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Flexible Spectrum Splitting Holographic Concentrators--Luminit, LLC, 20600 Gramercy Place, Suite 203, Torrance, CA 90501; 310-320-1066; www.aerophase.com
Mr. Kevin Yu, Principal Investigator, kyu@luminitco.com
Dr. Engin Arik, Business Official, earik@luminitco.com
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-07ER84775
Amount: $99,951
The Department of
Energy is beginning a new Solar America Initiative (SAI) to accelerate the
development of photovoltaic systems. The
goal is to make solar energy, based on photovoltaics,
cost-competitive with other forms of renewable electricity by the year
2015. This project will develop a
low-cost, flexible, Spectrum Splitting Holographic Concentrator (SSHOC) based
on four thin film holographic optical elements.
This concentrator will focus light onto the appropriate spectral
response solar cells with high efficiency, flexible chromatic
dispersion-compensated splitting of the light spectrum, thereby increasing the
output of existing photovoltaic (PV) systems.
The key SSHOC components are dispersion- and aberration-corrected
visible and near IR broadband holographic optical elements, which are easily
manufactured, have 99% diffraction efficiency, are lightweight, and are
low-cost. The flexible SSHOC film can be
laminated to any PV system solar cell.
Phase I will demonstrate the feasibility of SSHOC and its ability to
focus light onto the appropriate spectral response solar cells in a laboratory
environment. A demonstration SSHOC
module will be fabricated, and its performance will be measured in a series of
bench tests. Phase II will build an
engineering SSHOC as a compact portable system for field testing.
Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: A scalable SSHOC could be adapted to a variety of applications, from large solar collectors in space to solar tiles for residential homes. A broader use of photovoltaics should reduce the nation’s dependence on environmentally unfriendly sources, such as fossil fuels and nuclear fusion, and reduce reliance on non-renewable energy sources, especially foreign oil.