Where solar thermal meets photovoltaic for high-efficiency power conversion
Name
901524529-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
11.67 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
845a5b7894f250aedabbebde9a3ba0c3
Author(s)
Bierman, David M. (David Matthew)
Advisor(s)
Evelyn N. Wang.
Date Issued
2014
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
To develop disruptive techniques which generate power from the Sun, one must understand the aspects of existing technologies that limit performance. Solar thermal and solar photovoltaic schemes dominate today's solar market but both bring intrinsic and practical constraints. What will tomorrow's solar market look like? Third generation solar power generation techniques to utilize a larger portion of the solar spectrum are a promising path for high efficiency power generation, but experimental demonstrations remain limited. In this work, the components of a solar thermophotovoltaic power converter are introduced and discussed. While solar thermophotovoltaic devices have the potential to convert sunlight into electricity at astronomically high efficiencies, there are a number of practical challenges that must first be addressed. Novel photonic materials, design concepts, and both intrinsic and practical limitations of solar thermophotovoltaic conversion are explored in this thesis. The conversion mechanisms as well as a number of experimental implementations are presented. Finally, the device performance is characterized and both geometrical and spectral improvements are discussed.
Description
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2014.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 71-73).
Subjects
Mechanical Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
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