Global optimization of solar thermophotovoltaic systems

Datas, Alejandro; Algora, Carlos

doi:10.1002/pip.2202

Cited by 63 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…3. The ultimate solar-to-thermal efficiency for STPV system is 85%, which closely approaches the Carnot limit [18,27,68,147]. In order to achieve the ultimate thermodynamic limit of multi-junction PV efficiency, it requires the total number of junctions to be arbitrarily large.…”

Section: Packaging For Commercial Deploymentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar thermophotovoltaics: reshaping the solar spectrum

et al. 2016

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Abstract:Recently, there has been increasing interest in utilizing solar thermophotovoltaics (STPV) to convert sunlight into electricity, given their potential to exceed the Shockley-Queisser limit. Encouragingly, there have also been several recent demonstrations of improved systemlevel efficiency as high as 6.2%. In this work, we review prior work in the field, with particular emphasis on the role of several key principles in their experimental operation, performance, and reliability. In particular, for the problem of designing selective solar absorbers, we consider the trade-off between solar absorption and thermal losses, particularly radiative and convective mechanisms. For the selective thermal emitters, we consider the tradeoff between emission at critical wavelengths and parasitic losses. Then for the thermophotovoltaic (TPV) diodes, we consider the trade-off between increasing the potential short-circuit current, and maintaining a reasonable opencircuit voltage. This treatment parallels the historic development of the field, but also connects early insights with recent developments in adjacent fields. With these various components connecting in multiple ways, a system-level end-to-end modeling approach is necessary for a comprehensive understanding and appropriate improvement of STPV systems. This approach will ultimately allow researchers to design STPV systems capable of exceeding recently demonstrated efficiency values.

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Section: Packaging For Commercial Deploymentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar thermophotovoltaics: reshaping the solar spectrum

et al. 2016

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“…In this section, we use the theoretical models presented in [5,46] to predict the performance of cylindrical STPV systems with improved photon recycling system. This analysis assumes that both the emitter and the cells are isothermal 7 Looking at Table I, we see that in this module the substrate has no groves to host the back-side copper tape, and consequently, the cells are not in good thermal contact with the substrate.…”

Section: Future Efficiency Predictionmentioning

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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“…In this arrangement, spectral control elements (selective emitters, filters, reflectors, etc) may be used to produce spectrally selective thermal radiation matching the TPV cell spectral response. This leads to a very high theoretical efficiency for TPV devices, approaching the Carnot efficiency in the limit of that TPV cells are illuminated by monochromatic light [3], TPV technology offers a series of advantages compared with other heat engines: (1) it enables extremely high temperature operation, owing to the absence of physical contact between the hot and cold reservoirs, (2) it is a modular and scalable technology with an extremely low weight and volume, leading to extraordinary high specific power and energy densities, (3) it does not use moving parts, which minimizes the maintenance requirements and enables low noise operation, and (4) it may enable very high heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency, ideally as high as a Carnot engine.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimum semiconductor bandgaps in single junction and multijunction thermophotovoltaic converters

Datas

2015

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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The choice of the optimum semiconductor for manufacturing thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells is not straightforward. In contrast to conventional solar photovoltaics (PV) where the optimum semiconductor bandgap is determined solely by the spectrum (and eventually the irradiance) of the incident solar light, in a TPV converter it depends on the emitter temperature and on the spectral control elements determining the net spectral power flux between the TPV cell and the emitter. Additionally, in TPV converters there is a tradeoff between power density and conversion efficiency that does not exist in conventional solar PV systems. Thus, the choice of the proper semiconductor compound in TPV converters requires a thorough analysis that has not been presented so far. This paper presents the optimum semiconductor bandgaps leading to the maximum efficiency and power density in TPV converters using both single junction and multijunction TPV cells. These results were obtained within the framework of the detailed balance theory and assuming only radiative recombination. Optimal bandgaps are provided as a function of the emitter and cell temperature, as well as the degree of spectral control. I show that multijunction TPV cells are excellent candidates to maximize both the efficiency and the power density simultaneously, eliminating the historical tradeoff between efficiency and power density of TPV converters. Finally, multijunction TPV cells are less sensitive to photon recycling losses, which suggest that they can be combined with relatively simple cut-off spectral control systems to provide practically-viable high performing TPV devices.

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Global optimization of solar thermophotovoltaic systems

Cited by 63 publications

References 27 publications

Solar thermophotovoltaics: reshaping the solar spectrum

Solar thermophotovoltaics: reshaping the solar spectrum

Development and experimental evaluation of a complete solar thermophotovoltaic system

Optimum semiconductor bandgaps in single junction and multijunction thermophotovoltaic converters

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