Congratulations to A. Cabrera, J. Ramos, I. Artacho, M.Gomez, K. Gavin, A. Martí, A.Datas at the Institute of Solar Energy at Universidad Politecnica de Madrid! Their recent publication has successfully demonstrated a novel method to directly measure the conversion efficiency of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices.

The underlying theory behind their measurement setup is that all net radiation absorbed by the TPV cell is either converted to useful electrical power output or lost as waste thermal heat. Using greenTEG’s gSKIN-XI heat flux sensor, they measured the waste heat energy flowing through the TPV cell, thus enabling them to accurately determine the TPV cell conversion efficiency.

Thermophotovoltaic Efficiency Measurement: Design and Analysis of a Novel Experimental Method

Abstract:

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices produce the direct conversion of radiant heat into electricity using infrared sensitive photovoltaic (PV) cells. Despite its relatively mature stage of development a standardized method for the measurement of the TPV conversion efficiency hasn't been established yet, which represents a serious issue for the TPV research development. In this work we present results on a novel method to directly measure the conversion efficiency of a TPV device. This method relies on the direct measurement of the electrical power and the heat dissipated by the TPV cell in the steady state. In this article, we present preliminary results on the efficiency of a TPV device illuminated by a halogen lamp at different incident irradiances and vacuum conditions.

Published in: 2018 Spanish Conference on Electron Devices (CDE)

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Thermophotovoltaic Efficiency Measurement: A Novel Experimental Method by Researchers at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid