Integration and architectural issues of a photovoltaic/thermal linear solar concentrator

Modern photovoltaics and thermal technologies are widely available for the building sector at competitive prices. However, innovative approaches must be explored and implemented to find new architectural solutions at the building scale. This paper presents an electro-thermal solar concentrator and proposals for its building integration. The proposed device has a small size and is based on a 20x semi-parabolic mirror concentrating the sunlight on a linear focus where a string of mono-crystalline PV cells is placed. A thermal receiver is placed on the back-side of the cells, a fluid circulating in the thermal receiver provides the heat recovery. The linear focus allows a monoaxial sun tracking. The proposed device has been numerically analyzed with the support of experimental data. The small size and the linear focus make feasible the integration of arrays of the proposed innovative device in roofs or façades of both new and existing buildings where they contribute to the auto-generation of a portion of the overall required energy. Several examples of the possibilities of array building integration of the described small-size solar concentrator are proposed.