Realizable planar gradient-index solar lenses.

The design of single element planar hemispherical gradient-index solar lenses that can accommodate the constraints of realistic materials and fabrication techniques are presented, and simulated with an extended and polychromatic solar source for concentrator photovoltaics at flux concentration values exceeding 1000 suns. The planar hemispherical far-field lens is created from a near-field unit magnification spherical gradient-index design, and illustrated with an f/1.40 square solar lens that allows lossless packing within a concentrator module.

Gradient-index lenses for near-ideal imaging and concentration with realistic materials.

Fundamentally new classes of spherical gradient-index lenses with imaging and concentration properties that approach the fundamental limits are derived. These analytic solutions admit severely constrained maximum and minimum refractive indices commensurate with existing manufacturable materials, for realistic optical and solar lenses.

Nominally stationary high-concentration solar optics by gradient-index lenses.

It is shown how novel solutions for realistic gradient-index lenses create the possibility of nominally stationary solar photovoltaic concentrators capable of daylong averaged flux concentration levels of order 10(3).

Stationary nonimaging lenses for solar concentration.

A novel approach for the design of refractive lenses is presented, where the lens is mounted on a stationary aperture and the Sun is tracked by a moving solar cell. The purpose of this work is to design a quasi-stationary concentrator by replacing the two-axis tracking of the Sun with internal motion of the miniaturized solar cell inside the module. Families of lenses are designed with a variation of the simultaneous multiple surface technique in which the sawtooth genetic algorithm is implemented to optimize the geometric variables of the optic in order to produce high fluxes for a range of incidence angles.