Thermophotovoltaic furnace–generator for the home using low bandgap GaSb cells

Abstract

It is well known that distributed combined heat and power (CHP) systems for commercial and industrial buildings are economically desirable because they conserve energy. Here, a thermophotovoltaic (TPV) unit is described that brings CHP into the home providing both heat and electric power by replacing the typical home heating furnace with a combined TPV furnace-generator. First, the design of a 1.5 kW electric /12.2 kW thermal TPV furnace-generator is described along with the key components that make it possible. Diffused junction GaSb cells are one of these key components. Secondly, an economic cost target is determined for this system where the cost of the photovoltaic array will be key to the economical implementation of this concept. Finally, it is argued that the GaSb cells and arrays can be manufactured at the required low cost. The cost target can be reached because the GaSb cells in the TPV furnace-generator can produce an electrical power density of 1 W cm −2 which is 100 times higher than the typical solar cell. The cost target can also be reached because the GaSb cell fabrication process parallels the silicon solar cell process where no toxic gases are used, no wafer polish is required and cast polycrystalline cells can be used.

Solar Cells: A Brief History and Introduction

“…In this case, solar cells are located on your roof for generating electricity in the summer and infrared -sensitive PV cells (also known as TPV cells) are integrated into your heating furnace to generate electricity when it is cold and dark outside and you need heat to keep warm. In a TPV cell electricity system, a ceramic element is heated in the furnace fl ame and its glow in the infrared is converted to electricity by infraredsensitive TPV cells [5] .…”

Теплопроводность Кристаллов Антимонида Галлия В Условиях Всестороннего Сжатия

“…Особый инте-рес кристаллы GaSb вызывают в связи с изучением механизмов переноса тепла в условиях всестороннего сжатия, поскольку представляют собой соединение с хорошо изученным фононным спектром [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], упругими модулями [8][9][10][11][12] и их зависимостями от давления [3][4][5]9]. Кроме того, интерес к изучению GaSb поддерживается его востребованностью в производстве оптоэлектронных приборов инфракрасного диапазона, в термофотоэлек-трических генераторах и других технических устрой-ствах [13][14][15][16]. Некоторые сведения о коэффициенте теп-лопроводности κ антимонида галлия под давлением со-держатся в работах [17][18][19], однако недостаточно изуче-но влияние структуры материала на процессы переноса тепла и нет данных о влиянии особенностей фононного спектра на его теплопроводность.…”

A Thermophotovoltaic System Using a Photonic Crystal Emitter

“…Despite the indirect energy conversion pathway, TPV offers some advantages over batteries and other microgenerator technologies: a static conversion process allows favorable scaling down to the millimeter scale, the high power density of combustion and thermal radiation results in a compact microgenerator, the hot and cold sides are physically separated, and continuous combustion allows for complete combustion of conventional fuels at the millimeter scale. Unfortunately, the demonstrated fuel-to-electricity efficiency of millimeter-scale TPV systems has traditionally been limited to a few percent because of the need for high temperature material performance and synchronization between chemical, thermal, optical, and electrical domains [3][4][5][6]. One of the fundamental challenges to realizing high efficiency is matching the radiated spectrum to the quantum efficiency of the PV cell.…”