SBIR Phase I: Advanced Manufacturing To Revolutionize Solar PV Generation

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是对大型公用事业公司的可再生电力生产。今天，大规模的太阳能发电(占所有太阳能的大部分)几乎完全由由硅电池制成的光伏(PV)板组成的大型农场完成，这些光伏板也用于屋顶太阳能。这项研究的目的是加强对另一种方法的科学和技术理解，该方法利用一种不同的、更高效的光伏电池类型。它承诺在世界各地阳光明媚的气候下，通过使用更少土地、寿命更长的工厂，降低电力成本。潜在的社会影响是在美国和世界各地更广泛地采用太阳能发电，从而减少全球污染。该项目的商业影响也是巨大的。在目标全球市场，现在每年在新的太阳能安装上花费300亿美元，预计将增加到1000亿美元。对于美国来说，这是一个重新确立自己在太阳能制造领域世界领先地位的机会，无论是作为我们方法基础的不同光伏电池，还是作为本研究目标和降低成本关键的光学和机械系统。拟议中的项目将探索一种新的太阳能发电方法，使用先进的光伏(PV)电池，将阳光转化为电能，效率是硅光伏电池板的两倍。创新之处在于用于根据需要将阳光聚焦到电池上的系统--以最低的成本实现最高的效率。先进的光伏电池本身已经被开发用于航天器，但之前将其商业化用于地面用途的努力失败了，因为提供集中阳光所需的系统过于昂贵。这项研究将致力于开发、建造和测试对完整、低成本系统至关重要的两个创新元素：1)用于大型碟形反射器焦点的小型玻璃透镜阵列，将阳光均匀分配到单个小型电池上。现有的商业玻璃成型方法无法产生所需的大小和精度的阵列；将开发一种专门为该任务量身定做的新成型方法。2)将开发一种新的机械结构，通过使用在地面轨道上旋转的高效空间框架结构和传感器反馈系统来消除传统的、沉重的、僵硬的轴承，从而在最少使用钢材的情况下将镜子朝向太阳。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The?broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is on renewable electricity production by large scale utilities. Today large scale solar generation (the majority of all solar energy) is almost exclusively by large farms of photovoltaic (PV) panels made from silicon cells, as used also for rooftop solar. The research is aimed at enhancing scientific and technological understanding of an alternative approach that exploits a different, much more efficient type of PV cell.? It promises lower cost electricity in sunny climates around the world, from longer lived plants using less land. The potential societal impact is broader adoption of solar electricity both in the US and across the world, and thus reduced global pollution. The commercial impact of the project is also huge. In the targeted global market, $30 billion now is spent annually on new solar installations and an increase to $100 billion is projected. This is an opportunity for the US to re-establish itself as a world leader in solar manufacturing, of both the different PV cells that underlie our approach, and the optical and mechanical systems that are the target of this research and are key to cost reduction.?The proposed project will explore a new approach to solar electricity generation, using advanced photovoltaic (PV) cells that convert sunlight into electricity with twice the efficiency of silicon PV panels. The innovation is in the system used to focus sunlight on the cells as needed?for highest efficiency at lowest cost. The advanced PV cells themselves have already been developed for spacecraft, but previous efforts to commercialize them for ground use have failed, because the systems needed to provide concentrated sunlight were too expensive. The research will be directed to developing, building and testing the two innovative elements critical to a complete, low cost system: 1) Small glass lens arrays used at the focus of large dish reflectors to apportion sunlight equally onto individual small cells. Existing commercial glass molding methods do not yield arrays of the size and precision needed; a new molding method tailored specifically for the task will be developed. 2) A novel mechanical structure will be developed to orient the mirrors toward the sun throughout the day with minimal use of steel, by employing an efficient spaceframe structure turning on a ground track, and a sensor-feedback system to eliminate conventional, heavy, rigid bearings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.