Electrical Engineer Turned Solar Concentrator Inventor Wins Research Expo 2010
Karp’s new design will cut the number of required photovoltaic cells – as compared to existing solar concentrators – and could lead to less expensive and more environmentally friendly solar installations.
More than 450 guests – including graduate students and faculty, industry partners, National Academy of Engineering (NAE) members, and alumni – attended Research Expo 2010, which was themed “Renewables and America’s Energy Future.” Following the poster session, ten Jacobs School faculty who are engaged in renewable energy research gave talks. Larry Papay, CEO of PQR and co-author of the National Research Council report America’s Energy Future, gave the keynote address “Renewables and America’s Energy Future.”
The list of best poster winners and honorable mentions for each of the Jacobs School’s six departments is below.
The Jacobs School thanks Qualcomm and ViaSat – the Premier Sponsors for Research Expo 2010; BD and Northrop Grumman – the Partner Sponsors for Research Expo 2010; and all the member companies of the Jacobs School Corporate Affiliates Programs.
Watch a two minute video of Jason Karp describing his research here.
New Solar Concentrator Design
Jason Karp designed and built prototypes for the new solar concentrator in the Photonic Systems Integration Laboratory led by electrical engineering professor Joseph Ford. Jacobs School postdoctoral researcher Eric Tremblay (ECE PhD, ’08) and electrical engineering PhD student Katherine Baker collaborated on the project.
While engineers have already developed high-efficiency solar concentrators that incorporate optics to focus the sun hundreds of times and can deliver twice the power of rigid solar panels, the new design offers potential new benefits. Existing solar concentrator systems typically use arrays of individual lenses that focus directly onto independent photovoltaic cells which all need to be aligned and electrically connected. In contrast, the new solar concentrator collects sunlight with thousands of small lenses imprinted on a common sheet. All these lenses couple into a flat “waveguide” which funnels light to a single photovoltaic cell.
Karp built a working prototype with just two primary optical components, thus reducing materials, alignment and assembly. This solar concentrator is compatible with high-volume, low-cost manufacturing.
Karp and colleagues recently published parts of this work in journal Optics Express (PDF) or visit http://psilab.ucsd.edu/publications.html.
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