Cylindrical Fresnel lens: An innovative path toward a tracking-less concentrating photovoltaics system

Abstract

We here invent an implicitly new optical device - cylindrical Fresnel lenses historically used in the decades-old lighthouse concentrator to find application in the field of concentrator photovoltaic, with numerous demonstrations of exotic features in optics. The precious attribute of such a solar concentrator is its ability to grant a focal point sequence, essentially distributed over an arc at any light incidence. The other striking merit of this design is its high acceptance angle, about 60°, at hand and even up to 90°, ideally. We have applied this approach to a simplified principle-of-concept model that closely depicts the octagonal cylindrical Fresnel lens in essence