Design considerations for a thermophotovoltaic energy converter using heat pipe radiators

The purpose of this paper is to discuss concepts for using high temperature heat pipes to transport energy from a heat source to a thermophotovoltaic (TPV) converter. Within the converter, the condenser portion of each heat pipe acts as a photon radiator, providing a radiant flux to adjacent TPV cells, which in turn create electricity. Using heat pipes in this way could help to increase the power output and the power density of TPV systems. TPV systems with radiator temperatures in the range of 1,500 K are expected to produce as much as 3.6 W/cm{sup 3} of heat exchanger volume at an efficiency of 20% or greater. Four different arrangements of heat pipe-TPV energy converters are considered. Performance and sizing calculations for each of the concepts are presented. Finally, concerns with this concept and issues which remain to be considered are discussed