Thermophotovoltaics on the move to applications

Bernd Bitnar, Wilhelm Durisch and Reto Holzner

Applied Energy, 2013, vol. 105, issue C, 430-438

Abstract: Thermophotovoltaics (TPV) was intensively investigated as a technology for heat/electricity co-generation in the last decade of the 20th century. However, a wide-spread commercialisation has not been achieved yet. The world-record system efficiency for a TPV system using silicon photocells of 4% at 50W electrical output power as well as a maximum electrical output power of 164W, however at a lower efficiency of 0.84% could be demonstrated by a prototype system operating with an Yb2O3 selective emitter. Related developments of TPV system components such as radiation emitters, filters and photocells are reviewed and theoretical system simulations are compared to experimentally achieved results regarding system efficiency and the electrical output power. Finally, novel TPV applications are suggested and the commercial potential of this technology is discussed.

Keywords: Thermophotovoltaics; Self-powered thermophotovoltaic system; Grid-connected thermophotovoltaic system; CIGS solarcells; Selective emitters; Co-generation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261912009580
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:105:y:2013:i:c:p:430-438

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.12.067

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().