Technological Innovations


Solergy has achieved a series of technological and engineering breakthroughs that allow CPV to realize its promise as the highest yielding and most economically viable solar energy technology for areas of high solar resource.

World’s First All-Glass Concentrating Lens

 

Solergy’s HCPV system contains the world’s first and only all-glass lens.  The high-precision, large-dimension glass lens is fabricated via a proprietary, low cost pressing process. Whereas competing solutions use plastic (PMMA) or silicone-on-glass lenses, which deform over time, Solergy lenses are guaranteed for operation in the harsh environments where high solar resources are often found.

Cone Concentrator Module

 

The cone concentrator module minimizes variability in production and assembly, and guarantees proper focusing of sunlight onto the cell in real-world operation. The single concentrator module is replicated to produce the panel and ultimately the entire system. This reduces mismatch losses and increases final electrical output to the user and the grid – ultimately, the most important efficiency number to the customer.

 

High-Precision Tracking

 

Solergy has resolved perhaps the greatest challenge facing CPV systems today – reliable, high precision tracking. Solergy accomplished this by combining three critical innovations:

  1. Rigid, low-weight tracking structure based on a novel, reticulated truss design: the unique low-profile, turntable design minimizes structural deflections and deformations and can withstand wind loading of up to 160km/hr. Solergy's tracking solution is a dramatic improvement from the common tracking systems available on the market, whose massive pillar and panel design suffer from structural deformation that causes panel misalignment.
  2. Sophisticated control algorithms based on continuous motion:  the electronic control system drives the tracker to continuously follow the sun.  This guarantees maximal energy production, while also reducing the energy required to drive the tracker.  Other control systems have a stop-and-go approach, positioning the tracker constantly ahead of or behind the sun and resulting in lost energy.  Finally, Solergy’s advanced auto-calibration and error-correction algorithms ensure that the tracker is always accurately pointed over time.
  3. Patent-pending fine-tuning alignment of individual panels: the fine-tuning alignment guarantees that all Solergy concentrators are optimally angled at the sun, all of the time. This also greatly simplifies and reduces installation time. Operators can simply mount a Solergy panel with rough alignment and the fine-tuning actuator will make sure every panel is perfectly aligned for the lifetime of the system.

 

Total Thermal Control

 

Solergy’s active, fluid-based cooling guarantees optimal cell operating temperatures. Other PV and CPV technologies use passive cooling systems, which result in variable and uncertain temperatures. This addition enables energy output to be more certain, as well as allowing for numerous commercial cogen and trigen applications.

 

Solar Cogeneration with HCPV

 

Solergy captures and recycles the waste heat generated during the solar energy conversion process rather than passively dissipating it to the environment.  Solergy’s cogeneration technology utilizes the thermal energy to heat a working fluid such as water or a water/glycol mixture, generating power for air conditioning, industrial process heat, water desalination, space heating, and other applications.  The patented combination of the high concentration factor with heat recovery delivers more thermal energy at higher temperatures, as well as more electric energy.