Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2017
24th ABCM International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Geometric Optimization of Solar Cells by Constructal Law
Submission Author:
Rogerio Almeida Gouvea , RS
Co-Authors:
Mario Lucio Moreira, jeferson Avila Souza, Rogerio Almeida Gouvea
Presenter: Rogerio Almeida Gouvea
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2017.COB17-1096
Abstract
Computer modelling has become increasingly important in the design and optimization of surface textures that are used in solar cells to manipulate scattering of light. Light scattering at rough interfaces together with efficient back reflector is a standard approach to enhance absorption of light in the absorber layers of solar cells. Recently, substrates with periodic surface features have been investigated as an alternative to randomly surface-textured substrates reaching improved efficiencies. In this work, Constructal Theory is used as a framework for the geometric optimization for the surface of solar cells. The total current density is estimated through the finite-difference time domain method (FDTD) to compare different textures geometries in the overall efficiency of solar cells. Surface textures were generated using gratings of rectangular, triangular, elliptical and trapezoidal shapes, testing different aspect ratios meanwhile the total area was kept constant. Results show that the trapezoidal grating with geometrical parameters hf= 0.286 μm, lf= 0.06 μm and sx=0.3 μm could reach higher light absorption as estimated by the total current density. Additionally, when the texture was built from elementary blocks (50nm×50nm) using a constructal algorithm there was increased performance compared to those obtained from fixed shapes with the same spacing.
Keywords
Constructal Theory, solar cells, finite difference time domain, Geometric Optimization
