Concentrating PhotoVoltaics (CPV) can increase the efficiency of power systems in space while reducing their cost. This paper presents the first concentrator prototype using III-V/Si cells for space applications. This new approach will significantly reduce cost by concentrating sunlight then decreasing cell material, and in particular using III-V/Si triple-junction (3J) cells will allow the usage of Silicon, which is an abundant, twice less dense and low-cost material than the typically used Germanium. The efficiency of III-V/Si solar cells used is 25.7% @AM0. In our refractive module design, Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC), twelve 1.5x13mm2 cells are embedded in a Dow Corning® 93-500 silicone optics that provides an ∼8x concentration factor with an optical efficiency of 68%. Additionally, this linear-focus lens enables the use of single-axis sun tracking.


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    Title :

    First space concentrator prototype using III-V/Si cells




    Publication date :

    2019-09-01


    Size :

    1145793 byte




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





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