Pushing concentration of stationary solar concentrators to the limit

Opt Express. 2010 Apr 26:18 Suppl 1:A64-72. doi: 10.1364/OE.18.000A64.

Abstract

We give the theoretical limit of concentration allowed by nonimaging optics for stationary solar concentrators after reviewing sun-earth geometry in direction cosine space. We then discuss the design principles that we follow to approach the maximum concentration along with examples including a hollow CPC trough, a dielectric CPC trough, and a 3D dielectric stationary solar concentrator which concentrates sun light four times (4x), eight hours per day year around.