The Design and Experimental Characterisation of Isolated Cells Photovoltaic Module Under Compound Parabolic Concentrator

A significant problem with the Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC) in photovoltaic applications is the non-uniform illumination on the receiver which results in current reduction for photovoltaic modules in which cells are serially connected. A novel photovoltaic module with isolated cells, which yield high current for cells located in peak insolation, has been designed and experimentally characterised with and without the CPC using a solar simulator. The CPC had an acceptance half–angle of 30° and truncated geometrical concentration ratio of 1.96. Due to the variation in intensity distribution on each cell, it was found that the energy flux in CPC varied from 0.9 to 3.6. The total maximum power output for the CPC was 25% higher than that of non-concentrating system. The variation in maximum back-surface cell temperatures for non-concentrating cells and CPC was 7% and 67%, respectively