Title :
High efficiency converters for thermophotovoltaic applications
Author :
Fatemi, Navid S. ; Hoffman, Richard W. ; Lowe, Roland A. ; Jenkins, Phillip P. ; Garverick, Linda M. ; Wilt, David M. ; Scheiman, David
Author_Institution :
Essential Res. Inc., Cleveland, OH, USA
Abstract :
Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) converters were developed and tested at the heat source operating temperature of 1700 K. Rare-earth-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) and lutetium yttrium aluminum garnet (Lu, YAG) selective emitters, as well as a blackbody emitter, were coupled to InGaAs/InP photovoltaic (PV) cells and bandpass/infrared (IR) reflector filters. YAG-based selective emitters were doped with Ho, Tm, and Er. PV cells had bandgaps of 0.51, 0.57, and 0.69 eV. Converter energy conversion efficiencies approaching 30%, as well as electrical output power densities near 2 W/cm2 were demonstrated. The overall performance of the filtered blackbody-based converter was found to be superior to the selective emitter YAG-based converters. The details of the measurements performed on the above converters and their individual components are presented
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; band-pass filters; blackbody radiation; gallium arsenide; garnets; indium compounds; lutetium compounds; optical filters; photovoltaic cells; solar cells; yttrium compounds; 0.51 to 0.69 eV; 1700 K; 30 percent; InGaAs-InP; InGaAs/InP photovoltaic cells; Lu, YAG; LuYAG:Tm; LuYAl5O12:Tm; YAG:Er; YAG:Ho; YAl5O12:Er; YAl5O12:Ho; bandpass/infrared reflector filters; blackbody emitter; electrical output power densities; energy conversion efficiencies; filtered blackbody-based converter; heat source operating temperature; high efficiency converters; lutetium yttrium aluminum garnet; rare-earth-doped yttrium aluminum garnet; selective emitter YAG-based converters; selective emitters; thermophotovoltaic applications; Aluminum; Garnets; Indium gallium arsenide; Indium phosphide; Infrared heating; Photovoltaic systems; Solar power generation; Temperature; Testing; Yttrium;
Conference_Titel :
Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, 1996. IECEC 96., Proceedings of the 31st Intersociety
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3547-3
DOI :
10.1109/IECEC.1996.561165
