Design, fabrication and testing of a prototype microthermophotovoltaic system

Abstract

The design, fabrication and testing of a novel prototype microthermophotovoltaic (micro-TPV) system is first described in this paper. The system is made of a SiC emitter, a simple 9 layer dielectric filter and a GaSb Photovoltaic cell array. When the flow rate of hydrogen is 3.4439 g/h and the H2/O2 ratio is 1.8, the micro-TPV system is able to deliver an electrical power output of 0.562 W in a micro combustor of 0.091 cm3 in volume. The open-circuit electrical voltage and short-circuit current are 1.14 V and 0.65 amp respectively. It makes us possible to replace batteries with micro-TPV systems as the power of micro mechanical devices in near future.