MIT research team led by Marc A. Baldo, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering demonstrated a large improvement in the performance of low-cost solar concentrators. Devices increase the power obtained from solar cells by a factor of over 40 without needing to track the sun.

Solar concentrators can reduce the mass and cost of solar power since more electricity is obtained per solar cell, and fewer solar cells are needed. Conventional solar concentrators track the sun by using large mobile mirrors that are expensive to maintain. Solar cells must be cooled. MIT devices are based on a concept of the luminescent solar concentrator. The version of this device consists of a piece of transparent glass or plastic plate with a thin film of dye molecules deposited on the face and inorganic solar cells attached to the edges. Light is absorbed by the dye coating and reemitted into the glass or plastic for collection by the solar cells.

In practice, added a small concentration of an extra dye that collected all the absorbed light from its surrounding dye molecules. The researcher also introduced a new class of dye molecules, known as molecular phosphors that are extremely transparent to their own light emission. One of the devices was tested and was stable for three months. The researchers are confident that the technology developed for organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) in televisions will be portable to this application.

The technology is being further developed for commercialization by Covalent Solar, a company being spun out of MIT by three of its inventors. The team believes that it could be implemented within three years.

  Yet at the beginning of 90th Nizhyn laboratories of scanning devices ltd executed development of electric relay display on the basis of the use of waveguide properties of light transparent polyethylene (RMMA) plate. As light active material a photoluminescence dye re-irradiative in the range of wave-length approximately 0,6 μm (Red) was used. Light waveguides of different form – parallel-sided plates, cylinder type - were made by extrusion from fusion and by pressing. The edges of waveguide were polishing to receive the necessary cleanness. While waveguides were frontally illuminated by solar light the effect of the certain strengthening of light was speculated on the edges of the doped plates. We did not conduct the quantitative measure, because we delivered the effect of strengthening on subjective perception. It is very interesting to acquaint with these previous results of measure of channeled optical power quantity relatively to the entrance optical power quantity.

Now Nizhyn laboratories of scanning devices ltd that has an experience of holographic scanner development work on creation of the new type of the optic holographic concentrators for the sun modules. The main peculiarity of this optical holographic concentrator is the possibility of uses him as follow:  

·   optic filter for admission (reflection) of certain wave-length radiation;

·   optic concentrator for focusing of optical radiation on a small photosensitive element;

·   tracking element, which allows correcting the trajectory of light beam scanning.

These different useful qualities are set (programming) to the holographic concentrative element during wave front record making process.  

The got results showed that flat holographic concentrating elements of Nizhyn laboratories of scanning devices ltd give possibility of their high effective use both in the volume and flat solar cells systems.

The holographic elements are made with the use of well known technologies of wave front record. Their low cost is provided at the mass making. The efficiency of light-signal transformation that can be attained by means of holographic concentrating elements is high enough (30…70% depending on the chosen chart of the use). The serial production of the high efficiency sun modules with new holographic optical concentrators can be started during 5…7 months.

Technologies and equipments, which we develop, are universal enough for the receipt of electric current and providing electric power to different users. From other side, technologies and equipment have high degree of scientific features (in a world there is the limited amount of remote analogues). For the serial making of equipment in future both our enterprise and certain other highly technological enterprises can be involved.

By Sidorov Vasil on March 2, 2009 after MIT News release