Development of a 500 Watt portable thermophotovoltaic power generator

In recent years, thermophotovoltaics (TPV) has been recognized as an emerging technology for the direct conversion of fuel to electricity. With the need for more advanced portable power systems for the military and commercial sectors, the opportunity to take this technology to the market is at hand. To meet this challenge, the Thermo Power Corporation has begun the development of an advanced portable 500 Watt TPV system. The technical approach focuses on optimizing the integrated performance of the primary subsystems in order to yield high energy conversion efficiency and system cost-effectiveness. An important aspect is the use of a narrow band fibrous ytterbia emitter radiating to high efficiency silicon photoconverters to minimize thermal and optical recuperation requirements, as well as nonrecoverable heat losses. Based on this design approach, power conversion efficiencies approaching 25% should be possible.