A novel micro-concentrating photovoltaic module: modeling and experimental results

Micro-concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) is an approach to CPV to reduce cost by the miniaturization of components combined with massive parallelization in module assembly. At Fraunhofer ISE, we have developed a micro-CPV module based on a silicone-on-glass primary lens array, combined with a chip-on-board technology for the base plate. Here, a circuit board on glass is equipped with 5-junction micro concentrator solar cells and glass ball lenses as secondary optics. Different module types have been realized, from various prototypes for testing to a submodule-class demonstrator and recently 18“×24“ panel modules. This work will present theoretical and experimental results. To model the influence of manufacturing tolerances on module performance, a nested two-stage statistical model was developed and used to quantitatively assesses how changes in precision impact performance. Fabricated modules were measured outdoors on our 2-axis tracking unit. The 60-cell demonstrator module (205 cm²) achieves an efficiency of 36.0% (CSTC) in a power rating according to IEC62670-3. Also results of first 2’259-cm² micro-CPV modules in panel format will be presented.