THERMODYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION OF NON-CONCENTRATING HYBRID SOLAR CONVERTERS

A model of a hybrid solar converter proposed by Goetzberger et al was used to optimize the overall efficiency of the combined system in two different situations. Firstly, the original semi-empirical models for the solar cell and the thermal engine were used. Secondly, more genera l theoretical models were proposed for each of the two components of t he combined converter. The theoretical model of the solar cell produce s results in good agreement with the simple empirical model when the i deal cell with no reflection losses is considered. Both the theoretica l model and the empirical model of the thermal engine give similar res ults in the range of temperatures allowed for the proper usage of a so lar cell. Reasonable low optimum temperatures could be reached by usin g materials with a band gap of less than 2 eV. Some ways of improving the hybrid solar converter model proposed by Goetzberger et al are dis cussed at the end of the paper.