PowerSphere: A Novel Photovoltaic Cavity Converter Using Low Bandgap TPV Cells for Efficient Conversion of High Power Laser Beams to Electricity

摘要

PowerSphere is a variant of the recently developed Photovoltaic Cavity Converter (PVCC) for High Concentration Photovoltaic applications. Both systems share the benefit of photon recycling in a cavity and have therefore the potential to convert high-density radiant power to electricity at unprecedented efficiencies. Unlike PVCC that is optimized for the full content of the solar spectrum, the PowerSphere is designed to convert the monochromatic beam of a laser efficiently to electricity. The PowerSphere concept introduced here greatly benefits from recent advances in the area of high power, near-IR lasers and advanced bandgap engineering involving 'tunable' III-V cells operating in the same range of the spectrum. Given this new scenario the spectral response of such cells can be perfectly tuned to the frequency of a high power laser to achieve conversion efficiencies in excess of 60%. Other key phenomena that allow achieving such high conversion rates are described in the main text of this paper. PowerSphere concept when fully developed can greatly contribute to the advancement of Laser Power Beaming technology for terrestrial, near-space and space applications. The paper explores the performance potential of Laser Power Beaming (LPB) systems using a PowerSphere as a receiver and discusses some of the critical issues that require further studies in this promising area of 'Wireless Power Transmission'.