of-concept device have been upscaled to meet the requirements of a larger scale demonstrator. The demonstrator has an acceptance angle of +/- 16 degrees and can achieve an effective concentration factor of 20x. We present experimental and simulation results of the demonstration device.

Demonstration and future potential of a self-tracking phase change actuator

Eric Tremblay, Volker Günter Zagolla

State-of-the-art concentrators use free-space optics to concentrate sunlight onto photovoltaic cells. To achieve high concentration factors it is necessary to track the sun's position. In current systems, mechanical actuators keep the focal spot in the solar cell. Planar concentrators have recently emerged, which use a waveguide slab to concentrate the sunlight. Here we demonstrate the development of a phase-change actuator (PCA) for self-adaptive tracking. The demonstrated mechanism is light-responsive and provides self-adaptive light concentration in a planar waveguide while maintaining efficient concentration over an angular range of +/- 16 degrees. The proposed system consists of a lens array to focus the sunlight, a waveguide slab acting as a concentrator, a dichroic prism membrane, splitting the solar spectrum into a visible (VIS) and infrared (IR) part, and the phase-change actuator. The actuator undergoes a phase change upon absorption of the IR light and vertically expands, creating a coupling feature upon contact with the waveguide. Visible light is then reflected off the prism membrane and efficiently coupled into the waveguide. As the focus spot moves, so does the coupling feature due to the light responsiveness of the actuator. We show an experimental proof-of concept prototype, highlighting the desired features of the concept. This is then further expanded by simulations of a full system achieving high effective concentrations (>100X) and first experimental results expanding the prototype to a full system.

Spie-Int Soc Optical Engineering2014

Self-tracking Solar Concentration

Volker Günter Zagolla

Solar concentration is intended to decrease the cost of expensive solar cell material by replacing the solar cell with a focusing optical system as the initial receiving aperture. This reduces the amount of solar cell material needed but adds the need of tracking to the entire system in order to keep the smaller solar cell at the focal spot. In state of the art concentrators, precise tracking (less than 1°) is needed in two directions to cover diurnal and seasonal variations. This adds to the cost of the system, diminishing the savings from the smaller solar cell, and consumes energy which in turn decreases the overall system efficiency. A self-tracking concentrator has the potential to increases the tolerances of the system (less precise tracking needed) and cover seasonal variations (only tracking in one dimension remains). Self-tracking makes use of the energy of the spectrum that is typically not utilized in PV, thus self-tracking does not consume an outside surplus of energy. During the thesis such a self-tracking system was developed. This thesis describes two concepts for the realization of a self-tracking concentrator, one of which is then developed into a working demonstration device with an angular acceptance of 32° (±16°). The work covers both the development of these two different mechanisms as well as an analysis of their performance as a single element and a discussion of their performance as part of a much larger device. The first concept, the micro-fluidic concentrator, uses vapor bubbles to efficiently couple light into a liquid waveguide (chapter 3), while the second concept, based on a phase change actuation uses the thermal expansion of paraffin wax to create a coupling feature at a waveguide (chapter 4). Based on the findings, the phase-change concentrator was then expanded into a self-tracking concentrator with a possible effective concentration of 10x (chapter 5). As a result this thesis shows the feasibility of a self-tracking concentrator and describes in detail the processes and techniques for its realization. Future work based on the designs presented in this thesis can optimize the concepts. Simulations show that a system based on this approach can achieve 150x effective concentration by scaling the system collecting area to reasonable dimensions (30 x 1 cm²). An optimized optical system can then also increase the acceptance angle of the self-tracking concentrator to the ±23° needed in order to cover seasonal variations. In addition, the presented concept is based on earth abundant, inexpensive materials, making it technologically and economically viable to extend it to much larger formats.

EPFL2015

Tunable and Broadband Nanostructured Photonic Devices

Pierre-Yves Baroni

The main topic of this thesis is the fabrication and characterization of structures smaller than the wavelength of light, for operation in the visible or near infrared spectral range. In the first part of this thesis, the fabrication of periodic structures in one and two dimensions with an interference photolithography technique is described in detail. The structure periodicities that have been fabricated with this process ranges between 270 nm and a few microns on areas that can be as large as 100 cm2. Typical structure thicknesses are approximately equal to the period. In particular, a square lattice of pillars with a period of 270 nm has been created on the (non-flat) surface of a quartz microlens array and exhibits anti-reflective properties. Experimental results show a 15 % attenuation of the reflectivity and a 3 % enhancement of the transmissivity over the visible spectral range. In the second part of the thesis the structures are fabricated by e-beam lithography to ensure very precise devices shapes. The experimental results are obtained in the infrared range with two different structures, called photonic crystals. The first structure, a superprism, is a triangular lattice of pillars infiltrated by liquid crystals. A displacement of the output light spot is measured to be 20.5 µm for a wavelength variation of 27 nm. The structure length is 70 µm. The device, based on standard silicon technology, should allow integration of the device as a multiplexer/demultiplexer system into optical micro-circuits. The second structure, a tunable resonant cavity, is a wavelength filter working in the near infrared spectrum. The active area is composed of a photonic waveguide with a triangular lattice made of sub-micrometer holes. Additional nanostructuring in the light waveguide acts as a resonant cavity. The tunability of the device is obtained due to the liquid crystals which are infiltrated into the nanostructure. A 32 nm shift of the transmitted light peak inside the photonic band gap is measured by changing the temperature from room temperature to 45 °C.