Thermophotovoltaics Basic Principles and Critical Aspects of System
Thermophotovoltaics is the science and technology associated with the direct generation of electricity from high temperature heat. Potential applications include combined heat and power, portable and auxiliary power, radioisotope space power, industrial w
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Thomas Bauer
Thermophotovoltaics Basic Principles and Critical Aspects of System Design
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Dr. Thomas Bauer Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) Institut für Technische Thermodynamik Pfaffenwaldring 38-40 70569 Stuttgart Germany e-mail: [email protected]
ISSN 1865-3529
e-ISSN 1865-3537
ISBN 978-3-642-19964-6
e-ISBN 978-3-642-19965-3
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-19965-3 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: eStudio Calamar, Berlin/Figueres Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) is a direct heat to electricity conversion method that was first suggested in the 1950s. The TPV conversion concept is straightforward. Thermal or infrared radiation is converted by a photovoltaic (PV) cell into electricity, just in the same way as solar radiation is converted by a PV cell into electricity. A typical TPV system consists of a high-temperature radiator (1,000–1,700C), a cavity that includes a filter to control the infrared spectrum and PV cells to convert thermal radiation into electricity. In contrast to solar PV, TPV has two decisive advantages. First, TPV conversion is applicable to any high temperature heat source including the solar, combustion, nuclear and waste heat sources. Second, the efficiency can be enhanced by the control of the absorbed spectrum in the PV cell compared to solar PV. Even though TPV conversion has these advantages, systems are still in a research and development phase at present. At the time of writing, research activities in TPV conversion see a decline. It is the author’s hope that this book can contribute to the development of the technology and that the funding situation improves. This would allow demonstration of not only high performance single components, but also systems with high efficiencies. In the past, there have been other hindrances in the development of the technology. For example, there was a lack of suitable high performance PV cells. At the present, the authors view is that the variety of the engineering discip
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