'Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)'
Doi
Abstract
This report presents theoretical and experimental results, which demonstrate the feasibility of a new class of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) energy converters with greatly improved power density and efficiency. Performance improvements are based on the utilization of the enhanced photon concentrations within high refractive index materials. Analysis demonstrates that the maximum achievable photon flux for TPV applications is limited by the lowest index in the photonic cavity, and scales as the minimum refraction index squared, n{sup 2}. Utilization of the increased photon levels within high index materials greatly expands the design space limits of TPV systems, including: a 10x increase in power density, a 50% fractional increase in conversion efficiency, or alternatively reduced radiator temperature requirements to as low as {approx} 1000 F
