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Design and experimental investigation on a solar concentrating photovoltaic underwater

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  • Liang, Shen
  • Zheng, Hongfei
  • Ma, Xinglong
  • Cui, Dandan

Abstract

This paper presents a special concentrating photovoltaic that works underwater. A tri-junction GaAs solar cell and a deformable concentrator which is specially designed to converge sunlight underwater are applied to it. The concentrator is composed of a transparent membrane and a hollow cylinder with one sealed transparent end. When the membrane is perfectly cover onto the other end of the cylinder and put into water, the membrane will deform as a spherical lens due to the water pressure. A concentrator model with membrane radius of 100 mm is investigated. The effects of membrane’s deformation ratio α and length of the cylinder t on its optical characteristics were analyzed via the theoretical and simulative methods. The theoretical result indicates that f varies from about 4 m to 0.45 m when α rises from 0.05 to 0.45. The optical simulation shows that a small t is beneficial to concentrate the energy density on the focus. Finally, testing platform with a solar cell of 20∗20 mm was set up. The results illustrate that the maximum output power and efficiency can be obtained about 2 W and 15% when α is 0.3 during the normal incidence. The increase of water depth and turbidity will obviously reduce the PV efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Liang, Shen & Zheng, Hongfei & Ma, Xinglong & Cui, Dandan, 2020. "Design and experimental investigation on a solar concentrating photovoltaic underwater," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:204:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220310653
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.117958
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ma, Xinglong & Wang, Zhenzhen & Zhao, Zhiyong & Liang, Shen & Liu, Zuyi & Zheng, Hongfei, 2024. "Simultaneous production of electricity and potable water underwater by integrating concentrating photovoltaic with air gap membrane distillation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    2. Yin, Ershuai & Li, Qiang & Xuan, Yimin, 2020. "Feasibility analysis of a tandem photovoltaic-thermoelectric hybrid system under solar concentration," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1828-1841.
    3. Liang, Shen & Zheng, Hongfei & Wang, Xuanlin & Ma, Xinglong & Zhao, Zhiyong, 2022. "Design and performance validation on a solar louver with concentrating-photovoltaic-thermal modules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 71-83.
    4. Lv, Song & Lu, Mengying & Liu, Wenzhuo & Li, Xianglin & Lv, Wenhao & Liu, Zhe & Dong, Xuanchen & Lu, Tonghui & Yang, Bowen, 2025. "Recent advances in longitudinal spatial area marine photovoltaics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    5. Liang, Shen & Zheng, Hongfei & Kang, Huifang & Zhao, Zhiyong & Ma, Xinglong & Zhu, Ziye & Cheng, Haiying & Yang, Jinrui, 2024. "Optical and electrical behavior of an underwater linear-focusing solar concentrating photovoltaic," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).

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