Thermophotovoltaic Power Sources

A program is proposed which will inhance the eficiency of key thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) components and significantly lower their cost. A new process for fabricating resonant mesh filters will simplify and lower the cost of their manufacture. Thefeasibility of a new tandem filter will be explored. If successful, this tandem filter would increase the TPV system efficiency by about 38%. We also propose a study to reduce the cost of gallium antimonide cells by a factor of four. A third criticalTPV subsystem, the exhaust recuperator, will be studied for means of increasing its efficiency from 70 to 90% and lowering the cost of its manufacture. If all steps are successful, the overall efficiency will be increased by about 60% and the overall costwill be lowered by about 30%. This program is vital to the successful commercialization of TPV generators. By both enhancing the performance and decreasing the cost of the TPV generator subsystems, TPV generators will be made more competitive in thecommercial market