Portable concentrated sunlight power supply using 40% efficient solar cells

A novel portable concentrated sunlight electric generator is described. It consists of two 2×3 point focus Fresnel lens parquets which focus sunlight onto 12 high efficiency triple junction solar cells mounted on two aluminum backed circuit boards. These lens parquets along with a linear tracker drive can be stowed in a case roughly the size of a notebook computer with dimensions of 11"×14.8"×1.8" (28 cm × 38 cm × 4.6 cm). The two aluminum circuit boards form the top and bottom of this case. For deployment, the case is open and the lenses pop-up and the unit will generate 62 W of electricity at 12 V. The unit is deployed with a manual tilt to the South and with an electronic drive rotation from East to West around the North to South tilt axis. In the spring and fall, the unit will track on sun throughout the day, and in the summer, it will stay on sun for 4 hours before requiring manual readjustment. Soldiers, campers, hikers, and outbackers use more and more electronics today and consequently, they carry heavy batteries. Today, US soldiers in Afghanistan also carry heavy batteries. The unit described here can be carried in a backpack and thus reduce the number and weight of the batteries a soldier\´s squad would need to carry. This concentrated sunlight electric generator can also be useful as a concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) demonstration tool in high school and college science classes.