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1、Summary of the 5th Conference of Thermophotovoltaic Generation of Electricity, Rome 15th 19th September 2002 Thomas Bauer, Northumbria Photovoltaics Applications Centre (NPAC), School of Engineering and TechnologyNorthumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK, thomas.bauerunn.ac.ukIntroduc
2、tion to ThermophotovoltaicsThermophotovoltaics (TPV) is the use of the photovoltaic effect to generate electricity from a high temperature thermal source. In general a TPV system consists of a heat source, a radiator and photovoltaic cells. Heat sources are the sun, radioisotopes, industrial waste h
3、eat or, most commonly, the combustion of fossil fuel. Typically the temperature of a radiator (also called emitter) ranges from 1300 to 2000 K, which leads to a theoretical hemispherical total radiation per unit area of maximum about 16 to 91 W/cm2 according to the Stefan-Boltzmann law. The PV cells
4、 convert part of the radiation in a certain wavelength range and typically high wavelength radiation is reflected back to the heat source by some form of spectral control to increase the TPV system efficiency. In principle TPV can operate in a very wide power range (starting from a few Watts with no
5、 limitations in principle for higher power outputs). However, most research is carried out in the 10W to 10kW range, because of other competing technologies outside this range. For small power (10kW) devices including internal combustion engines or turbines combined with a generator compete.Micron-g
6、ap TPV (MTPV) research started at the late 90s. MTPV makes use of enhanced heat transfer (higher than the heat transfer limited by Plancks radiation law) for very close spaced arrangements of radiator and photovoltaic cell (in the order of 0.1 m).The most developed PV cells for TPV are polycrystalli
7、ne Silicon cells, Indium Gallium Arsenide and Gallium Antimonide, which aim commonly for an electrical power density of about 1 W/cm2 (compared to about 0.01-0.02 W/cm2 for non-concentrator solar applications). The US company, JX-Crystal, produces Gallium Antimonide cells and builds a commercially a
8、vailable TPV system (Midnight Sun Heating Stove).The ConferenceThe Conference on Thermophotovoltaic Generation of Electricity is the only major international event on thermophotovoltaics (TPV) research. The fifth conference was the first conference held outside the US and Rome was chosen as the venu
9、e. The entire TPV research community may have a few hundred representatives, whereas approximately 90 researchers attended at the conference presenting approximately 50 papers. Most of the research has been carried out in the USA for military applications. Other countries (all with non-military rese
10、arch interest) presenting at the conference were Japan, Canada, Russia and Western European Countries (UK, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain and Sweden). The American Institute of Physics publishes the proceedings of the conference. The expected date of publication of the fifth conference
11、is in the beginning of 2003. The sixth conference is expected to be in Freiburg, Germany in 18 months.Summary of Presented Research at the Conference The major subject areas represented at the conference were the three TPV system components (heat source, radiator and PV cell) and the form of spectra
12、l control. For each aspect concepts and technologies were discussed describing their various limitations and qualities.At the conference cell research concentrated on the following materials: Gallium Antimonide (with various institutes including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, US; Fraunhofer Insti
13、tute for Solar Energy Systems and Hahn-Meitner-Institut, Germany) Indium Gallium Arsenide (with various institutes including Imperial College, UK; NMRC, Ireland; Bechtel Bettis, Inc., US) Indium Gallium Arsenide Antimonide (with various US institutes Bechtel Bettis, Sarnoff Corporation, Massachusett
14、s Institute of Technology) Other cell materials of interest were Germanium, InGaAsN, InGaSb, InAsSbP and AlGaAsSb.The major aim of the cell research was to extend the wavelength range of photovoltaic cells towards longer wavelengths. At the conference cells with spectral responses up to 2.6 m were s
15、hown, which allows operation at lower radiator temperatures. Modelling of photovoltaic cells was also reported.Various different approaches for spectral control were presented, including reflector layer within the PV cell (“buried reflector”), selective radiators (e.g. micro structured tungsten, cer
16、amics containing rare earth metals or thin film radiators) or filters (e.g. rugate filter). Each of the spectral control approaches has its own drawbacks such as costs, durability or problems to operate in a wide range of angles or temperatures.The combustion of gas (natural, propane or methane) was the most commonly mentioned heat source together wit
