scholarly journals Improved Thermal Transfer Efficiency for Planar Solar Thermophotovoltaic Devices

Author(s):  
David M. Bierman ◽  
Andrej Lenert ◽  
Evelyn N. Wang

Solar thermophotovoltaic (STPV) devices provide conversion of solar energy to electrical energy through the use of an intermediate absorber/emitter module, which converts the broad solar spectrum to a tailored spectrum that is emitted towards a photovoltaic cell [1]. While the use of an absorber/emitter device could potentially overcome the Shockley-Queisser limit of photovoltaic conversion [2], it also increases the number of heat loss mechanisms. One of the most prohibitive aspects of STPV conversion is the thermal transfer efficiency, which is a measure of how well solar energy is delivered to the emitter. Although reported thermophotovoltaic efficiencies (thermal to electric) have exceeded 10% [3], [4], previously measured STPV conversion efficiencies are below 1% [5], [6], [7]. In this work, we present the design and characterization of a nanostructured absorber for use in a planar STPV device with a high emitter-to-absorber area ratio. We used a process for spatially-selective growth of vertically aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) forests on highly reflective, smooth tungsten (W) surfaces. We implemented these MWCNT/W absorbers in a TPV system with a one-dimensional photonic crystal emitter, which was spectrally paired with a low bandgap PV cell. A high fidelity, system-level model of the radiative transfer in the device was experimentally validated and used to optimize the absorber surface geometry. For an operating temperature of approximately 1200 K, we experimentally demonstrated a 100% increase in overall STPV efficiency using a 4 to 1 emitter-to-absorber area ratio (relative to a 1 to 1 area ratio), due to improved thermal transfer efficiency. By further increasing the solar concentration incident on the absorber surface, increased emitter-to-absorber area ratios will improve both thermal transfer and overall efficiencies for these planar devices.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (20) ◽  
pp. 202129
Author(s):  
Vivyane Alencar Marques Araújo do Nascimento ◽  
Taynara Bastos Trindade ◽  
Clarice Maia Carvalho

ANALYSIS OF PARAMETERS FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR ENERGY GENERATION IN ACRE, BRAZILANÁLISIS DE PARÁMETROS PARA LA GENERACIÓN DE ENERGÍA SOLAR FOTOVOLTAICA EN ACRE, BRASILRESUMOEnergia solar é obtida através de placas solares fotovoltaicas com a função de captar a energia do sol e transformar em energia elétrica, aumentando a geração de energia solar nas regiões com maior captação de energia luminosa. Assim, neste artigo analisou-se os parâmetros para geração de energia solar fotovoltaica no Acre, Brasil. Coletou-se dados referentes a insolação, temperaturas máximas e mínimas, precipitação e umidade relativa no Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia, irradiação solar, no Centro de Referências para Energias Solar e Eólica Sérgio de S. Brito, regionais do Vale do Juruá e Vale do Acre, no período de 2015-2020. As análises foram quantitativas, utilizando o cálculo da média e cálculo do plano inclinado. Na comparação das regionais, o Vale do Acre apresentou melhores resultados para geração de energia solar e com um ângulo com a maior média diária anual de irradiação solar, considerando-se projetar-se células fotovoltaicas na regional. O trabalho apresenta que o Acre possui bastante insolação e irradiação solar, indicando alto potencial de geração de energia solar para as regionais do estado.Palavras-chave: Eficiência Fotovoltaica; Radiação Solar; Temperatura da Célula Fotovoltaica; Irradiação.ABSTRACTSolar energy is obtained through photovoltaic solar panels with the function of capturing the sun's energy and transforming it into electrical energy, increasing the generation of solar energy in regions with greater capture of light energy. Thus, the parameters for the generation of photovoltaic solar energy in Acre, Brazil were analyzed. Data on insolation, maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation and relative humidity were collected at the National Institute of Meteorology, solar irradiation, at the Reference Center for Solar and Wind Energy Sérgio de S. Brito, regions of Vale do Juruá and Vale do Acre, in the period 2015-2020. Analyzes were quantitative, using mean calculation and inclined plane calculation. When comparing the regions, Vale do Acre presented better results for solar energy generation and with an angle with the highest annual daily average of solar irradiation, considering the project of photovoltaic cells in the region. The work shows that Acre has a lot of insolation and solar irradiation, indicating a high potential for generating solar energy for the regional regions of the state.Keywords: Photovoltaic Efficiency; Solar Radiation; Photovoltaic Cell Temperature; Irradiation.RESUMENLa energía solar se obtiene a través de paneles solares fotovoltaicos con la función de captar la energía del sol y transformarla en energía eléctrica, aumentando la generación de energía solar en las regiones con mayor captación de energía luminosa. Así, se analizaron los parámetros para la generación de energía solar fotovoltaica en Acre, Brasil. Los datos sobre insolación, temperaturas máximas y mínimas, precipitación y humedad relativa fueron recolectados en el Instituto Nacional de Meteorología, irradiación solar, en el Centro de Referencia de Energía Solar y Eólica Sérgio de S. Brito, regiones de Vale do Juruá y Vale do Acre, en el período 2015-2020. Los análisis fueron cuantitativos, utilizando cálculo de medias y cálculo de plano inclinado. Al comparar las regiones, Vale do Acre presentó mejores resultados para la generación de energía solar y con un ángulo con el promedio diario anual más alto de irradiación solar, considerando el diseño de células fotovoltaicas en la región. El trabajo muestra que Acre tiene mucha insolación e irradiación solar, lo que indica un alto potencial de generación de energía solar para las regiones regionales del estado.Palabras clave: Eficiencia Fotovoltaica; Radiación Solar; Temperatura de la Celda Fotovoltaica; Irradiación.


MRS Advances ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Zayan ◽  
Thomas E. Vandervelde

ABSTRACTWith the rising interest in oceanic monitoring, climate awareness and surveillance, the scientific community need for developing autonomous, self-sustaining Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) increased as well. Limitations on the size, maneuverability, power consumption, and available on-site maintenance of these UUVs make a number of proposed technologies to power them harder to implement than others; solar energy harvesting stands as one of the more promising candidates to address the need for a long-term energy supply for UUVs due to its relatively small size and ease of deployment. Studies show research groups focusing on the use of Si cells (amorphous and crystalline), InGaP, and more recently Organic Photovoltaics to convert the attenuated solar spectrum under shallow depths (no deeper than 9.1 m) into electrical energy used or stored by the UUV’s power management system (P. P. Jenkins et al. 2014; Walters et al. 2015). In our study, we consider the ternary compound In1-xTlxP that allows for varying the quantum efficiency of the cell, and by extension the overall harvesting efficiency of the system by altering the Tl content (x) in the compound. In1-xTlxP on InP is a low strain system since the compound exhibits very little change in its lattice constant with changing Tl content due to the comparable atomic size and forces of In and Tl allowing for relatively easy growth on InP substrates. The study focuses on studying the spectral response and comparing the performance of an optimized single junction In1-xTlxP cells to In1-yGayP cells while accounting for the optical losses of the solar irradiance underwater for various depths.


Supply of energy is able to meet the increasing demand of today’s people, which is major causes faced by world. The shortage of power can be reduced by using renewable energy resources. There are many renewable energy resources like wind, tidal and biomass energy, solar energy. The mostsignificant form of renewable source is solar energy. It has undergone a research and development in the recent years and still it is developing. Solar photovoltaic cell is device used in solar energy conversion. It converts forthrightly electrical energy from the sunlight. The efficiency of PV cell is disturbed when rise in working temperature. Temperature on the panel is inversely proportional to the power generation. The main problem met by solar cell is temperature rise. Due to this temperature the energy conversion is low. By decreasing the temperature on the surface of PV panel to enhance the electric efficiency. So, in present-day different cooling methods have been projected and verified experimentally. Several techniques have been tried, mostly based on active water and air cooling, as these are simple techniques. The main objective of this system is to increase the solar panel efficiency using water cooling method of the panel gets cooled by exchange temperature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 6862
Author(s):  
Hongzhe Wen ◽  
Xuan Luo

Perovskites have recently attracted interest in the field of solar energy due to their excellent photovoltaic properties. We herein present a new approach to the composition of lead free perovskites via mixing of halide and oxide perovskites that share the cubic ABX3 structure. Using first-principles calculations through Density Functional Theory, we systematically investigated the atomic and electronic structures of mixed perovskite compounds composed of four cubic ABX3 perovskites. Our result shows that the B and X atoms play important roles in their band structure. On the other hand, their valence bands contributed by O-2p, Rh-4p, and Ti-3p orbitals, and their electronic properties were determined by Rh-O and Ti-O bonds. With new understandings of the electronic properties of cubic halide or oxide perovskites, we lastly combined the cubic perovskites in various configurations to improve stability and tune the bandgap to values desirable for photovoltaic cell applications. Our investigations suggest that the mixed perovskite compound Cs2Sn2Cl3I3Sr2TiRhO6 produced a bandgap of 1.2 eV, which falls into the ideal range of 1.0 to 1.7 eV, indicating high photo-conversion efficiency and showing promise towards solar energy applications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 6887
Author(s):  
Chung-Hong Lee ◽  
Hsin-Chang Yang ◽  
Guan-Bo Ye

In recent years, many countries have provided promotion policies related to renewable energy in order to take advantage of the environmental factors of sufficient sunlight. However, the application of solar energy in the power grid also has disadvantages. The most obvious is the variability of power output, which will put pressure on the system. As more grid reserves are needed to compensate for fluctuations in power output, the variable nature of solar power may hinder further deployment. Besides, one of the main issues surrounding solar energy is the variability and unpredictability of sunlight. If it is cloudy or covered by clouds during the day, the photovoltaic cell cannot produce satisfactory electricity. How to collect relevant factors (variables) and data to make predictions so that the solar system can increase the power generation of solar power plants is an important topic that every solar supplier is constantly thinking about. The view is taken, therefore, in this work, we utilized the historical monitoring data collected by the ground-connected solar power plants to predict the power generation, using daily characteristics (24 h) to replace the usual seasonal characteristics (365 days) as the experimental basis. Further, we implemented daily numerical prediction of the whole-point power generation. The preliminary experimental evaluations demonstrate that our developed method is sensible, allowing for exploring the performance of solar power prediction.


2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (suppl. 1) ◽  
pp. 159-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltan Corba ◽  
Vladimir Katic ◽  
Boris Dumnic ◽  
Dragan Milicevic

In this study, a simulation model of in-grid solar-to-electrical energy conversion system is presented. In this case, the in-grid solar-to-electrical energy conversion system is small photovoltaic power plant, which was constructed by the Center for Renewable Energy and Power Quality from Faculty of Technical Sciences (FTS). Equivalent circuit diagram of photovoltaic cell is described which was used to develop the simulation model of modules. Possible types and topologies of inverters are also described. The photovoltaic power plant is described briefly, because it is necessary to understand the simulation model. The result of simulation is an electricity annual production by the power plant. These results were compared with the real values, while its get a good overlap. The paper also presents the modern modeling methods developed at Faculty of Technical Sciences in the Laboratory for RES systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
A. T. Abdukadirov ◽  
◽  
A. A. Shodiev

This article describes the project of a device proposed by the authors for converting solar energy into electrical energy, as well as for accumulating and storing energy through molten salt. It describes the main details and principle of operation of this device and its special significance in the field of energy as a renewable energy source, which has the highest efficiency


2012 ◽  
Vol 608-609 ◽  
pp. 65-69
Author(s):  
Xiao Fan Yang ◽  
Zhi Long Xu ◽  
Chao Li ◽  
Zhong Ming Huang

As the development trend of solar energy, which is a green way of energy utilization, photovoltaic power generation has been a research hotspot of solar energy utilization technologies. Using the concentrating and tracking technology to increase the illumination intensity, and obtain more electrical energy, that will reduce the cost of the photovoltaic power generation system sharply. A kind of steric and multilevel concentrator for photovoltaic generation is introduced in this paper, whose concentration ratio is 3. The operating factor of plane mirrors and performance price ratio of the system is increased for optimizing the condensation parameters and structure of the concentrator.


2018 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 04011
Author(s):  
Sunaryo Sunaryo ◽  
Adri Wirawan Ramadhani

Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands and has plenty of beautiful beaches and underwater spots which have great potential for maritime tourism. Tourism was ranked 3rd on Indonesia's foreign income and plays an important role for the country’s ecomony. Despite having potential advantages, the government has not yet maximized its efforts to develop the attractiveness of its maritime tourism. Beside the beautiful spots Indonesia is also blessed with all year long sun shine, which could be tapped as renewable and green energy as substitution to fossil fuel. Refer to these great advantages of natural resources the research was aimed to support the government’s program in developing its maritime tourism and to promote the use of green and renewable energy by designing a solar-powered tourism recreational boat which has 12 meters of length. The paper is focused on the design of solar energy and its electrical system, which includes conversion of solar energy to electrical energy and store it in the battery, the required electrical power is also predicted based on the appliances and equipment installed in the boat, the optimum attachment of solar panels on the boat structure is also calculated. All the methods and information we use are obtained from literature study, discussion with experts, and surveys to Jagur as solar-powered electric boat from Universitas Indonesia.


2014 ◽  
Vol 634 ◽  
pp. 72-82
Author(s):  
Rosa Ana Conte ◽  
Daltro Garcia Pinatti ◽  
Luiz Fernando M. Marton ◽  
Sebastião Ribeiro ◽  
Thaís Witt Acosta ◽  
...  

Production of active rice husk silica (ARHS) in bubbling fluidized bed boiler of a thermoelectric unit (TEU) and its addition to high performance concrete (HPC) with a compression resistance of 90 MPa was developed in the last 10 years. A first factory in Brazil was established at Alegrete town, RS, and other factories are under planning. Data of ARHS production, specification and HPC trace are presented. Design of parabolic solar collector coverage (PSCC) for air heating for biomass drying in a special silo of the TEU is presented as well. Cost of HPC/ARHS is 10 times less than steel (USD 200/ton vs. USD 2000/ton, specific mass 2.5 vs. 7.6 g/cm3, respectively). Those characteristics allow simultaneous solution of four ecological problems: large span coverage, rain water collection, daily solar energy collection and storage, and drying of biomass. The integration of those characteristics results in decrease of biomass consumption maintaining the same UTE efficiency. Tracking parabolic solar collector can be avoided between Cancer and Capricorn Tropics, and it is sufficient its eastern-western orientation with inclination to the Equator by the latitude angle. Coverage of the area occupied by TEU is sufficient to dry its biomass consumption. Preheating of boiler water with solar energy is possible decreasing biomass consumption in sunny days; biomass is partially consummed at night and cloudy days. Coupling the above technologies with high pressure steam TEU and fast-growing short-rotation forest gives to the biomass electrical energy generation a competitive economical position with hydraulic, coal, natural gas, and aeolic energy generation.


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