Photonic Crystal Enabled Thermophotovoltaics for a Portable Microgenerator

15th International Conference on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications

物理学;能源学

Chan, Walker R.^1 ; Stelmakh, Veronika^1,2 ; Waits, Christopher M.^3 ; Soljacic, Marin^4 ; Joannopoulos, John D.^1,4 ; Celanovic, Ivan^1

Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

MA

02139, United States^1

Department of Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

MA

02139, United States^2

Sensors and Electron Devices Dir., US Army Research Laboratory, 2800 Powder Mill Rd., Adelphi

MD

20783, United States^3

Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

MA

02139, United States^4

关键词: Battery replacements;    Combustion heat;    Experimental demonstrations;    Hydrocarbon fuel;    Millimeter-scale;    Portable electronics;    Thermophotovoltaic systems;    Thermophotovoltaics;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/660/1/012069/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/660/1/012069

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

This work presents the design and characterization of a first-of-a-kind millimeter- scale thermophotovoltaic (TPV) system using a metallic microburner, photonic crystal emitter, and low-bandgap photovoltaic (PV) cells. In our TPV system, combustion heats the emitter to incandescence and the resulting thermal radiation is converted to electricity by the low bandgap PV cells. Our motivation is to harness the high specific energy of hydrocarbon fuels at the micro- and millimeter-scale in order to meet the increasing power demands of micro robotics and portable electronics. Our experimental demonstration lays the groundwork for developing a TPV microgenerator as a viable battery replacement.