Static solar concentrator with vertical flat plate photovoltaic cells and switchable white/transparent bottom plate

A new type of static solar concentrator is proposed to match the aesthetic features of towns. The concentrator consists of vertical plate solar cells and white/transparent switchable bottom plate, which is operated with external power. The bottom is switched to be a diffuse reflection white surface when the cell generates electric power, and switched to be a light transmissible transparent surface when the cell does not deliver power. The light collection of this concentrator was analyzed by using multiple total internal reflection model and ray tracing simulation. For the same ratio of the area of the solar cells to that of the collector surface, the collection efficiency for the proposed concentrator is about half of that of the conventional concentrator for flat plate cell, and nearly equal to that of the concentrator for the embedded spherical silicon solar cells.