Photoconverters for Solar TPV Systems

Khvostikov, V. P.; Khvostikova, O. A.; Gazaryan, P. Y.; Sorokina, S. V.; Potapovich, N. S.; Malevskaya, A. V.; Shvarts, М. Z.; Kaluzhniy, N. A.; Andreev, V. M.; Rumyantsev, V.D.

doi:10.1109/wcpec.2006.279543

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(9 reference statements)

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“…Meanwhile, the low-cost fabrication process of Ge PV cells also appeal to industrial production [122]. People have reported Ge-based STPV systems with decent efficiency through different techniques [123,124]. But in contrast with III-V materials of similar band gap energy, Ge has a relatively high density of states in the conduction band, which consequently leads to high intrinsic carrier concentration [125].…”

Section: Germaniummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But in contrast with III-V materials of similar band gap energy, Ge has a relatively high density of states in the conduction band, which consequently leads to high intrinsic carrier concentration [125]. For a heavily doped (N A~1 0 17 cm −3 ) Ge substrate, surface and bulk recombination are both high, as indicated by a low characteristic V OC , compared to III-V semiconductors of similar band gap energy (e.g., GaSb) [123]. Lightly doped Ge (N A~2 × 10 15 cm −3 ) with a higher minority carrier diffusion length requires front and back passivation layers (e.g., InGaP, GaAs, α-Si) and a back mirror to reflect unabsorbed sub-band gap photons for recycling [121,123].…”

Section: Germaniummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For a heavily doped (N A~1 0 17 cm −3 ) Ge substrate, surface and bulk recombination are both high, as indicated by a low characteristic V OC , compared to III-V semiconductors of similar band gap energy (e.g., GaSb) [123]. Lightly doped Ge (N A~2 × 10 15 cm −3 ) with a higher minority carrier diffusion length requires front and back passivation layers (e.g., InGaP, GaAs, α-Si) and a back mirror to reflect unabsorbed sub-band gap photons for recycling [121,123]. However, a lightly doped Ge PV cell introduces more series resistance than a heavily doped Ge substrate.…”

Section: Germaniummentioning

confidence: 99%

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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: Germaniummentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Germaniummentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Germaniummentioning

confidence: 99%

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Solar thermophotovoltaics: reshaping the solar spectrum

et al. 2016

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“…In this paper, we present the implementation and characterization of a full STPV system developed at IES-UPM (an early prototype description can be found in [30]). References to the Ioffe's system can be found in [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. Figure 1 shows a draft of the different pieces comprising the full cylindrical STPV system (excluding the sunlight concentrator system).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this paper, we present the implementation and characterization of a full STPV system developed at IES‐UPM (an early prototype description can be found in ). References to the Ioffe's system can be found in .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and experimental evaluation of a complete solar thermophotovoltaic system

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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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