Award Date

1-1-1998

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Committee Member

Robert F. Boehm

Number of Pages

85

Abstract

A numerical simulation study is reported on the thermal exchange in an evacuated parallel-plate system consisting of an emitter and a photovoltaic (PV) material with the emitter temperature between 350K and 550K. Although higher temperature (and thus higher power output) thermophotovoltaic systems have been of interest previously, the focus here is on systems that can not achieve high temperatures, like micromachines. The study examines the electrical power output and power generation efficiency for four kinds of emissivity variations for the heat source coupled with three different compounds of {dollar}\rm In\sb{(x)}Ga\sb{(1-x)}As{dollar} PV materials. The results show that a 25% Ho YAG thin film selective emitter coupled with an In(0.72)Ga(0.28)As material has the highest power generation efficiency for actual materials. These values are between 28% and 34%, depending upon the temperature. Also, the ideal cases that yield the potential maximum electrical power output and power generation efficiency for this temperature range are discussed.

Keywords

Exchange; Moderate; Study; System; Temperature; Thermal; Thermophotovoltaic; Tpv

Controlled Subject

Mechanical engineering; Industrial engineering; Electrical engineering; Force and energy

File Format

pdf

File Size

2088.96 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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