Numerical analysis of the thermophotovoltaic energy transition in the MTPV system

Abstract

Physical and mathematical model is constructed in order to study the energy transition characteristic between the radiation surface and PV cell in the micro-thermophotovoltaic system. In the model, rectangular SiC radiation slice and GaSb PV cell are used, and the non-uniformity of radiation surface temperature distribution and the radiation view factor are considered. Cell efficiency and power density are calculated in each case when radiation surface temperature distribution and cell temperature and their distance are changed. The effects of these parameters on the energy transition in the system are analysed, and a series of conclusions are as follows: power output significantly decreases with distance increasing, but the distance has little influence on the cell efficiency, it only decreases 0.24% for each 1 mm increase of distance; both cell efficiency and power density show gradual degression of linear relation with the rise of cell temperature; power density can increase 216.7 W/cm2 when mixture volume flux is raised from 600 mL/min to 1800 mL/min. © 2010 Journal of Mechanical Engineering.