Basics Modules Concentrators
Concentrator Modules
Concentrator modules use optics to concentrate the sunlight onto the solar cells. The optics can be mirrors or lenses. The solar cells produce current in proportion to the amount of light, up to the limit of the cell physics. So a 10 to 1 concentration would theoretically produce ten times the amount of current. Optical and other losses reduce the effective concentration ratio. Also, concentrators mostly use only the sunlight coming directly from the sun (direct radiation), which is only about 80% of the total. The heat is also concentrated which raises the issue of thermal management.
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Concentrators have to use a tracker that continously points the concentrator towards the sun. They were invented when solar cells were very expensive. The idea was to replace expensive solar cells with inexpensive optics and mechanical systems. Since cells have gotten a whole lot less expensive, and the cost of the optics and mechanical components has increased, concentrators have taken more of a back-burner position.