The need for renewable energy sources is on the rise because of the acute energy crisis in the world today. This describes the design, optimization, and evaluation of the power electronics circuitry for a low-power portable thermophotovotaic (TPV) generator system in mat lab. TPV system is based on a silicon micro-reactor design and low-band gap photovoltaic (PV) diodes. We outline critical system-level challenges associated with TPV power generation, and propose a power electronics architecture that addresses these challenges. We present experimental data from a compact, highly efficient peak power tracker and show how the proposed architecture enables increased energy extraction compared to conventional methods. The operation of the power tracker is verified with low-band gap PV cells illuminated by a quartz halogen lamp producing a PV diode output power of 0.5 W, and above 99% tracking efficiency is demonstrated. Additionally, the complete system operation is verified with the power tracker connected to GaInAsSb PV diodes silicon and a micro-reactor, producing 150 mW of electrical power.

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