An Experimental Study on the Performance of a Concentrating Photovoltaic Cell as a Function of Temperature

온도에 따른 집광형 태양전지의 성능에 관한 실험적 연구

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the performance of a concentrating photovoltaic cell (CPV) against temperature. It is know that a high efficiency of a CPV can be achieved only with proper cell temperature as well as high concentration ratio (CR). This study is concerned with appropriate cooling condition for a liquid-convection cooler for the best performance of a specific CPV. A series of experiments was conducted in a range of cell temperatures as a result of varying cooling conditions, while the concentration ratio was 390 and the solar irradiation flux was higher than 900 $W/m^2$ in outdoor environment. The CPV had a planar dimension of 10 by 10 mm. A Fresnel lens was used as a concentrator, of which the dimension was 221 mm(W) ${\times}$ 221 mm(L) ${\times}$ 3 mm(t) and the transmissivity was known to be 0.8. The cooler was attached to the bottom side of the CPV and had a contact area of 21 mm(W) ${\times}$ 26 mm(L), which was identical to the size of the base plate of the CPV. The coolant temperature was controlled by an isothermal bath and the flow rate was controlled and measured by a flowmeter. The experimental results showed that the average of power efficiency of the CPV decreased from 28.6 % to 24.7 % as the cell temperature increased from $36^{\circ}C$ to $97^{\circ}C$. An appropriate cooling method of a CPV might increase the power conversion efficiency by about 4% for the same concentration ratio. Discussion is included from the viewpoint of the combined efficiency in addition to the power efficiency.