A CLEAN AND EFFICIENT THERMOPHOTOVOLTAIC GENERATOR FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES

A QUIET, LIGHTWEIGHT, CLEAN ELECTRIC POWER SOURCE WILL BE BUILT, IN WHICH NATURAL GAS BURNS CONTINOUSLY IN A CERAMIC TUBE, THE TUBE GLOWS RED HOT, AND PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS RECEIVE THE INFRARED RADIATION FROM THIS EMITTER AND CONVERT IT TO ELECTRIC POWER. IN EFFECT, "SOLAR" CELLS ARE USED WITH A MANMADE "SUM" CREATED BY BURNING NATURAL GAS. BECAUSE THE NATURAL GAS IS BURNED AT A CONTINUOUS HIGH TEMPERATURE IN THE PHOTOVOLTAIC UNIT. IT IS EXPECTED TO BURN MORE COMPLETELY AND CLEANLY THAN IT DOES IN THE PERIODICALLY EXPLODING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. INITIAL BENCHTOP EXPERIMENTS HAVE ALREADY SHOWN THAT THIS GENERATOR IS FIFTY TIMES CLEANER WITH RESPECT TO HYDROCARBON AND CARBON MONOXIDE EMISSIONS. SUCH A GENERATRO HAS ONLY RECENTLY BECOME FEASIBLE AS A RESULT OF NEWLY FABRICATED GALLIUM ANTIMONIDE CELLS. THESE NEW CELLS ARE MUCH MORE SENSITIVE IN THE INFRARED SPECTRUM THAN TRADITIONAL SOLAR CELLS. IN PHASE I, A SMALL BENCHTOP THERMOHOTOVOLTAIC GENERATOR WILL BE BUILT, AND SUFFICIENT DATA COLLECTED TO DEMONSTRATE THAT SUCH A GENERATOR CAN OPERATE CLEANLY AND EFFICIENTLY AT ECONOMICAL POWER DENSITIES. THE LONG TERM GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO BUILD A GENERATOR WITH SUFFICIENT POWER TO CHARGE ONBOARD VEHICLE BATTERIES, RESULTING IN AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE WITHOUT THE PRESENT CONSTRAINT OF LIMITED DRIVING RANGE. FURTHER, THE DESIGN OF THIS GENERATOR WILL EMPHASIZE COST-EFFECTIVENESS IN VOLUME PRODUCTION, SO THAT THIS PROJECT COULD LEAD TO COMMERCIALLY VIABLE PRODUCTS IN ALL PRESENT AND FUTURE MARKETS FOR ELECTRIC GENERATORS.