Uniform Flux Dish Concentrators for Photovoltaic Application

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have designed a unique and innovative molded dish concentrator capable of producing a uniform flux profile on a flat target plane. Concentration levels of 100-200 suns, which are uniform over an area of several square inches, can be directly achieved for collection apertures of a reasonable size (-1.5-m diameter). Such performancewould be immediately applicable to photovoltaic (PV) use. Economic concerns have shown that the proposed approach would be less expensive than Fresnel lens concepts or other dish concentrator designs that require complicated and costly receivers to mix the flux to obtain a uniform distribution.