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Published June 10, 2014 | Published
Patent Open

Systems and methods for concentrating solar energy without tracking the sun

Abstract

Systems and methods for concentrating solar energy without tracking the sun are provided. In one embodiment, the invention relates to a solar collector assembly for collecting and concentrating light for solar cell assemblies, the collector assembly including an array of solar collectors, each including a funnel shaped collector including a side wall defining a tapered opening having a base aperture and an upper aperture, the side wall including an outer surface, and a solar cell assembly positioned at the base aperture, where the outer surface is coated with a material that substantially reflects light, where the upper aperture is wider than the base aperture, where the funnel shaped collector is configured to substantially confine light, incident via the upper aperture, within the funnel shaped collector until the light exits proximate the base aperture, and where the solar cell assembly is configured to capture light exiting the base aperture.

Additional Information

Publication number US8748730B2. Publication type Grant. Publication date June 10, 2014. Application number US20100258170A1. Application publication date Oct. 14, 2010. Filing date Mar 13, 2010. Priority date Mar 13, 2009. Government Interests: The U.S. Government has certain rights in this invention pursuant to Grant No. DMR0505393 awarded by the National Science Foundation. Parent Case Text: The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/160,108, filed Mar. 13, 2009, entitled "Concentrating Solar Energy--Without Tracking the Sun", the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Attached Files

Published - US20100258170.pdf

Published - US8748730B2.pdf

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Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 20, 2023