Demonstration of High Efficiency Static Low-Concentration Photovoltaic Module Using Hybrid Lens Arrays

We demonstrated a static (non-tracking) low concentration photovoltaic module that employs a new design paradigm that mixes two different types of the lens arrays. This design approach brings the annual optical collection efficiency closer to the theoretical upper limit but with high manufacturability and scalability, because this design paradigm give more degree of freedom to optimize the overall efficiencies. We demonstrated that the module with the hybrid lens array is 2%(absolute) more efficient than its single lens array counterparts at on-axis illumination. Also, the good match of the modeled and experimental incident-angle dependent module efficiency confirms the robustness of our fabrication process, showing the promise of achieving high annual collection efficiency of this module.