A Thermophotovoltaic System Using a Photonic Crystal Emitter
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Soljacic_A thermophotovoltaic.pdf
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3.28 MB
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Author(s)
Waits, Christopher M.
Chan, Walker R
Stelmakh, Veronika
Soljacic, Marin
Joannopoulos, John
Celanovic, Ivan L.
Date Issued
January 2016
Journal
Proceedings of the ASME 2016 5th International Conference on Micro/Nanoscale Heat and Mass Transfer
Publisher
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Citation
Chan, Walker R. et al. “A Thermophotovoltaic System Using a Photonic Crystal Emitter.” ASME 2016 5th International Conference on Micro/Nanoscale Heat and Mass Transfer, 4-6 January, 2016, Biopolis, Singapore, ASME, 2016.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The increasing power demands of portable electronics and micro robotics has driven recent interest in millimeter-scale microgenerators. Many technologies (fuel cells, Stirling, thermoelectric, etc.) that potentially enable a portable hydrocarbon microgenerator are under active investigation. Hydrocarbon fuels have specific energies fifty times those of batteries, thus even a relatively inefficient generator can exceed the specific energy of batteries. We proposed, designed, and demonstrated a first-of-a-kind millimeter-scale thermophotovoltaic (TPV) system with a photonic crystal emitter. In a TPV system, combustion heats an emitter to incandescence and the resulting thermal radiation is converted to electricity by photovoltaic cells. Our approach uses a moderate temperature (1000–1200°C) metallic microburner coupled to a high emissivity, high selectivity photonic crystal selective emitter and low bandgap PV cells. This approach is predicted to be capable of up to 30% efficient fuel-to-electricity conversion within a millimeter-scale form factor. We have performed a robust experimental demonstration that validates the theoretical framework and the key system components, and present our results in the context of a TPV microgenerator. Although considerable technological barriers need to be overcome to realize a TPV microgenerator, we predict that 700–900 Wh/kg is possible with the current technology.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1115/MNHMT2016-6695
