Novel optical concentrator technology for building integrated photovoltaic systems.

This paper describes a novel type of solar concentrator for use in Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Systems. The new design called rotationally asymmetrical compound parabolic concentrator (RACPC) is based on a novel algorithm that caters for the variation of the position of the sun throughout the day and throughout the year. The RACPC is designed to tackle the following issues: (i) to increase the electrical output of a concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system by providing sufficient concentration gain; (ii) to minimise the usage of the PV material with the corresponding reduction of CPV system cost, and (iii) to eliminate the requirement of mechanical tracking by providing a wide field-of-view. The experimental results presented here indicate that the RACPC increases the short circuit current by 3.01x when compared with a bare solar cell