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Full Spectrum Photovoltaic Cells
Navy SBIR 2010.3 - Topic N103-233 NAVFAC - Mr. Nick Olah - nick.olah@navy.mil Opens: August 17, 2010 - Closes: September 15, 2010 N103-233 TITLE: Full Spectrum Photovoltaic Cells TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Materials/Processes ACQUISITION PROGRAM: NAVFAC TECHVAL PROGRAM ACAT IV OBJECTIVE: The objective is to develop a photovoltaic (PV) cell that is capable of converting up to 60% of solar radiation to electrical energy. DESCRIPTION: Typical PV panels are capable of only converting a small part of solar radiation into electrical energy. This limits solar-to-electric conversion efficiency and can increase the PV cell temperature. PV cell efficiencies drop rapidly when the sun is obscured by clouds or it rains. And efficiencies are also compromised as the angle of the sun’s rays shift over the course of the day. Large industrial solar parks provide continuous tilting by aligning their panels for improving efficiencies in gathering the sun’s rays but suffering penalties in additional machinery and maintenance costs. Commercial panels are theoretically 30% efficient but in practice are lower than that. To improve efficiencies additional layers of cells are added to absorb the full spectrum of the sun’s energy. Newer techniques are constantly being developed and reports show that under controlled laboratory settings they achieve 40% ratings for the capture and conversion of solar radiation to electrical energy. When reduced to practice the cell materials need to be rugged, relatively inexpensive and be able to be manufactured on a practical and recurring basis. PHASE I: Develop a conceptual design for a full spectrum PV cell that has the potential to achieve a field efficiency of 50-60%. Address issues relating to how a working prototype PV cell can be fabricated. Give consideration to cost effective manufacturability for future commercialization of the technology. PHASE II: Fabricate and test a working prototype PV cell based on the Phase I study whose target efficiency ranges between 50-60% solar capture and conversion to electricity. Address issues and provide guidance relating to cost effective manufacturability for future commercialization of the technology. PHASE III: Fabricate a working PV panel (i.e., a panel with multiple PV cells) based on cost effective manufacturing guidance. Suggest specific detailed design changes to make production models more reliable and cost competitive with the manufacturing of conventional PV panels. PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Solar PV panels are commercially available, but mass manufactured PV cells have solar-to-electric conversion efficiencies of less than 20%. More efficient solar PV cells will reduce the number PV systems needed and, thus, lower costs. This can greatly increase the return on investment of a PV system and can benefit both the private industry and DoD installations if the technology can be demonstrated to work and the manufacturing costs can be made comparable to that of conventional PV panels. REFERENCES: KEYWORDS: Solar; Photovoltaic; PV
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