Design, fabrication, and testing of a prototype micro-thermophotovoltaic system

Author

Yang, Wenming ; Chou, Siaw Kiang ; Shu, Chang ; Xue, Hong ; Li, Zhiwang

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., Nat. Univ. of Singapore, Singapore

Volume

13

Issue

5

fYear

2004

Firstpage

851

Lastpage

856

Abstract

The design, fabrication and testing of a novel prototype micro-thermophotovoltaic (micro-TPV) system is first described in this paper. The system is made of a SiC emitter, a simple nine-layer dielectric filter and a GaSb photovoltaic cell array. When the flow rate of hydrogen is 4.20 g/h and the H₂/air ratio is 0.9, the micro-TPV system is able to deliver an electrical power output of 1.02 W in a microcombustor of 0.113 cm³ in volume. The open-circuit electrical voltage and short-circuit current are 2.28 V and 0.59 A, respectively. This paper makes it possible for us to replace batteries with micro-TPV systems as the power of micro mechanical devices in near future.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium compounds; micromechanical devices; short-circuit currents; silicon compounds; thermophotovoltaic cells; wide band gap semiconductors; 0.59 A; 1.02 W; 2.28 V; GaSb; GaSb photovoltaic cell array; H₂; SiC; SiC emitter; dielectric filter; electrical power output; hydrogen flow rate; micro-TPV system; micro-thermophotovoltaic system; microcombustor; micromechanical devices; open-circuit electrical voltage; short-circuit current; Batteries; Dielectrics; Fabrication; Filters; Hydrogen; Photovoltaic cells; Prototypes; Silicon carbide; System testing; Voltage; Microcombuster; SiC emitter; microthermophotovoltaic;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JMEMS.2004.835759

Filename

1341461