[IEEE 2018 IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC) (A Joint Conference of 45th IEEE PVSC, 28th PVSEC & 34th EU PVSEC) - Waikoloa Village, HI (2018.6.10-2018.6.15)] 2018 IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC) (A Joint Conference of 45th IEEE PVSC, 28th PVSEC & 34th EU PVSEC) - Improving the performance of thermophotovoltaics using stabilized porous media combustion

摘要： A novel cylindrical porous media combustion-based thermophotovoltaic is proposed and experimentally studied. A mixture of methane-air is burnt at an equivalence ratio of 0.7 in a packed bed made of two layers of different alumina balls which are coated with ytterbia (Yb2O3) and erbia (Er2O3) for spectral control with gallium antimonide (GaSb) photovoltaic (PV) cells. A radiant reflector is used to increase the electrical output and the radiant efficiency. The experiments revealed it was possible to achieve a superadiabatic temperature of 1538 °C and a high radiant efficiency, 63%. Overall, this systematic analysis for lean Air/CH4 mixtures represents a new direction for TPV technology.