Experimental study of micro-thermophotovoltaic systems with different combustor configurations

The effects of combustor configuration on the performance of micro-thermophotovoltaic (micro-TPV) power generators are described in this paper. The micro-TPV system is made of a silicon carbide (SiC) emitter, a simple nine layer dielectric filter and a gallium antimony (GaSb) photovoltaic (PV) cell array. Properly increasing the backward facing step height of the micro-combustor can increase the short circuit current and the maximum output power of the system. Combustion chamber diameter is a very important factor affecting the performance of micro-TPV systems. Properly decreasing the combustion chamber diameter can significantly increase the short circuit current and maximum output power of the system. Both the short circuit current and the maximum electrical power output increase with increases of the flow rate and the H2/air ratio. When the flow rate of H2 is 1.17 × 10−3 g/s and the H2/air ratio is 0.9, the micro-TPV system with a micro-combustor of 3.0 mm diameter is able to deliver an electrical power output of 0.92 W.