Impact of the Location of a Solar Cell in Relationship to the Focal Length of a Fresnel Lens on Power Production

Abstract The purpose of this study was to optimize the energy output of solar cells using a Fresnel lens. A Fresnel lens is a flat approximation of the standard convergent thin lens that is able to converge rays of light perpendicular to its surface onto a single point, its focal point, thus concentrating the light energy on a small spot size. To test how Fresnel lenses would impact the energy outputs of solar cells, eight lenses were placed above eight monocrystalline solar cells at heights equal to 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, and 1.8 times the lenses' focal lengths, with an additional solar cell with no lens serving as the control. These setups were tested outdoors for seven days, with the power outputs across 120Ω resistors measured by an Arduino-based data logging circuit. It was found that all experiment groups outperformed the control group in average energy production except for the 1.0F group with the solar cell at the focal length (F), which decreased the energy production by an average of 9.76%. The net increases ranged on average from 1.25% to 14.93% with the 0.8F group performing the best, generating 14.93% more energy than the control. The 1.0F group failed to improve the performance of the solar cell. Findings of the current study indicate that uses of Fresnel lenses with solar cells at optimized lens-solar cell distances could enhance cell output and therefore the practicality of the use of solar energy