초록

Disclosed is a structure which in one apparatus converts a part of incident solar energy to electrical energy by the use of photocells mounted on a luminescent solar collector of tubular design while another portion of such incident energy is converted to thermal energy.

대표청구항 ▼

A device adapted to produce both electrical energy and thermal energy from sunlight, comprising a radiation collection and concentration medium in the form of a first elongated light conducting tubular inner member having (a) a continuous wall defining an elongated passage and (b) a first, open end,

A device adapted to produce both electrical energy and thermal energy from sunlight, comprising a radiation collection and concentration medium in the form of a first elongated light conducting tubular inner member having (a) a continuous wall defining an elongated passage and (b) a first, open end, said medium containing at least one luminescent species capable of emitting luminescent radiation upon excitation with solar radiation, said medium being totally internally reflective of a major portion of said emitted luminescent radiation, means closing the second end of the elongated passage of said first member, said first member being curvilinear in any transverse cross-section, a second elongated tubular light conducting outer member having a wall that is closed at one end and surrounds the wall of said first member, means joining the wall of said second member and the wall of the first member adjacent said first, open end of the latter, thereby sealing a thermally insulative space between said first member and said second member, said space being evacuated to a sub-atmospheric pressure, photocell means responsive to said emitted radiation optically coupled to a minor proportion of the exterior surface of said wall of said first member and disposed within said sub-atmospheric space, and means within the elongated passage of said first member for absorbing electromagnetic radiation as thermal energy and for extracting heat from said passage through said first, open end thereof.