Experimental investigations of the microscale concentrated photovoltaic/thermal system based on a solar parabolic trough concentrator

The world's electricity generation from photovoltaic systems has been growing significantly for the last two decades. Nowadays, one of the most interesting trends in the conversion of solar radiation is the use of concentrating solar power collectors. Among other well-known technologies, quite a new solution is concentrated photovoltaic thermal installations, which use photovoltaic panels as a power converter. This paper presents the experimental works carried out on the prototypical micro-scale parabolic-through solar concentrator equipped with monocrystalline silicon solar cells located on the hexagonal receiver tube. The main goal of these investigations was to determine the possibility of enhancing the efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells by placing them under concentrated solar radiation. Obtained results showed, that the maximum power of tested solar cells increased approx. 29% from 14.40 +/- 0.50W(e) to 18.60 +/- 0.60W(e) using concentrated sunlight in comparison to efficiency measured in direct sunlight. It was demonstrated that the use of solar radiation concentrators is justified in the case of solar installations, even with low concentration ratio factors. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The electricity generation from photovoltaic systems has experienced significant growth over the past two decades. The use of concentrating solar power collectors is an interesting trend in solar radiation conversion. This paper presents experimental works on a micro-scale parabolic-through solar concentrator equipped with monocrystalline silicon solar cells. Results show that concentrated sunlight can enhance the efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells by approximately 29% compared to direct sunlight. This study demonstrates the justification for using solar radiation concentrators in solar installations, even with low concentration ratio factors.