A Power Management Approach for Laterally-Arrayed Multi-Bandgap Concentrated Photovoltaic Systems

The Laterally-Arrayed Multi-Bandgap (LAMB) structure, with spectrum splitting to multiple optimized cells, is a potentially higher-efficiency and lower-cost alternative to the conventional tandem cell structure for concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems. This paper explores a cell-block-level energy harvesting approach for LAMB CPV systems, using a converter with distributed maximum power point tracking (MPPT) capability. A voltage-matching scheme is presented that improves the performance of the converter by interconnecting the cells to provide closely-matched voltages. A Multi-Input Single-Output (MISO) converter topology appropriate for this application is identified, and a prototype MISO converter is built and tested with a PV simulator, a Si cell testbench, and in a systematic demonstration with an optical concentrator and discrete photovoltaic cells. The results demonstrate the potential of a co-packaged LAMB-with-converter CPV architecture for enhanced energy capture under practical conditions.