Towards a high-efficiency micro-thermophotovoltaic generator
Name
698118325-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
5.05 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
69912b7b28a7f640ecfaa103fcfb439b
Author(s)
Walker, Chan (Walker R.)
Advisor(s)
John Kassakian and Ivan Celanovic.
Alternative Title
Towards a high-efficiency micro-TPV generator
Date Issued
2010
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Hydrocarbon fuels have such a high energy density that even a relatively inefficient converter of chemical energy into electrical can significantly exceed the energy density of state- of-the-art batteries. This work attempts to do exactly this on a millimeter scale by means of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) power conversion approach. We demonstrated the first-of- a-kind propane-oxygen fueled catalytic silicon based MEMS microreactor integrated with low-bandgap GaInAsSb (0.53 eV bandgap) photovoltaic cells to create a fully operational millimeter scale TPV system. The initial fuel to electricity system efficiency was measured at 0.8%. A cell area of 2 cm2 produced 200 mW of electricity from a chemical input of 28 W. These results match well with developed system models. Additionally, we predict the efficiency can be doubled by improving the view factor, vacuum packaging, and eliminating parasitic radiation from the edges of the reactor. By integrating simple one-dimensional silicon/silicon dioxide photonic crystal on the micro-reactor as spectral shaping device efficiency can reach 5%.
Description
Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-77).
Subjects
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Terms of Use
M.I.T. theses are protected by
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
