Patents Assigned to TIR ENERGY, LLC
  • Publication number: 20160133771
    Abstract: The HCPV industry has converged on the use of relatively inexpensive Fresnel refractive optics to concentrate sunlight to 500-1000 suns or more. One fundamental disadvantage of using Fresnel optics is their susceptibility to chromatic aberration. With a Fresnel lens, this chromatic aberration increases as a function of distance away from the optical axis of a lens—that is, greater chromatic aberration is seen as one moves along a radius away from the center of a Fresnel lens. Embodiments herein disclose TIR-mediated optics which can be used alone or with Fresnel-mediated optics to concentrate solar energy. The system and method described herein utilize novel TIR and Fresnel concentrator designs to enable lower F-number optical systems, resulting in smaller systems with higher concentrations of solar energy than is currently attainable with Fresnel lenses alone (or with secondary optics) while simultaneously minimizing chromatic aberration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2014
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Applicant: TIR ENERGY, LLC
    Inventor: KEVIN M. PELLETIER