22-12-2012, 04:28 PM
A Thermophotovoltaic System for Waste Heat Recovery
General Description:
As a novel technology for thermal-electrical energy conversion, thermophotovoltaic systems are attracting more and more interests and efforts in recent years. Similar to a solar cell, in which solar radiation is converted into electricity directly, thermophotovoltaic cells can directly convert thermal radiation into electricity. A thermophotovoltaic cell is normally consisting of a heat absorber, a radiator, a radiation filter, a photovoltaic cell. Generally, the heat absorber absorbs heat from various sources, e.g., waste heat, solar radiation, or even combustion, and transfer the heat to the radiator; the radiation emitted by the radiator will be filtered so that only the part within a specified band can pass through the filter and the other part will be reflected back to the radiator; the resulted narrow-band thermal radiation reaches the solar cell and is converted into electricity. Unlike a common solar cell, in which the surface receive radiation distributed over a wide range, the thermophotovoltaic module will work with filtered radiations that matches the characteristics of the photovoltaic component the best. By selectively emitting radiation in a narrow band range and recycling the radiation in other regime, the theoretic efficiency limit of a thermophotovoltaic system can be as high as 54% for a non-concentrated source and 85% for a concentrated source, much higher than that of a solar cell. Thermophotovoltaic systems provide another effective approach to utilize solar energy or harvest waste heat from the environment. They are expected to play an important role in meeting the energy challenge in the future.
The proposed project is to develop a preliminary thermophotovoltaic system for waste heat recovery and characterize its behavior. This project will involve numerical modeling, engineering design/construction and experimental measurements.
Scope of Work:
1. Construct a numerical model to simulate and optimize the performance of thermophotovoltaic systems.
2. Design a thermphotovoltaic system for waste heat recovery.
3. Build a thermophotovoltaic system using components available on the market and characterize its performance.
4. Analyze the experimental data and suggest possible approaches to improve the performance.