Patent ID: 8450597

Claim:
A solar concentrator comprising: at least one receiver configured to receive light from at least one reflector, the at least one receiver comprising a plurality of photovoltaic (PV) modules having a modular configuration, wherein each PV module in the plurality of PV modules comprising: a heat collector, comprising a front surface and a back surface, further comprising: a cluster of PV cells located on the front surface; and a cavity located on the back surface opposite to the location of PV cells located on the front surface and connected to a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet, wherein the cavity comprising a surface with a plurality of channels aligned to facilitate flow of coolant between the coolant inlet and the coolant outlet, the back surface of the heat collector is configured to be located against a planar surface configured to cover the back surface of the heat collector thereby forming a chamber with the cavity through which coolant flows from the coolant inlet and the coolant outlet; wherein the plurality of PV modules are combined to form the receiver, with the coolant passing therebetween the plurality of PV modules, the coolant inlet opens onto the front surface and on a first side of the cluster of PV cells and the coolant outlet opens on the front surface and on a second side of the cluster of PV cells, the coolant inlet, coolant outlet and cluster of PV cells are located coplanar on the front surface, the first side and second side of the cluster of PV cells are diametrically opposed, the coolant inlet and coolant outlet connect to the back surface cavity.