Record electricity-to-gas-power efficiency of a silicon solar cell based TPV system

Bitnar, Bernd; Durisch, W.; Mayor, J.-C.; Palfinger, Günther; Sigg, H.; Grützmacher, D.; Gobrecht, J.

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2002.1190720

Cited by 8 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…TPVC could be applied to micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP) in residential houses and light commercial buildings. To date, various TPVC have been studied, in which low bandgap TPVC cells or silicon solar cells are employed [94,95]. In either case, it has been shown that a major energy loss in TPVC arises from the limited conversion of fuel energy to photon convertible radiation.…”

Section: Different Characteristics Among Dtecsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review on advances in alkali metal thermal to electric converters (AMTECs)

Xiao

Cao

2009

Int. J. Energy Res.

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SUMMARYThe alkali metal thermal to electric converter (AMTEC) is one of the most promising technologies for direct conversion of thermal energy to electricity and has been receiving attention in the field of energy conversion and utilization in the past several decades. This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of the state of the art in the research and development of the AMTEC, including its working principles and types, historical development and applications, analytical models, working fluids, electrode materials, as well as the performance and efficiency improvement. The current two major problems encountered by the AMTEC, the time-dependent power degradation and relatively low efficiency compared to its theoretical value, are discussed in depth. In addition, a brief comparison of the AMTEC with other direct thermal to electric converters (DTECs), such as the thermoelectrics converter (TEC), thermionics converter, and thermophotovoltaics converter, is given, and combinations of different DTECs to further improve DTECs' power generation and overall conversion efficiency are demonstrated. Future research and development directions and the issues that need to be further investigated are also suggested. It is believed that this comprehensive review will be beneficial to the design, simulation, analysis, performance assessment, and applications of various types of AMTECs.

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Section: Different Characteristics Among Dtecsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review on advances in alkali metal thermal to electric converters (AMTECs)

Xiao

Cao

2009

Int. J. Energy Res.

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“…This system produced 21 W electrical power. An improved system is presented in [6], which achieved 48 W electrical power corresponding to a system efficiency of 2.4% using Si solar cells from the University of New South Wales with 21% solar irradiation efficiency. The technology of the prototype was scaled up to a demonstration system using the 16% efficient solar cells from ASE to study the feasibility of an electrically self-powered residential heating system.…”

Section: Silicon Photocellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In conclusion, Si photocells for TPV applications have only been studied marginally up to now. The highest reported system efficiency is 2.4%, but this system was kept quite simple without the use of a recuperator or a filter [6]. High efficiency solar cells, which were not specially adapted for TPV, were used.…”

Section: Silicon Photocellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this way, stacks of thin SiGe layers embedded between Si spacers can be grown epitaxially. In [28] such stacks with a layer thickness of 3-5 nm and various Ge contents were grown using an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) CVD technique. Figure 1 shows a typical structure.…”

Section: Si/ge Photocellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This system was kept as simple as possible and was achieved by using solar cells with an AM1.5 efficiency of 16%, and 164 W electrical power corresponding to a system efficiency of 0.8%. The first steps towards the incorporation of this system into a residential gas-fired heating system are given in [6]. A photograph of this system during burning is shown in figure 2.…”

Section: Tpv Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Silicon, germanium and silicon/germanium photocells for thermophotovoltaics applications

Bitnar

2003

Semicond. Sci. Technol.

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Silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) are semiconducting materials, which are industrially used for the large-scale production of various electronic devices. Solar cells are commonly manufactured from Si. For thermophotovoltaics (TPV) Si has the disadvantage of a high bandgap of 1.1 eV, which requires the use of a spectrally matched selective emitter. Yb 2 O 3 is widely used as an emitter material to illuminate Si photocells. Si concentrator solar cells have been investigated for TPV applications, because they have a high performance at a typical illumination density of 1 W cm −2 in a TPV system. Non-concentrator solar cells achieve lower efficiencies under TPV conditions, but up to now they are more cost effective than concentrator cells. A new Si photocell optimized for TPV has a front side textured with rectangular grooves with vertically evaporated contact fingers and a rear surface mirror to reflect sub-bandgap radiation back to the emitter. Ge photocells have a bandgap of 0.66 eV and can effectively be illuminated by a selective Er 2 O 3 emitter. Their efficiencies are lower than those of photocells from low bandgap III/V materials, such as GaSb. But, due to low free carrier absorption in Ge, an effective rear surface mirror can be formed. A reflectance of up to 82-87% for sub-bandgap radiation and a cell efficiency of 13% for solar air mass 0 (AM0) radiation with a cutoff for wavelengths smaller than 900 nm have been achieved with a Ge TPV cell. SiGe photocells allow the variation of the bandgap as a function of the Ge content. In principle, a SiGe photocell can be matched to a given selective emitter spectrum. A first SiGe quantum dot solar cell has achieved 12% efficiency, but still suffers from a low open circuit voltage. The first TPV systems working with Si photocells have been built. A system efficiency of 2.4% can be achieved. The most promising application of Si-based TPV is likely to be an electrically self-powered residential heating system. For a self-powered operation, a TPV system efficiency of 1-2% is sufficient and Si photocells have the advantage of being inexpensive.

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