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.