Patent ID: 8642880

Claim:
An interchangeable and fully adjustable solar thermal-photovoltaic concentrator system, comprising: one or more heat collecting elements; one or more primary reflector that focuses sunrays and has a reflective side facing the incoming sunlight from the sun and facing the heat collecting element and wherein when there is one primary reflector, there is an opening therethrough to allow light to pass and when there are a plurality of primary reflectors there is at least one opening therebetween, wherein the one or more primary reflectors has an optical focus located on the reflective side of the one or more primary reflectors such that the incoming sunlight is reflected to and concentrated on the optical focus, wherein the heat collecting element(s) is placed at or adjacent to the focus of the one or more primary reflectors; a sunray directing optical mechanism that intercepts a proportion of the sunlight reflected toward the optical focus of the one or more primary reflectors and redirects the intercepted sunrays from a sun-collecting side of the one or more primary reflectors to a non-sun-collecting side of the one or more primary reflectors, wherein the sunray directing optical mechanism is disposed at the sun-collecting side of the one or more primary reflectors and between the heat collecting element and the openings; one or more PV cell modules positioned between the primary reflectors and a sunray distributing mechanism, disposed at the non-sun-collecting side of the primary reflectors and wherein the one or more PV cell modules are positioned to accept light that is distributed from the sunray distributing optical mechanism to generate electricity; wherein the sunray distributing optical mechanism distributes sunrays redirected to the non-sun-collecting side of the primary reflectors to the PV cell modules, said sunray distributing optical mechanism and said PV cell modules are disposed at the non-sun-collecting side of the primary reflectors; wherein after sunrays irradiate on the one or more primary reflectors and are reflected toward the optical focus of the one or more primary reflectors, a portion of sunrays is intercepted and redirected by the sunray directing optical mechanism, through the opening or openings in the one or more primary reflector or reflectors, and distributed to the PV cell modules by the sunray distributing optical mechanism, whereas the remaining portion of sunrays continues to travel toward the optical focus of the one or more primary reflectors and is concentrated on the heat collective element.