Design method for nonimaging solar photovoltaic concentrators using genetic algorithms.

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

Abstract

Off-grid solar chargers are one of the ways forward to achieve universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern electricity. To achieve this goal, the sustainability aspect of the solar chargers must be further improved. Nonimaging, static solar photovoltaic (PV) concentrators reduce the amount of PV material and thus the embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions of the solar PV panel, improve its recyclability and reduce the use of hazardous chemicals during its manufacturing, recycling and disposal stages. A novel nonimaging solar PV concentrator named circular rotational square hyperboloid (CRSH) was recently proposed for portable solar systems for developing countries. To further reduce the material usage and production time of the concentrator while achieving an optical concentration ratio above 3x within the angles of incidence of ± 40°, the parameters of the design were optimised using genetic algorithms. The optimisation parameters are discussed and the influence of the objective function on the optimised design is presented. The genetically optimised circular rotational square hyperboloid (GOCRSH) concentrator shows an improved gain-to-volume ratio compared to the CRSH and to several nonimaging solar photovoltaic concentrators proposed for building integrated concentrated PV.

Citation

FREIER, D., RAMIREZ-INIGUEZ, R., MUHAMMAD-SUKKI, F. and GAMIO, C. 2018. Design method for nonimaging solar photovoltaic concentrators using genetic algorithms. In Steiner, M., Anton, I. and Steiner, M. (eds.) Proceedings of the 14th International conference on concentrator photovoltaic systems (CPV-14), 16-18 April 2018, Puertollano, Spain. Melville, NY: AIP Publishing [online], volume 2012, article number 030006. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5053505

• Conference Name: 14th International conference on concentrator photovoltaic systems (CPV-14)
• Conference Location: Puertollano, Spain
• Start Date: Apr 16, 2018
• End Date: Apr 18, 2018
• Acceptance Date: Jan 19, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Sep 13, 2018
• Publication Date: Sep 13, 2018
• Deposit Date: Oct 2, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 2, 2018
• Print ISSN: 0094-243X
• Electronic ISSN: 1551-7616
• Publisher: AIP Publishing
• Article Number: 030006
• Series Title: AIP conference proceedings
• Series Number: 2012
• Series ISSN: 1551-7616
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5053505
• Keywords: Offgrid solar charges; Electricity; Sustainable; Affordable; Solar PV panel; UN sustainable development goals
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/3156