Title:

Investigation of non-imaging Fresnel lens prototyping with different manufacturing methods for solar energy application

Creator:

Sexton, Ai Jiang ; Qandil, Hassan ; Abdallah, Mohammad ; Zhao, Weihuan

Subject:

non-imaging Fresnel lens ; CNC machining ; 3D printing ; hot embossing ; pressure casting ; solar energy

Description:

Non-imaging Fresnel lenses have been playing an important role in improving the efficiency of the solar energy systems. Many researchers have been developing novel designs of Fresnel lenses to enhance the concentrator performance. To bring the complex design of a Fresnel lens from a conceptual theory to a real-life application while maintaining its efficiency, it is critical to find the optimum manufacturing method that achieves the best quality fabrication at low cost in the lab scale. This work will systematically investigate four advanced manufacturing methods for their lens-making capabilities, including pressure casting, hot embossing, 3D printing, and CNC machining. Six Fresnel lenses were fabricated by the four methods, which were tested in the lab by a solar simulator and a solar cell to demonstrate their performances. The CNC machining provides the best quality lab-scale Fresnel lens that enhances the solar cell efficiency by 118.3%. 3D printing and hot embossing methods are also promising for the fabrication of good performance lenses – increasing the solar cell efficiency by 40-70%. However, the 3D printed lens has the issue of material degradation on the long term. Although the pressure casting is the easiest manufacturing method, the performance of fabricated lens was the lowest.

Place of publishing:

Koszalin

Publisher:

Publishing House of the Koszalin University of Technology

Date:

2021

Type:

artykuł w czasopiśmie

Format:

application/pdf

Language:

eng

Is part of:

Journal of Mechanical and Energy Engineering. Vol.5 (45), nr 2, s. 113-122

Rights:

Biblioteka Politechniki Koszalińskiej

Access rights:

internet

License:

Creative Commons BY 4.0