Energy 41 (2012) 271e277

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Comparison of direct and indirect PV power output using lters, lens, and ber transport
C. Firat a, A. Beyene b, *
a b

Istanbul Technical University, Energy Institute, Istanbul, Turkey Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University, College of Engineering, San Diego, CA 92182, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 14 September 2010 Received in revised form 24 May 2011 Accepted 29 June 2011 Available online 6 August 2011 Keywords: Solar energy conversion Optical bers Concentrated PV systems Filters Cost reduction

a b s t r a c t
Seven congurations of Photovoltaic (PV) energy conversion systems were investigated and their performances compared to direct solar PV conversion. The systems involved use of lters, concentrator lens, ber transport, and direct use of PV. Transmission of concentrated light onto PV cell proved to be the most efcient, but also the most expensive. However, transmission of ltered light onto PV cell using a plastic optical ber (POF) bundle was the most affordable. The current price of ber optic for light transport, though interesting, renders them economically not viable for energy conversion. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Photovoltaic conversion of solar energy has become a viable technology as a renewable resource. Unfortunately, it remains expensive e roughly four times other renewable energy sources such as wind, and the conversion efciencies, particularly in the eld, rarely go into double digits. There are a number of ideas suggested to improve conversion efciencies and reduce cost to make it competitive with other renewable energy sources. For example, optical light transfer has been suggested for providing direct illumination in single or hybrid solar lighting [1e3]. Optical light transfer applications cover other areas such as communication links [4], sensing platforms [5,6], and specialized collection of optical systems [7]. However, application of optical light transfer to producing electricity through the use of PV has been modest. The benet of such concept would be exibility and expanded functionality to applications of solar energy. In conjunction with simple light transfer, optical bers may also serve as concentrators, if bundled appropriately, reducing capital cost as a result of lesser foot-print of solar energy collectors, i.e., PV cells, which may be more expensive than an equal area of

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 619 594 6207; fax: 1 619 594 3599. E-mail address: abeyene@rohan.sdsu.edu (A. Beyene). 0360-5442/$ e see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2011.06.062

concentrators. This reduction in surface area as a result of concentrating the input energy enables the use of high efciency cells, otherwise deemed too expensive for at plate module application. Light concentrators may in fact reduce the cost of PV energy conversion if the relative cost associated with concentrating solar energy is less than the substituted number of PV cells. The concentrator module collects a higher rate of solar incident ux at elevated temperature, adding to the system intricacy and cost [8]. One way of keeping the temperature of concentrated photon transfer is keeping the temperature at an acceptable level, which would eliminate added cooling cost, would be ltering the infrared radiation. This concept would also be valid if the cost of adding lters is less than the cost of cooling. Other additions such as tracking systems would be common to all scenarios, and their cost reduction often comes through high production volume. As noted above, there are a number of scenarios that can be assessed to optimize PV energy conversion e with or without lters, concentrators, optical bers for light transfer, and then any combined use of these three. In this study we attempt to present the impact of these added components, when used individually as well as in sequence, on conversion energy efciency and system cost. As stated above, optical ber transmission offers exibility in design solutions, such that the PV cells can be moved to more desired places such as mezzanines or addicts away from infrared radiation. The key again is if the benets of adding ber transfer out way the cost of berglass.

272

C. Firat, A. Beyene / Energy 41 (2012) 271e277

2. Factors affecting output of a PV solar cell 2.1. Optical ber attenuation and fresnel losses One common loss takes place during intrinsic or extrinsic ber attenuation in a ber optic integrated PV system. At the ber input, there are losses due to reections at the light-ber interface, known as Fresnel losses, which occur at both the entrance and exit ends of the bers. During the passage through the bers, transmission and absorption losses take place. These losses may become dominant over longer lines, compounded by losses due to connectors and splices when present. Other losses may originate as a result of mismatch of coupled ber ends [9,10]. In a straight optical ber, the power decreases exponentially with the distance L, transported power is given as [11]:

2.3. Degradation of solar cells The manufacturers give a guarantee of 80% of Pout during lifespan of panel. Averagely, the total degradation is just 1% per year. Although the most important degradation factor for solar cells is the combination of moisture and high temperature, we can also consider the below causes: One major drawback of a-Si solar cells is the degradation that inherently occurs when exposed to light, light soaking. This effect, known as the StaeblereWronski Effect (SWE), is caused by the creation of meta-stable coordination defects known as dangling bonds, where at least one of the atoms in the tetrahedral silicon structure is replaced by either a hydrogen atom or free electrons. These defects cause electron-hole recombination sites which reduce the charge carrier lifetime, thereby reducing the photoconductivity and dark conductivity near the intrinsic layer of the solar cell structure. It was also discovered that this degradation can be reversed by annealing, restoring the original structure of the material. When an a-Si device is maintained at elevated temperatures during illumination, the annealing and light-induced degradation compete to yield an equilibrium operating point for that particular temperature and illumination condition (intensity and spectral content) [16]. Besides SWE, the other degradation modes in thin lm PV modules can be temperature and cell degradations. Modules operating outdoors rarely operate at Standard Test Conditions (STC: 1000 W/m2 irradiance, 25  C temperature, and AM1.5 global spectrum). At high temperatures, the band gap is effectively decreased resulting in a decrease in open-circuit voltage (VOC), and longer wavelength photons may be absorbed. Minority carrier lifetime can also increase, resulting in light increase in photogenerated current and thus in short-circuit current (ISC). The decrease in VOC is much larger than the increase in ISC and the result is an overall decrease in the cells maximum power output (PMAx), ll factor (FF) and efciency (h). However, for some amorphous silicon modules, the increase in ISC results in an increase in PMAx with temperature. Measuring the changes in the performance parameters with temperature allows one to determine temperature coefcients.

Ptr Pinto 10aL=10

(1)

where a is the attenuation of ber optic cable and Pinto is the power inputted into the ber cable. The magnitude of the Fresnel loss depends on the difference in refractive index of air and the transporter core. Multimode optical bers only propagate light that enters the ber within a certain cone, known as the acceptance cone of the ber. The half-angle of this cone is called the acceptance angle, qA. For step-index multimode ber, the acceptance angle is determined using the indices of refraction where n1 is the refractive index of the ber core, and n2 is the refractive index of the cladding. The numerical aperture (NA) is an important performance indicator, a dimensionless number that characterizes the range of angles over which the system can accept or emit light. NA of any type of ber is [12]:

NA

q n 2 n2 : 1 2

(2)

For a vertical incidence, the reection coefcient compared to air is as follows [12]:

Rloss n1 nair =n1 nair 2

2.2. Effect of temperature on solar cells

(3)

For a typical commercial PV module operating at its maximum power output, 10e15% of the incident sunlight is converted into electricity, with much of the remainder converted into heat [13]. The power output is strongly impacted by ambient temperature. Conversion equation is written as below by modifying equation given in [14],

  4 4 C1 hnom Epv mi k Tpv Ta 2s Tpv Ta

(4)

where C is geometric concentration ratio of the lens, hnom is the nominal efciency of the PV cell, Epv is energy density on the PV cell in W/m2, mi is the portion of total solar spectrum, k is the convective heat transfer coefcient of the process (w40 W/m2 K for air), Tpv is the temperature of PV cell at Epv, Ta is ambient temperature in K and s is StephaneBoltzmann constant which is 5.67 108 W/m2 K4. The power output of the cell at maximum point for a given power density Epv and temperature Tpv is [15],
STC Pout PM;Epv PM

Epv hpv Pin ; 1 b Tpv 25 1000

(5)

STC where PM;Epv is maximum power point at Epv, PM is the maximum power point at standard test conditions, Pin Spv. Epv is the input power onto the PV cell surface, Spv, b is the temperature coefcient for the PV cell and hpv is the efciency of PV cell.

Fig. 1. An a-Si PV cell.

C. Firat, A. Beyene / Energy 41 (2012) 271e277

273

electrical parameters under STC of AM1.5, ESTC 1000 W/m2, Ta 25  C [19]are given by manufacturer [20], as short-circuit STC STC current Isc z1:5 A, open-circuit voltage Voc 0:887 V, nominal operating cell temperature Tnom 50  C, ll factor FF 0.741, and nominal efciency of the cell hnom 13%. Thus the maximum STC STC STC power at STC is PM FF:Isc :Voc 1:021 W. The power on the PV cell can be estimated as,

Pin Hs Spv z8 W

(6)

Fig. 2. The efciency and output power of PV cell versus irradiance.

PV modules deployed outdoors can experience cell degradation due to two main factors: changes in parasitic resistances and deterioration of the anti-reective coating (ARC).The most signicant of these factors are the parasitic series resistance. Daily thermal cycling acts to increase series resistance and is also likely to cause interconnect degradation in thin lm modules. Particularly for an a-Si:H modules, electrochemical corrosion has been observed and serves to increase series resistance. Parasitic shunt resistances arise from any parallel low resistance, high conductivity paths (shunts) in or along the edges of the solar cell. Shunt paths occur as a result of crystal defects and impurities, and are especially detrimental at low irradiance levels [17]. In addition, cells are also exposed to dust that block some of the sunlight and reduce power output. The presence of urban air pollution may signicantly deteriorate the energy yield of PVpanels, even after a short period of the panels outdoor exposure (e.g. two months) without cleaning. In fact, if considering mean dust deposition density of the order of 1 g/m2 (i.e. the highest quantity recorded within two months), the PV-panels energy production may be reduced up to approximately 6.5% (in comparison with a clean panel) [18]. For California, generally, a typical annual power reduction factor due to dust of about 7% is assumed. Another degradation mode is due to mismatch of PV-panels. The maximum power output of the total PV array is always less than the sum of the maximum output of the individual modules. This mismatch loss is at least 2%. Another 3% or more of power is also lost to resistance within the system wiring. Additional losses of 8e12% are imminent in the inverter when converting the DC power generated by the solar module into common household AC power. In this study, losses common to all the investigated congurations are ignored. 3. A single PV cell under direct sunlight (DPV) For a 10 cm diameter amorphous silicon (a-Si) PV solar cell, Fig. 1, subjected to Hs Epv 1000 W/m2 solar radiation, the typical

Instant operating temperature of the PV cell under the assumed irradiance is calculated using Eq. (4), which yields Tpv 44  C. The output power of the PV cell and efciency at these operating conditions are calculated using Eq. (5) as Pout 0.85 W and hpv 10.77% respectively. Fig. 2 shows efciency and output power of PV cell as a function of the irradiance and Fig. 3 shows the efciency change as a function of temperature. 4. Use of lters to reduce infrared radiation Solar energy reaches the earth in the form of electromagnetic waves at wide range of wavelengths measuring roughly from 103 nme109 nm. The energy that arrives with wavelengths between about 1 nm and 106 nm is considered to be light. This light range has three major components:  Ultraviolet (UV) light with wavelengths between about 1 nm and 390 nm,  Visible light with wavelengths between 390 nm and 760 nm,  Infrared radiation (IR) with wavelengths exceeding 760 nm but shorter than 106 nm. Average direct sunlight is about 93 lumens per watt of radiant ux. Infrared is about 45% of the spectrum, visible is about 46%, and ultraviolet about 9%. These numbers can vary signicantly depending on altitude, Earths position relative to the sun, and environmental conditions. Filtering for PV applications is essentially removal of infrared radiation much of which causes passive heating of the cell, thereby increasing the cell temperature which in turn drops cell energy conversion efciency, and also reducing the life of the cell. These negative effects can be much more pronounced in desert and very high altitude environments. High temperature impacts can be minimized with the use of appropriate lters, dichroic materials that block or limit infrared radiation and heat transfer but allow maximum visible radiation transfer [22]. Concentrated ber optic transfer of light for PV-driven electrical power can also be channeled through lters to exclude interferences and disturbances [23]. In fact concentrators may be integrated with lters. Such ltering and also the longer exposition time of the PV cells as a result of solar tracking may more than

Fig. 3. The efciency as a function of cell temperature in (a) our model and (b) in the model given in [21].

274

C. Firat, A. Beyene / Energy 41 (2012) 271e277

Fig. 4. A fused POF bundle [25].

compensate for the added cost of tracking and ltering systems. Most concentrators cause signicant temperature rise necessitating external cooling. Fresnel lens has been proposed as a concentrator because it offers low mass density without signicant increase in temperature; hence it is considered more economical than other concentrators such as hot glasses [24]. Filters such as hot mirrors transmit more than 93% of the visible light and reect more than 95% of the infrared range. Unfortunately such mirrors can be fairly expensive. On the other hand, optical ber may, in addition to serving as a lter, also offer more heat insulation because it attenuates the illumination more rapidly than glass. This attenuation increases sharply in the infrared as well as the ultraviolet ends of the radiation spectrum. In this study, various congurations of solar PV energy conversion systems using concentration and ltering are assessed.

Fig. 6. Concentration of Solar light.

PT mi sf Hs Sf

(7)

Where mi is the portion of the total solar spectrum, sf is the transmittance of the lter, Hs is the intensity (power density, W/m2) of the incoming radiation and Sf is the surface area of the lter. 5. Photon transmission through ber optics Typically, optical ber for communication purposes uses glass ber with very small core diameters. On the other hand, more recent development work has concentrated on improving the lightpropagating properties of larger core diameter ber, made of plastic [28]. Large-core multimode ber has the benet of reducing the power density within the ber. For high values of power density, nonlinear effects could increase the attenuation losses, and therefore decrease the power-transmission efciency [29]. In this study, it is assumed that the sunlight is transmitted as a mix of visible and UV light onto a PV solar cell by plastic optical ber or ber bundles after ltering light to minimize the IR radiation. The portion of the both visible and UV lights is about 55% of the total solar radiation. Heat removal lter transmittance for visible light is given as sIR 0.92 (425e675 nm at zero angle of incidence) [30]. The attenuation of the plastic optical ber is a 0.2 dB/m at l 650 nm and in this study the transmission of the POF at the visible range is chosen as sfb 1. The acceptance angle of ber optics is qA 20 and thus the numerical aperture is NA nfb. sin qA 0.5. For more detailed analyses below, it is considered various combinations with and without concentrators, lters, and ber optics. 5.1. Use of a POF bundle In this case study, direct sunlight is transmitted on a PV cell by passing through a POF bundle of L 1 m in length. A fused ber optics bundle, Fig. 4 (rfb 5 cm) carries the sunlight onto an rpv 5 cm radius PV cell. The surface area of the POF is,
2 Sfo p rfo z8 103 m2

4.1. Infrared-absorbing lters In order to avoid damage due to high temperature, optical systems should be protected from high thermal radiation. IR-cut lter (ICF) is a shortpass (also called lowpass) lter that blocks infrared light and transmits the visible range. Colorless glass lters, heat-absorbing glasses, which transmit visible radiation but block IR radiation, are used for these purposes. Such cold mirrors may usefully form an integral part of the reector with an ellipsoidal shape such as, for example, in tungstenehalogen light sources [25,26]. The emergent intensity of such scenario (irradiance, power density, radiant intensity etc.), PT, is given as [27],

(8)

Fig. 5. PV system performance.

Incident light power on the ber is,

C. Firat, A. Beyene / Energy 41 (2012) 271e277

275

5.2. Transmission of ltered light onto PV cell using a POF bundle In this case, it is assumed that the direct sunlight is ltered by an IR (infrared) lter which has the same radius of ber. Transmittance of IR lter is sIR 0.85(480e680 nm) and its maximum operating temperature is 250  C [30]. Incident light power on the lter is,

Pin Hs SIR z8 W

(14)

The refractive index of the IR lter and the air are nIR 1.472 and nair 1.003 respectively [30]. In this case study, ber bundle is assumed to be glued on the IR lter and the PV cell. Therefore, Fresnel losses for ber are ignored but not for the lter. The power on the POF bundle is calculated as,

Pinto 0:55 sIR 1 Rloss Pin Wz3:6 W

(15)

Fig. 7. Temperature variation over time for the cells [14].

Below, steps involving Eqs. (12) and (13) are employed and the efciency and output power of the PV cell at the operating condition are determined using Eq. (5) as hpv 5.25% and Pout 0.42 W, at Tpv 34  C. 6. Concentrated transmission

Pin Hs Sfo z8 W

(9)
The primary goal of using concentrators in a PV-driven energy conversion is to focus sunlight on a small receiver, thus is to reduce the cell area by the concentration ratio (Fig. 6). This allows replacement of cell surface by roughly an equivalent of the concentrator surface. Fiber optic solar energy concentration complemented with some level of ltering could offer more progressive and economically feasible ways of taking the advantages of concentrating solar energy without predicaments of high temperature that accompany such concentration. The high ux solar energy transmission by a exible ber optic bundle, the possibility of ltering and excluding the undesired radiation range, and the research on the associated materials will surely expand and benet solar energy conversion. Various types and technologies of solar collectors have been developed to operate both at low and high temperature ranges. Optical concentration systems have been investigated with the aim of reducing the cost of PV-driven solar energy conversion. 6.1. Transmission of concentrated light onto PV cell using a POF bundle Fresnel lenses are optical devices for solar radiation concentration, used in conjunction with thermal collectors and PVs. Acrylic Fresnel lenses in particular possess attractive features such as low volume and weight, smaller focal length, and lower cost compared to other lenses. Natural cooling of these lenses is sufcient to avoid harmful temperature range [24]. The maximum operating temperature of a Fresnel lens is about 80  C.

The refractive index of the ber core and the air are n1 1.49 and nair 1.003 respectively [30]. Fresnel losses occur at both the entrance and exit ends of the bers. But in this study, the ber bundle is assumed to be glued to the PV cell, and therefore the exit loss is ignored. Thus the light reection is only on the entrance of the ber cable. Then the reection coefcient is,

Rloss n1 nair =n1 nair 2 z4 %

Power into the POF bundle is,

(10)

Pinto 1 Rloss Pin z7:68 W:

The power transmitted to the end face of the POF is,

(11)

Ptr Pinto 10adB L=10 z7:33 W:

(12)

This value is the input power to the PV cell at the same time, Ppv 7.33 W. The power density on the PV cell is calculated as,

Epv Ppv =Spv z916 W=m2 :

(13)

The working temperature of the PV cell is calculated as Tpv 42  C using Eq. (4). The efciency and output power of the PV cell at this operating condition are calculated as hpv 9.88% and Pout 0.79 W using Eq. (5). Fig. 5 shows power output and efciencies of PV cell for this case. Fig. 5 is determined using Eq. (5).

Fig. 8. Cell temperature under concentrated illumination with no cooling aid according to (a) our model and (b) the model given in [14].

276

C. Firat, A. Beyene / Energy 41 (2012) 271e277 Table 2 Cost data. Case # DPV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Filter ($) e e 0.2 e 0.2 0.2 e 0.2 Fiber ($) e 5220 5220 5220 5220 e e e Lens ($) e e e 1.56 1.56 e 1.56 1.56 PV ($/W) 4.89 5.27 9.9 0.66 1.48 9.45 0.61 1.36

about 10.3% of the total facet area. For this reason non-fused bundles are less preferred [31]. The efciency and output power of the PV cell at Tpv 50  C (nominal temperature) is calculated using Eq. (5). This offered hpv 11.71%, Pout 2.81 W. 7. PV conversion without POF In these cases, the scenarios without using plastic optical bers (POF) are investigated by means of solar PV conversion. Transmission of ltered light: For this scenario, the direct solar radiation is transferred after ltering by using IR lter. The efciency and output power of the PV cell at this operating condition is calculated using Eq. (5). This offered hpv 5.5%, Pout 0.44 W at Tpv 34  C. Transmission of concentrated light: For this scenario, solar radiation is transferred after concentration using a Fresnel lens. As above, the efciency and output power of the PV cell at this operating condition are calculated using Eq. (5). This gave hpv 28.5%, Pout 6.84 W at Tpv 50  C. Using concentrated, ltered light: For this scenario, the direct solar radiation is transferred after concentrating and ltering, using a Fresnel lens and an IR lter respectively. The efciency and output power of the PV cell at this operating condition is calculated using Eq. (5). This resulted in hpv 12.8%, Pout 3.07 W at Tpv 50  C. Material selection: The price of a 1-mm diameter ber is about $0.58/m [32]. It has been argued that the optical ber temperature will reach a critical point at the ber inlet unless some type of IR ltering is used. Tekelioglu [33] evaluated a number of different ltering and cooling methods and concluded that two techniques could be economical and effective. For cost calculations the component prices are assumed to be: Fresnel lens $65/m2, IR-cut off lter $23/m2, POF $0.58/m and PV cell (panel) $520/m2. 8. Results and conclusion Simulated results are shown in Table 1, and cost data for PV system components are presented in Table 2. In Table 1, PV temperature differences and % power changes are calculated using the formulas respectively,

Fig. 9. A non-fused (mechanical) bundle of POF [25].

In this case, a fused bundle is considered to transmit the light, which is concentrated by an acrylic Fresnel lens. The Fresnel lens has sl 0.92 optical efciency, which is transmission of the lens and the refraction index of Fresnel lens is nl 1.49 [30]. The geometric concentration ratio of the lens is given as,

C Sl =Sfo

rl =rfo

2

(16)

where Sl and Sfo are the surface areas and rl and rfo are the radius of the Fresnel lens and the ber bundle respectively. It is assumed that the lens can magnify the light by three factor, which equals the geometric concentration ratio. Therefore, if the radius of a ber optic bundle is 5 cm, then the radius of the lens has to be rl 8.7 cm. The surface area of the lens is about Sl 0.024 m2. In a similar fashion as for the previous cases, Eqs. (8)e(12) are used to determine the input power to PV cell, yielding Pin 24 W, Epv 7920 W/m2 (w7.9 suns). In this case, due to high power density on PV cell the working temperature (Tpv 142  C) should be held under control. This can be performed by using a simple heat sink. In Fig. 7, it is shown that in the case of 400 concentration (Tpv 1200  C), the cell temperature can be held around 40  C by using an aluminum heat sink in the experiment done by Cui Min et al. [14]. In Fig. 8, the cell temperature under concentrated illumination is given and can be compared to an experimental result given at [14]. Let it be Tpv 50  C (nominal temperature). The efciency and output power of the PV cell at this operating condition are calculated using Eq. (5) as hpv 26.13%, Pout 6.27 W. 6.2. Using concentrated and ltered light through a POF bundle In this case, a concentrated and then ltered solar light is transmitted onto a PV cell using a POF bundle. For non-fused bundles, Fig. 9, the interstitial light leakage area accounts for
Table 1 Simulated results of all scenarios. Case # DPV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pout (W) 0.85 0.79 0.42 6.27 2.81 0.44 6.84 3.07

DTPV TPV TPV DPV

and

(17)

hpv (%)
10.77 9.88 5.25 26.13 11.71 5.5 28.5 12.8

Tpv ( C) 44 42 34 50 50 34 50 50

DTpv ( C)
0 2 10 6 6 10 6 6

% Pout change 0 7 51 638 231 48 705 261

%Pout Pout Pout DPV=Pout DPV

where DPV refers the direct PV results. In Table 2, PV price is calculated by using the equation,

(18)

(forced) (forced) (forced) (forced)

    1 PV Price 520 $=m2 0:008 m2 Pout W:

(19)

Because of 10% interstitial loss in the bundle, in this system, the required number of ber optic is calculated as,

C. Firat, A. Beyene / Energy 41 (2012) 271e277

277

2  Nz0:9 rfb =rfo 9000:

(20)

Seven scenarios listed as case studies 1e7, listed below, were compared to direct PV conversion: 1. Transmission of light onto PV cell using a POF bundle, 2. Transmission of ltered light onto PV cell using a POF bundle, 3. Transmission of concentrated light onto PV cell using a POF bundle, 4. Transmission of concentrated and ltered light onto PV cell using a POF bundle, 5. Transmission of ltered light onto PV cell, 6. Transmission of concentrated light onto PV cell, 7. Transmission of concentrated and ltered light onto PV cell. It is concluded that a PV system using concentrated solar energy is more efcient and cost effective than the other systems. Under the suns ray, solar panels degrade over time as a result of ultraviolet and infrared waves. Solar panels are also exposed to the ambient weather which may affect their lifetime and performances. Lifetime may not be a serious problem e solar power systems have typically a design lifespan of about 30 years. In fact crystalline and thin lm modules are typically under warranty for 20e25 years. These are based on manufacturers statements, and more eld data are required to substantiate these claims. Many factors such as degradation effects, wind, dust, breakdown of a modules encapsulant, gradual obscurations between the modules are ignored in this study. References
[1] Schlegel GO, Burkholder FW, Klein SA, Beckman WA, Wood BD, Muhs JD. Analysis of a full spectrum hybrid lighting system. Solar Energy 2004;76: 359e68. [2] Sansoni P, Francini F, Fontani D, Mercatelli L, Jafrancesco D. Indoor illumination by solar light collectors. Lighting Res Technol 2008;40:323e32. [3] Han H, Kim JT. Application of high-density daylight for indoor illumination. Energy 2010;35:2654e66. [4] Savovic S, Djordjevich A. Calculation of the coupling coefcient in strained step index plastic optical bers. Appl Opt 2008;47(27):4935e9. [5] Cao H, Chen Y, Zhou Z, Zhang G. General models of optical-ber-bundle displacement sensors. Microwave Opt Tech Lett 2005;47(5):494e7. [6] Dooly G, Fitzpatrick C, Lewis E. Optical sensing of hazardous exhaust emissions using a UV based extrinsic sensor. Energy 2008;33:657e66. [7] DiBerardino D, Rafac RJ, Boone S, Gerginov VP, Tanner CE. Construction of ber-optic bundle light-collection systems and calculations efciency. Opt Commun 2002;210:233e43.

[8] Segal A, Epstein M, Yogev A. Hybrid concentrated photovoltaic and thermal power conversion at different spectral bands. Solar Energy 2004;76:591e601. [9] Pedrotti FLSJ, Pedrotti LS. Introduction to optics. 2nd ed. NJ: Prentice-Hall International Inc; 1997. [10] Han HJ, Jeon YI, Lim SH, Kim WW, Chen K. New developments in illumination, heating and cooling technologies for energy-efcient buildings. Energy 2010; 35:2647e53. [11] Zubia J, Arrue J. Plastic optical bers: an introduction to their technological processes and applications. Opt Fiber Technol 2001;7:101e40. [12] Ziemann O, Krauser J, Zamzow PE, Daum W. POF handbook optical short range transmission systems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag; 2008. [13] Luque A, Andreev V. Concentrator photovoltaics. Berlin: Springer; 2007. [14] Min C, Nuofu C, Xiaoli Y, Yu W, Yiming B, Xingwang Z. Thermal analysis and test for single concentrator solar cells. J Semiconductors 2009;30(4):044011 (1e4). [15] Rosell JI, Ibanez M. Modelling power output in photovoltaic modules for outdoor operating conditions. Energy Conver Manage 2006;47:2424e30. [16] Korostyshevsky A, Hausgen PE, Granad JE, Sahlstrom TD. Temperature dependence of light-induced degradation in amorphous silicon solar cells, in: PV Specialists Conf. Conf. Record of the Thirty-rst IEEE 2005; 3e7 Jan. 2005: pp. 1532e1535. [17] Radue C, van Dyk EE. A comparison of degradation in three amorphous silicon PV module technologies. Solar En Mat Solar Cells 2010;94:617e22. [18] Kaldellis JK, Kokala A. Quantifying the decrease of the photovoltaic panels energy yield due to phenomena of natural air pollution disposal. Energy 2010; 35:4862e9. [19] Wrfel P. Physics of solar cells. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA; 2005. [20] Green AM, Emery K. Solar efciency tables (Version 3). Prog in PVs. Res Appl 1994;2:27e34. [21] Tonui JK, Tripanagnostopoulos Y. Improved PV/T solar collectors with heat extraction by forced or natural air circulation. Renew Energy 2007;32: 623e37. [22] Rahman F, Farmer CD, Schmidt C, Pfaff G, Stanley CR. Heat blocking gallium arsenide solar cells. Appl Phys A 2008;90:231e6. [23] Toivola M, Ferenets M, Lund P, Harlin A. Photovoltaic ber. Thin Solid Films 2009;517:2799e802. [24] Ferriere A, Rodriguez GP, Sobrino JA. Flux distribution delivered by a Fresnel lens used for concentrating solar energy. Trans ASME 2004;126:654e60. [25] Jacobson RE, Ray SF, Attridge GG, Axford NR. The manual of photography. 9th ed. Oxford: Focal Press; 2000. [26] <http://www.accuteoptical.com/IR_cut_off_lter.shtml>, (accessed 13.09.10). [27] Freeman MH, Hull CC. Optics. 11th ed. Elsevier: Spain; 2003. [28] Grise W, Patrick C. Passive solar lighting using ber optics. J Ind Tech 2003; 19(1):1e7. [29] Pena R, Algora C, Matias IR, Lopez-Amo M. Fiber-based 205-mV (27% efciency) power-delivery system for an all-ber network with opto electronic sensor units. Appl Opt 1999;38(12):2463e6. [30] <http://www.edmundoptics.com>, (accessed 17.02.10). [31] Anton I, Silva D, Sala G, Bett AW, Siefer G, Luque-Heredia I, et al. The PV-FIBRE concentrator: a system for indoor operation of 1000X MJ solar cells. Prog Photovolt Res Appl 2007;15:431e47. [32] Kribus A, Zik O, Karni J. Optical bers and solar power generation. Solar Energy 2000;68(5):405e16. [33] Tekelioglu M, Wood BD. Thermal management for a poly (methyl acrylate) optical ber in solar lighting. J Thermal Anal Calorimetry 2007;87(2):529e37.