Performance analysis of a reflective 3D crossed compound parabolic concentrating photovoltaic system for building façade integration

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 (BIPV) 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 3 D 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.