Edinburgh Napier University

  A reflective 3D crossed compound parabolic-based photovoltaic module (3D CCPC PV) was designed and its electrical and optical performance was analyzed for building integrated photovoltaic applications. A maximum power concentration of 3.0× was achieved compared to similar type of non-concentrating module. The reduction of the concentration factor from the geometrical concentration of 3.61× for the designed 3D CCPC were due to manufacturing errors, mismatch losses, series resistance losses, and thermal loses. The experimental output was validated by developing a MATLAB simulation code for its electrical performance. Good agreements were observed between experimental and electrical simulation with maximum electrical conversion efficiency of the concentrating system of 14%. The experimental characterization of the optical efficiency was found to show a deviation of 19.4% from the 3D ray tracing simulation efficiency of 94.6% for direct incidence. This deviation is mainly due to the fact that 3D ray tracing simulation does not take the non-uniform illumination distribution into account.