The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 07, 2018
Filed:
Aug. 20, 2014
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Gang Chen, Carlisle, MA (US);
Evelyn N. Wang, Cambridge, MA (US);
Svetlana V. Boriskina, Winchester, MA (US);
Kenneth McEnaney, Cornish, NH (US);
Hadi Ghasemi, Boston, MA (US);
Selcuk Yerci, Brighton, MA (US);
Andrej Lenert, Cambridge, MA (US);
Sungwoo Yang, Somerville, MA (US);
Nenad Miljkovic, Cambridge, MA (US);
Lee A. Weinstein, Somerville, MA (US);
David Bierman, Cambridge, MA (US);
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
A single-stack, solar power receiver comprising both a thermal absorber layer and a photovoltaic cell layer. The stack includes an aerogel layer, that is optically transparent and thermally insulating ('OTTI'); a spectrally selective high thermal conductivity ('SSTC') thermal absorber layer; a bottom OTTI layer; and a PV cell layer. The SSTC layer includes a set of fins that substantially blocks solar radiation absorption in the band where PV cells are most sensitive. Photons with energies above or below this band block range are absorbed by the fins and the absorbed heat is conducted to pipes in the fin structure carrying a heated thermal working fluid to heat storage. Photons with energy in the band block range are reflected by the SSTC fins to the PV cell layer. The bottom OTTI aerogel layer keeps the PV cell operating near ambient temperature. The PV cell converts incident solar radiation to electrical energy.