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What are Concentrators?

April 26, 2017Concentrators

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What are Concentrators?

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A Concentrator is a device which increases the amount of sunlight landing on a photovoltaic module. It is in a way a logical development. Commercially available solar cells are commonly around 15% efficiency, and progress in improving this rating is relatively slow. So if you want to increase output today, why not use more sunlight? In order to work well, the concentrator has to be aimed at the sun. Thus the design considerations for trackers come into play. One commonly used design is the reflective trough, which simplifies things by removing one dimension of adjustment. Note that there are a couple of gotchas with Concentrators. See also: • Redrok Solar Tracker • The Solar Concentrating System Website • NREL: High Performance PV • NREL: Multijunction Concentrators • SEL: Gallery of American solar concentrating collectors • SEL: Further Development and Field Test Results of two Low-Material-Cost Parabolic-Trough PV Concentrators • What are the issues in using Concentrators? • What is