Energy Conversion from Thermal Energy to Spectral-Controlled Radiation for Thermophotovoltaics using Porous Quartz Glass Media

Abstract

The characteristics of energy conversion from thermal energy into near-infrared radiant energy in a superadiabatic system with stacked porous quartz glass plates were investigated using one dimensional numerical simulation to optimize the parameters of the quartz media. 56% of the input thermal energy could be converted into radiant energy in the wavelength range of less than 2.2 µm using a number of thin porous quartz glass plates with low porosity. In addition, the efficiency of energy conversion could be expected to be 63% when a non-gray foam ceramics was used as the selective emitter. Radiant energy can be converted into electric power by spectral control using low bandgap photovoltaic cells. The superadiabatic system was demonstrated to be effective for a thermophotovoltaic generation system.

Keywords

• thermophotovoltaic generation of electricity
• thermal radiation
• spectral control
• superadiabatic system
• porous quartz glass