Development of a high-flame-luminosity thermophotovoltaic power system

Creating high-luminescence flame is a prior consideration for the fueling system of the proposed TPV system. General methane and hydrocarbon gaseous fuels generate faint yet high-temperature flames. However, blending CH4/CO fuel composition may lead to different flame luminescence. Depending upon the concentration ratio of CO in the CH4/CO blended fuel mixture, flame luminescence becomes brighter, and its corresponding color turns to silver-white as the CO percentage is increased. Varied CH4/CO blended fuel mixture has distinct laminar burning velocity functioning with equivalence ratio. Furthermore, the emissivity of flames is certainly low compared to that of solid materials, so that it is impossible to solely utilize the flame luminosity to achieve high efficiency. To ameliorate this disadvantage, a new strategy in combustor design should be comprehensively considered. Concept, design and preliminarily results of the proposed new TPV combustor are addressed.