Development of a high-temperature and high-uniformity micro planar combustor for thermophotovoltaics application

• A micro planar combustor with high temperature and high uniformity is developed.
• Variance is calculated for describing the uniformity.
• An optimal operating condition is identified and applied to the micro-TPV system.

The micro-thermophotovoltaic (TPV) power generator is an important solid-state energy conversion system which utilizes high-temperature photons to generate electricity by the photovoltaics effect. Micro-combustor is an important component in this system. In order to obtain high system efficiency, a micro-combustor with high-temperature, high-uniformity and high-efficiency is strongly desired. Here we report a micro planar combustor with the desired features. The planar combustor is fabricated with two numerically optimized baffles which form a heat recirculation chamber. The thermal energy of the hot reacting gas could be utilized to preheat the fresh gas. The performances of the combustor under various operating conditions are investigated experimentally. Numerical simulation is performed to identify the flow field and mass fraction distribution in the planar combustor. A peak combustor wall temperature as high as 1354 K is achieved with superior uniformity. By incorporating the designed micro planar combustor into the micro-TPV system, a system efficiency of 4.1% could be obtained. This system efficiency is twice higher than the system with only conventional planar combustor. As a result, the development of the planar combustor with baffles could pave a way to the development of high-performance of the micro-TPV system.