Ultra-light stretched Fresnel lens solar concentrator for space power applications

A unique ultra-light solar concentrator has recently been developed for space power applications. The concentrator comprises a flexible, 140-micron-thick, line-focus Fresnel lens, made in a continuous process from space-qualified transparent silicone rubber material. For deployment and support in space, end arches are used to tension the lens material in a lengthwise fashion, forming a cylindrical stressed membrane structure. The resultant lens provides high optical efficiency, outstanding tolerance for real-world errors and aberrations, and excellent focusing performance. The stretched lens is used to collect and focus sunlight at 8X concentration onto high-efficiency multi-junction photovoltaic cells, which directly convert the incident solar energy to electricity. The Stretched Lens Array (SLA) has been measured at over 27% net solar-to-electric conversion efficiency for space sunlight, and over 30% net solar-to-electric conversion efficiency for terrestrial sunlight. More importantly, the SLA provides over 180 W/kg specific power at a greatly reduced cost compared to conventional planar photovoltaic arrays in space. The cost savings are due to the use of 85% less of the expensive solar cell material per unit of power produced. SLA is a direct descendent of the award-winning SCARLET array which performed flawlessly on the NASA/JPL Deep Space 1 spacecraft from 1998-2001.