Novel nonimaging solar concentrator for portable solar systems for developing countries.

Freier, Daria; Ramirez-Iniguez, Roberto; Gamio, Carlos; Jafry, Tahseen; Muhammad-Sukki, Firdaus

Abstract

Portable solar chargers have been gaining popularity as a new technology to help increase electrification in rural areas in developing countries. It is a fast developing industry aiming to produce a low-cost solution for the application of off-grid solar lighting and charging of small devices to be used by the poorest and most vulnerable of society. Solar concentrators are proposed as an add-on to help further reduce costs, to increase light-output hours and to reduce charging time. So far, no suitable concentrator designs have been proposed. This paper presents a novel concept for the design of a static nonimaging concentrator, suitable for portable solar systems for developing countries. The novel concentrator design is compared with existing concentrators and its suitability for portable solar chargers, as well as its potential for further improvement, are highlighted.

Citation

FREIER, D., RAMIREZ-INIGUEZ, R., GAMIO, C., JAFRY, T. and MUHAMMAD-SUKKI, F. 2017. Novel nonimaging solar concentrator for portable solar systems for developing countries. In Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE Power and Energy Society and Industrial Applications Society PowerAfrica conference (IEEE PES-IAS PowerAfrica 2017): harnessing energy, information and communications technology (ICT) for affordable electrification of Africa, 27-30 June 2017, Accra, Ghana. New York: IEEE [online], article number 7991242, pages 307-310. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1109/PowerAfrica.2017.7991242

• Conference Name: 2017 IEEE Power and Energy Society and Industrial Applications Society PowerAfrica conference (IEEE PES-IAS PowerAfrica 2017)
• Conference Location: Accra, Ghana
• Start Date: Jun 27, 2017
• End Date: Jun 30, 2017
• Acceptance Date: Apr 5, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jun 27, 2017
• Publication Date: Jul 27, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jan 16, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 16, 2018
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Article Number: 7991242
• Pages: 307-310
• ISBN: 9781509047475
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/PowerAfrica.2017.7991242
• Keywords: Concentrated portable solar system; Rural electrification; Solar chargers; Solar power
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2670