Patent ID: 8885995

Claim:
A light-guide solar concentrator comprising: a light-condensing layer comprising: a focusing surface comprising a plurality of focusing optical elements, each focusing optical element adapted for receiving and focusing sunlight incident thereon; and a plurality of collimating optical elements, each collimating optical element adapted for receiving the focused sunlight from a corresponding focusing optical element and collimating the focused sunlight; and an optical waveguide layer spaced apart from and optically coupled to the light-condensing layer, the optical waveguide layer having a top surface, a bottom surface and an optical exit surface, the bottom surface comprising: a plurality of deflectors, each deflector having a deflecting surface for receiving light from a corresponding one of the plurality of collimating optical elements and redirecting the light toward the optical exit surface of the optical waveguide layer; and a plurality of bottom reflecting elements between each of the deflectors, and the top surface comprising a plurality of top reflecting elements, the one or more top reflecting elements and the plurality of bottom reflecting elements for guiding the light therebetween toward the optical exit surface.