Fresnel Lens Photovoltaic Concentrator Array

ENTECH, Inc.

Keller, TX
 

Domed/Arched refractive concentrator system providing higher efficiency at lower weight and cost

• Developed both Point-Focus Mini-Dome lens and Line- Focus Cylindrical Lens Arrays for space power application
• Concentrator array provides spacecraft power at one-half to one-third the cost of current planar arrays
• Received the prestigious Schreiber-Spence Technology Achievement (1999) and Turning Goals into Reality (2001) Awards
• Achieved first demonstration of over 30% net operating efficiency for a photovoltaic system under outdoor conditions

• Over $1 Million in Space Lens sales to date to Boeing, AEC-Able Engineering, and others
• More than 20 new  jobs were created at these companies
• Concentrator arrays now being commercialized/marketed by AEC-Able Engineering/ENTECH team
• Approximately $10M in space array sales to date by ENTECH and the concentrator team
• Approximately $3M in Phase III funding from NASA Glenn, NASA Marshall, and private industry

• NASA/USAF/Boeing PASP+ (Photovoltaic Array Space Power plus Diagnostics) experiment flown in 1994 - first in-space demonstration of ENTECH lens concept
• First demonstration of photovoltair (PV) concentrators as an operational power system in 1998. The highly successful 2,600 watt SCARLET PV array on JPL's New Millennium Deep Space One Mission provided primary power for the electric propulsion ion engine and spacecraft, enabling the probe to reach its targets (asteroid Braille 7/99 and comet Borrelly 9/01)
• Under NASA Glenn's Energetics Program, an advanced concentrator was developed providing 4X more power per unit mass than the SCARLET array

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Curator: SBIR Support