PYRON’s advanced photovoltaic cells were originally developed for satellites by Boeing-Spectrolab. They are really multi-junction cells, with overlaid thin layers, each specialized for a different band of wavelengths, the key to their high efficiency of 37.3%. Another advantage of these extremely thin concentrator cells is their very low per-watt usage of expensive inorganic compounds, unlike one-sun cells. Greater concentration gives greater efficiency, but peaking at about 400 suns. At concentrations above 400 suns, efficiency drops because of the increasing resistance losses in the cells. The extremely high concentration of the concentrator lens’s fierce focal spot, thousands of suns strong, would damage the cell when it would be directly exposed to the focal radiation. Therefore, the PYRON system uses a novel secondary optic that spreads the concentrated flux over the entire cell.
Cell efficiency increases with concentration. PYRON SOLAR’s generator operates at 400 suns
High solar flux (9700 suns) at the focal spot, 24 times higher than the cell-average. 
The secondary optic spreads out the spectrally blurred focal spot over the cell for uniformity of flux and spectrum. Furthermore, the wide entrance compensates for tracking errors. It also tilts downward to bring the cell closer to the water. Minimum, median, and maximum wavelengths are shown.
The conduit contains all elements necessary for the conversion of the solar energy concentrated by the lens. The conduit [4] comprises the photovoltaic cell [1], positioned between the secondary optic [2] and the heat-sink [3]. The cap [5] presses the unit against the bottom of the conduit’s interior.
