Value chain · CLM-1187
In plain terms
The middle of the collector, a tenth of its area seen end-on, has no solar cells, so the mirrors have a hole in the middle rather than reflecting light that would be wasted. The hole's radius is about a third of the mirror's radius.
The claim as recorded
In the concentrator patent's Fig. 10 embodiment, the collector has no PV on the central 10 per cent of its area as seen along the incoming light, and each mirror has a central hole of radius R/sqrt(10) to match. PDF 25: "the depicted solar collector 604 does not include photovoltaic cells on the central 10% of its surface. By central 10%, it is meant the inner 10% of the area of the solar collector 604 when viewed from a direction of the collimated incident light rays." "Each aperture 624 therefore has a radius R/[sqrt]10, where R is the radius of each aperture's 624 respective mirror 608, 610, which corresponds to the central 10% of the surface of the solar collector 604."
Evidence behind this: A patent application by the concept's inventor; one embodiment's stated geometry.
Scope and limits
ONE EMBODIMENT'S CORE, AND THE PAGE SAYS IT MAY CHANGE: "a smaller area lacking in photovoltaic cells could be provided and the apertures 624 made correspondingly smaller" (PDF 25). THREE CORE SIZES ARE NOW ON RECORD AND MUST STAY APART: this patent's 10 per cent of area (radius about 0.32 R); SRC-026 Fig. 6's about 0.25 of the radius by figure scaling (CLM-1179); and the 2022 thesis's inner third of the radius for its module design (CLM-1182). The patent does not say why the core has no PV. The thesis's reason, layers almost overlapping near the axis, is that document's.
What it assumes
That the mirror radius R maps to the collector radius through the concentrator's area ratio. The page equates R/sqrt(10) with "the central 10% of the surface of the solar collector" without stating that mapping.
Where it comes from
PDF 25 [14], raw: "However, in a more practical sense, the apertures 624 are provided simply due to the fact that the depicted solar collector 604 does not include photovoltaic cells on the central 10% of its surface. By central 10%, it is meant the inner 10% of the area of the solar collector 604 when viewed from a direction of the collimated incident light rays. Therefore, were the apertures 624 to be mirrors, the reflected light would be wasted." Same page, read at the zoom-3 crop (the text layer reads "Each aperture 624 therefore has a radius where R is ..." with the fraction missing): "Each aperture 624 therefore has a radius R/[sqrt]10, where R is the radius of each aperture's 624 respective mirror 608, 610, which corresponds to the central 10% of the surface of the solar collector 604." PDF 16 [5], raw: "The apertures may be configured to correspond to parts of a solar collector that are not configured for light collection, for example where no photovoltaic cells are situated." ARITHMETIC: 1/sqrt(10) = 0.316.
Basis: share of collector area without PV; aperture radius as a fraction of mirror radius
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1187
CLM-1187, Energy Aperture, as of 2019.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-592
- CLM-1185The top-power version uses two pairs of curved mirrors, one pair at each end. Each pair doubles the sunlight and turns it sideways into the...CLM-1186The patent describes an existing kind of solar collector whose layers step up like a staircase, with risers that can be panels that shed...