Amonix Technology Overview

The Amonix high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) system, recognized as the world’s most powerful and efficient, employs unique patented technology that converts sunlight to electricity in a pollution-free, cost-effective and highly efficient manner.

To achieve these product benefits, Amonix’s HCPV systems utilize the following technologies:

- Concentrator Optics
- 2-Axis Tracking
- Multijunction Solar Cells
- MegaModule^® Design with Integrated Structural

Amonix’s successful implementation of these technologies offers customers the lowest cost of solar-generated electricity.


Amonix High Concentration Photovoltaic Technology



High-Concentration Photovoltaic (HCPV) systems provide a cost-effective means to generate utility scale solar energy. Using inexpensive optics, HCPV systems drastically reduce the amount of expensive semiconductor material required to produce each watt of electricity, thereby delivering lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE) in cents/kWh.

In most one-sun flat-plate solar panels, costly silicon solar cells must cover the entire sun-receiving surface to collect sunlight. With Amonix’s HCPV system, less expensive plastic lenses are used to collect the sunlight and focus it down onto a relatively small solar cell. Amonix uses inexpensive plastic Fresnel lenses to concentrate sunlight to 500 times its usual intensity onto highly efficient solar cells.



The red rectangle indicates the equivalent area of multijunction semiconductor material used within the HCPV system. Without the use of Fresnel lens concentrating optics and high-efficiency multijunction cells, an area of silicon semiconductor material twice the size of the entire system would be required to provide an equivalent amount of power.

2-Axis Tracking

To further optimize performance HCPV systems must actively track the sun’s trajectory across the sky to capture its direct normal irradiance (DNI). To accomplish this, Amonix has developed a proprietary hydraulically-actuated 2-axis tracker that maximizes energy production throughout the day. Field results indicate that dependent upon the location upwards of 50% more energy is captured by Amonix’s HCPV system than with fixed, one-sun systems.

The 2-axis tracker is the only moving component on Amonix’s HCPV systems and has been designed for reliability and minimum maintenance. In addition, the parasitic power requirements are minimal (typically less than 1% of overall power output).

Multijunction Cells


The multijunction solar cells used in Amonix’s HCPV systems work by layering semiconductor materials that have different bandgaps. Sunlight enters the layer that has the largest bandgap and continues to penetrate the solar cell until it reaches the layer that has a smaller bandgap than its photon’s energy.

In this way, multijunction solar cells are more efficient than single layer solar cells because less of the photon’s energy is lost to heat when it exceeds the bandgap of the absorbing semiconductor material. Used in conjunction with concentrator optics such as Fresnel lenses, multijunction solar cells are capable of converting sunlight into electricity with over 40% efficiency. This efficiency rises as the level of concentration increases, but decreases as temperature increases; the Amonix HCPV system is designed to keep the cell temperature as low as possible using passive air cooling.

Although multijunction cells have a high cost per unit area, their unparalleled performance under operating conditions makes them cost effective within a HCPV system at 500x concentration. The high efficiency more than offsets the additional cost of cooling and 2-axis tracking that are required to maintain high concentration.


MegaModule^® Design

Amonix developed the proprietary MegaModule^® design to incorporate the Fresnel lens, integrated structure and multijunction solar cells into one factory-fabricated and aligned assembly. In this patented design, the multijunction cells are mounted onto receiver plates and a rectangular steel structure which is sandwiched by the Fresnel lens on one side and receiver plates on the other. This integration of the lens, mounting structure and solar cell into a single unit eliminates over 75% of the parts and costs associated with other concentrator designs while providing significant advantages in ease of manufacturing, installation and maintenance. At a size of 49’ x 10’ the MegaModule^® contains 36 receiver plates, each having its own matching sheet of 30 Fresnel lens and produces ~10 kW(DC). Multiple Amonix MegaModules^® are attached to the 2-axis tracking system to make up a single HCPV system.

• MegaModule^® subsystem – Concentrates the sun’s energy onto the solar cell that converts it into electrical energy. It consists of Fresnel lenses and multijunction solar cells. Each Amonix 7700 system consists of seven MegaModules^®.

• Drive subsystem – Rotates the MegaModules^® in azimuth and elevation to track the sun. The drive system consists of a foundation, pedestal, rotating bearing head, hydraulic actuators, and torque tube.

• Hydraulic subsystem – Applies hydraulic pressure to one side of the hydraulic actuators to move the torque tube and MegaModules^® in elevation and azimuth so that the system tracks the sun. The hydraulic system consists of hydraulic valves, accumulator, pump, reservoir, and pressure sensors.

• Tracking control subsystem – Monitors sensors on the system, calculates required movements and applies signals to the hydraulic valves to rotate the system to track the sun or stow during high winds.

• AC/DC control subsystem – Combines the DC power from the individual MegaModules^®, converts it to AC power using off-the-shelf commercial inverters, and interfaces to the electricity grid.

The MegaModule^® system is designed for unattended operation for either grid- connected or off-grid applications. It moves automatically from a night stow position to tracking the sun throughout the day, typically generating electrical power whenever the Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) is above 400 W/m².