Patent ID: 7991261

Claim:
A light-guide solar panel module comprising: a) a single planar light-insertion molded polymeric slab that is transmissive to sunlight including: a plurality of first optical elements spaced apart from one another, each of the first optical elements having: an input surface for receiving impinging sunlight, a first reflector having a single reflective surface inclined with respect to the impinging sunlight (i) to receive sunlight directly through the input surface at an angle smaller than a critical angle for total internal reflection of the sunlight at the reflecting surface, and (ii) to reflect the received sunlight only once and at an oblique angle with respect to the impinging sunlight to redirect the sunlight; b) a single planar wedge-shaped optical waveguide molded polymeric slab that is transmissive to sunlight including: a first reflective surface, a plurality of stepped planar second reflectors opposite to the first reflective surface and being spaced apart from one another, an output surface, the optical waveguide slab being optically coupled to each of the first reflectors of the light-guide slab to receive the oblique sunlight therefrom, the first reflective surface and the plurality of second reflectors being positioned and arranged such that the sunlight received from the first reflectors is guided through the optical waveguide slab towards the output surface via multiple total internal reflections between the plurality of second reflectors and the first surface; c) a photovoltaic cell for receiving the sunlight having been concentrated by the light-insertion slab and the waveguide slab; and d) a single second optical element that is transmissive to sunlight and has at least one reflective surface positioned to redirect at least a portion of the sunlight travelling within the waveguide slab towards the photovoltaic cell.