A 58% High Efficiency Photovoltaic Converter for High Voltage Grid Monitoring Applications

Photovoltaic converter (PVC) is the core device in laser power-over-fiber (LPoF) technology that is increasingly applied in high voltage grid monitoring due to its safety and reliability. As the PVC module is installed on the high voltage side, once it fails, replacement is a very troublesome work. Therefore, development of a PVC with high performance and long lifetime becomes crucial for the reliability of the whole LPoF system. Photoelectric conversion efficiency is the most critical performance indicator of a PVC. Energy emitted by laser that cannot be converted into electricity will turn into heat, and thus worsen the PVC's working condition and accelerate its aging and failure. A high-efficiency PVC based on Gallium arsenide (GaAs) material is developed. Characterization results of the fabricated PVC chips show that conversion efficiencies higher than 58% are achieved under the expected operation input powers of 1–3 W.