Experimental analysis of thermophotovoltaic applications in waste heat recovery systems: example of GaSb cell

In this study, it is aimed to evaluate real data in high temperature GaSb cell thermophotovoltaic systems. The thermophotovoltaic system can be defined as a system that converts the waste heat energy emitted from the heat sources into electrical energy at high temperature. The thermophotovoltaic energy conversion system consists of heat source, selective emitter, filter and photovoltaic cell module.In the study, the conversion of the high temperature applied to the cell to electrical energy has been investigated by selecting the GaSb photovoltaic cell as the cell type. According to have done analysis TPV high temperature real graphics have been obtained using GaSb cell. The temperature parameters used are cell temperature and source temperature. With these graphs, energy efficiency, fill factor, effect of open circuit voltage and short circuit current values have been determined. While the efficiency value of the GaSb thermophotovoltaic cell systems was calculated, the radiation source temperature values have been taken in increments of 300 K between 1300 K and 3100 K. In the real (lossy analysis, the optimum energy conversion efficiency value of GaSb solar cell structure was found to be 21.5763%. As a result of the obtained results, opinions about the feasibility, efficiency and development of thermophotovoltaic energy conversion systems have been stated and suggestions are presented.