Testing and modeling of a solar thermophotovoltaic power system

Stone, Kenneth W.; Chubb, Donald L.; Wilt, David M.; Wanlass, M. W.

doi:10.1063/1.49687

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…The longest reported studies we know of are 300 h each for an erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Er-YAG) crystal used in an solar TPV system 21 and a 2-D photonic crystal made of tantalum-tungsten alloy and capped with 20 to 40 nm HfO 2 1 used in a radioisotope TPV prototype. 31 The former cracked and darkened after 300 h in the sun, although the authors attribute it potentially to a water leak.…”

Section: Long-term High-temperature Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The emission depends on the metal optical properties; the role of the ARC layer is typically to enhance emittance in a narrow band around the bandgap. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]108,109 have been made primarily from rare earth metals, especially erbium and ytterbium. They are easy to fabricate in large areas and with high-temperature stability, especially by doping high-temperature ceramics.…”

Section: At-a-glance Evaluation Of Emitters Used In Prototype System mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Practical emitters for thermophotovoltaics: a review

et al. 2019

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Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems are promising for harnessing solar energy, waste heat, and heat from radioisotope decay or fuel combustion. TPV systems work by heating an emitter that emits light that is converted to electricity. One of the key challenges is designing an emitter that not only preferentially emits light in certain wavelength ranges but also simultaneously satisfies other engineering constraints. To elucidate these engineering constraints, we first provide an overview of the state of the art, by classifying emitters into three categories based on whether they have been used in prototype system demonstrations, fabricated and measured, or simulated. We then present a systematic approach for assessing emitters. This consists of five metrics: optical performance, ability to scale to large areas, stability at high temperatures, ability to integrate into the system, and cost. Using these metrics, we evaluate and discuss the reported results of emitters used in system demonstrations. Although there are many emitters with good optical performance, more studies on their practical attributes are required, especially for those that are not yet used in prototype systems. This framework can serve as a guide for the development of emitters for long-lasting, high-performance TPV systems.

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Section: Long-term High-temperature Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: At-a-glance Evaluation Of Emitters Used In Prototype System mentioning

confidence: 99%

Practical emitters for thermophotovoltaics: a review

et al. 2019

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“…TPV was suggested to be applied in solar concentrator systems to exceed the efficiency limit of one-sun single junction solar cells [7]. In the following, it is estimated, which efficiency is expected by the above described TPV system, if the emitter is heated by concentrated sunlight.…”

Section: Simulation Of Solar Powered Tpv Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practical thermophotovoltaic generators

et al. 2004

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For use in gas fired thermophotovoltaic systems, a selective emitter made from Yb 2 O 3 foam ceramic has been developed. This foam ceramic is mechanically stable and FTIR spectroscopy showed that 10% of the radiation power emitted by the foam can be converted by Si photocells. The thermal and thermal-shock stability of Yb 2 O 3 foam ceramic was analysed. The foam passed 200 heating / cooling cycles without major damage. Tubes were manufactured from this material and tested in a thermophotovoltaic demonstration system. An electrical power of 86 W was achieved at a thermal power of 16 kW. Using a simulation model, a potential efficiency of a thermophotovoltaic system based on our technology applied for the conversion of concentrated solar radiation was estimated.

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“…Early SISTPV designs (Stone et al, 1994a(Stone et al, ,b, 1995(Stone et al, , 1996 were conceived more as experimental test-bed units rather than fully optimised systems, and consequently their potential was fundamentally limited. More recent works Datas et al, 2013;Gilpin et al, 2011;Scharfe et al, 2011) per unit area and storage ability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2014

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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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Testing and modeling of a solar thermophotovoltaic power system

Cited by 18 publications

References 0 publications

Practical emitters for thermophotovoltaics: a review

Practical emitters for thermophotovoltaics: a review

Practical thermophotovoltaic generators

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

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