Thermodynamically efficient solar concentrators

Roland Winston

doi:10.1117/12.931727

11 October 2012 Thermodynamically efficient solar concentrators

Roland Winston

Proceedings Volume 8485, Nonimaging Optics: Efficient Design for Illumination and Solar Concentration IX; 848502 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.931727
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2012, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Non-imaging Optics is the theory of thermodynamically efficient optics and as such depends more on thermodynamics than on optics. Hence in this paper a condition for the "best" design is proposed based on purely thermodynamic arguments, which we believe has profound consequences for design of thermal and even photovoltaic systems. This new way of looking at the problem of efficient concentration depends on probabilities, the ingredients of entropy and information theory while “optics” in the conventional sense recedes into the background.

Citation Download Citation

Roland Winston "Thermodynamically efficient solar concentrators", Proc. SPIE 8485, Nonimaging Optics: Efficient Design for Illumination and Solar Concentration IX, 848502 (11 October 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.931727

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