Detailed balance analysis of solar thermophotovoltaic systems made up of single junction photovoltaic cells and broadband thermal emitters

Datas, Alejandro; Algora, Carlos

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2010.06.042

Cited by 60 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…In order to get a deeper insight, we have calculated the maximum TPV system conversion efficiency achievable, in combination with our selective emitter using a detailed balance approach [34]. In order to focus on the effect of the thermal emitter, we considered no heat losses, no other mechanism for photon filtering and a 1:1 ratio between the area of the emitter and the photocells (i.e.…”

Section: Tpv System Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three-dimensional metallo-dielectric selective thermal emitters with high-temperature stability for thermophotovoltaic applications

Garín

Hernández

Trifonov

et al. 2015

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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Selective thermal emitters concentrate most of their spontaneous emission in a spectral band much narrower than a blackbody. When used in a thermophovoltaic energy conversion system, they become key elements defining both its overall system efficiency and output power. Selective emitters' radiation spectra must be designed to match their accompanying photocell's band gap and, simultaneously, withstand high temperatures (above 1000 K) for long operation times. The advent of nanophotonics has allowed the engineering of very selective emitters and absorbers; however, thermal stability remains a challenge since 1 of 22 nanostructures become unstable at temperatures much below the melting point of the used materials. In this paper we explore an hybrid 3D dielectric-metallic structure that combines the higher thermal stability of a monocrystalline 3D Silicon scaffold with the optical properties of a thin Platinum film conformally deposited on top. We show experimentally that these structures exhibit a selective emission spectrum suitable for TPV applications and that they are thermally stable at temperatures up to 1100 K. These structures are ideal in combination with III-V semiconductors in the range Eg=0.4-0.55 eV such as InGaAsSb (Eg=0.5-0.6 eV) and InAsSbP (Eg=0.3-0.55 eV).

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Section: Tpv System Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three-dimensional metallo-dielectric selective thermal emitters with high-temperature stability for thermophotovoltaic applications

Garín

Hernández

Trifonov

et al. 2015

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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“…As done (Datas et al, 2013) the emitter is assumed to be a black body emitting onto ideal PV cells (in which only radiative recombination is taking place). Therefore, the flux out of the emitter can be expressed as a function of the emitter temperature (T e ) (Datas and Algora, 2010;Datas et al, 2013) Ql/n =F ec É(E G , oo, 300, qV) -¿(0, oo, T e , 0)…”

Section: Semi-analytical Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…is the radiative energy flux emitted by a surface at temperature T and with chemical potential ¡i in vacuum, in the spectral interval (si, s 2 ), in the normal direction and per unit of solid angle. The final electrical power density (in watts per unit cell area) is obtained from Datas and Algora (2010) and Datas et al (2013):…”

Section: Semi-analytical Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Night time performance of a storage integrated solar thermophotovoltaic (SISTPV) system

2014

Self Cite

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Energy storage at low maintenance cost is one of the key challenges for generating electricity from the solar energy. This paper presents the theoretical analysis (verified by CFD) of the night time performance of a recently proposed conceptual system that integrates thermal storage (via phase change materials) and thermophotovoltaics for power generation. These storage integrated solar thermophotovoltaic (SISTPV) systems are attractive owing to their simple design (no moving parts) and modularity compared to conventional Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies. Importantly, the ability of high temperature operation of these systems allows the use of silicon (melting point of 1680 K) as the phase change material (PCM). Silicon's very high latent heat of fusion of 1800 kJ/kg and low cost ($1.70/kg), makes it an ideal heat storage medium enabling for an extremely high storage energy density and low weight modular systems. In this paper, the night time operation of the SISTPV system optimised for steady state is analysed. The results indicate that for any given PCM length, a combination of small taper ratio and large inlet hole-to-absorber area ratio are essential to increase the operation time and the average power produced during the night time. Additionally, the overall results show that there is a trade-off between running time and the average power produced during the night time. Average night time power densities as high as 30 W/cm 2 are possible if the system is designed with a small PCM length (10 cm) to operate just a few hours after sun-set, but running times longer than 72 h (3 days) are possible for larger lengths (50 cm) at the expense of a lower average power density of about 14 W/cm 2 . In both cases the steady state system efficiency has been predicted to be about 30%. This makes SISTPV systems to be a versatile solution that can be adapted for operation in a broad range of locations with different climate conditions, even being used off-grid and in space applications.

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“…Besides, efficiencies and electrical power densities above 30% and 50 W/cm , respectively, are plausible in the long term [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…This temperature is calculated through the variation of the V 0 c with respect to the one at room temperature conditions by means of the ¡5 parameter. 6 On the other hand, the EF degradation ( Figure 15) is not only attributed to the heating of the cells but also to the series resistance of the array (especially relevant for modules M1-M6). Because of these reasons, the measured STPV system efficiency ( Figure 16) is extremely low (not exceeding 0.8%), and the system efficiency, which was expected to increase with the irradiance level (because of the supralinear dependence of the Jsc), is found to be more or less the same for every irradiance level.…”

Section: First Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and experimental evaluation of a complete solar thermophotovoltaic system

Datas

Algora

2012

Progress in Photovoltaics

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We present a practical implementation of a solar thermophotovoltaic (TPV) system. The system presented in this paper comprises a sunlight concentrator system, a cylindrical cup-shaped absorber/emitter (made of tungsten coated with HÍO2), and an hexagonal-shaped water-cooled TPV generator comprising 24 germanium TPV cells, which is surrounding the cylindrical absorber/emitter. This paper focuses on the development of shingled TPV cell arrays, the characterization of the sunlight concentrator system, the estimation of the temperature achieved by the cylindrical emitters operated under concentrated sunlight, and the evaluation of the full system performance under real outdoor irradiance conditions. From the system characterization, we have measured short-circuit current densities up to 0.95 A/cm 2 , electric power densities of 67 mW/cm , and a global conversion efficiency of about 0.8%. To our knowledge, this is the first overall solar-to-electricity efficiency reported for a complete solar thermophotovoltaic system. The very low efficiency is mainly due to the overheating of the cells (up to 120 °C) and to the high optical concentrator losses, which prevent the achievement of the optimum emitter temperature. The loss analysis shows that by improving both aspects, efficiencies above 5% could be achievable in the very short term and efficiencies above 10% could be achieved with further improvements.

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Detailed balance analysis of solar thermophotovoltaic systems made up of single junction photovoltaic cells and broadband thermal emitters

Cited by 60 publications

References 20 publications

Three-dimensional metallo-dielectric selective thermal emitters with high-temperature stability for thermophotovoltaic applications

Three-dimensional metallo-dielectric selective thermal emitters with high-temperature stability for thermophotovoltaic applications

Night time performance of a storage integrated solar thermophotovoltaic (SISTPV) system

Development and experimental evaluation of a complete solar thermophotovoltaic system

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