Title:
【発明の名称】熱光起電力技術
Document Type and Number:
Japanese Patent JPH02502692
Kind Code:
A
Abstract:
A thermophotovoltaic system includes structure defining a diffusion flame burner having separate but adjacent fuel and oxidant inlets, and structure defining a combustion chamber in which an emitter structure is disposed for exposure to combustion products of the burner. The combustion products heat the emitter structure and cause the emission of spectrally distributed radiation. Disposed in optically coupled relation to the emitter structure are one or more photocells for converting energy radiated by the emitter structure to electrical energy, a close match between the spectrum of the photon energy radiated from the emitter structure and the electron production threshold of the photocell array resulting in enhanced efficiency. One portion of the combustion product stream is flowed from the combustion chamber through a recuperator to heat the incoming oxidant, and another portion of the combustion product stream is flowed into the combustion chamber. Significant efficiency improvements are achieved by the recuperative preheating of oxidant, and the reintroduction of a part of the exhaust gas back into the combustion mixture reduces the flame temperature with minimal compromise of the gain in efficiency achieved through oxidant preheat so that thermal stability limits of one or more of the components of the system are not exceeded.
Inventors:
Hotels, Hoyt Sea
Robert Nelson
Parent, Sea Robert
Robert Nelson
Parent, Sea Robert
Application Number:
JP50133387A
Publication Date:
August 23, 1990
Filing Date:
December 17, 1987
Export Citation:
Assignee:
TPV Energy Systems Incorporated
International Classes:
H01L31/04; H02N6/00; (IPC1-7): H02N6/00
Domestic Patent References:
| JP54036135B | ||||
| JPS4837315U | 1973-05-07 | |||
| JPS4945473U | 1974-04-20 | |||
| JP51092721B |
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
Heiyoshi Odashima