Back to results
US 6,583,350 B1Granted
Thermophotovoltaic energy conversion using photonic bandgap selective emitters
AssigneeSandia Corporation
InventorsJames M. Gee, Shawn-Yu Lin, James G. Fleming, James B. Moreno
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for thermophotovoltaic generation of electricity comprises heating a metallic photonic crystal to provide selective emission of radiation that is matched to the peak spectral response of a photovoltaic cell that converts the radiation to electricity. The use of a refractory metal, such as tungsten, for the photonic crystal enables high temperature operation for high radiant flux and high dielectric contrast for a full 3D photonic bandgap, preferable for efficient thermophotovoltaic energy conversion.
Claims17
A method for thermophotovoltaic generation of electricity, comprising:
- heating a photonic crystal comprising a metal having a complex dielectric constant and at least one other lattice material having at least one other dielectric constant, whereby the photonic crystal selectively emits radiation at emission wavelengths less than an electronic bandgap wavelength of at least one photovoltaic cell;
- and
- collecting the radiation with the at least one photovoltaic cell, whereby the at least one photovoltaic cell converts the radiation to electricity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.