A comprehensive study of effective parameters on the thermal performance of porous media micro combustor in thermo photovoltaic systems

Abstract

Low thermal performance is one of the biggest challenges of using micro combustor in Thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) system. In this study, a novel micro-combustor with porous media was designed and installed to enhance energy and exergy performance. Furthermore, the effects of several effective parameters including different porous media materials, length, porosity coefficient, and inlet mass flow on energy efficiency, exergy, entropy generation, wall temperature and its uniformity were studied. A comprehensive CFD model for using porous media in the micro-combustor of TPV systems was proposed. Results showed utilizing porous media significantly improve the exergy efficiency and energy output of TPV system. Therefore, using a 6 mm long porous media increased the average wall temperature by 111 K compared to the case without porous media. Additionally, the uniformity coefficient of the wall temperature decreased by 80.05 %, from 4.58 % to 0.89 %. This reduction increased the temperature uniformity of the outer wall of the micro-combustor with porous media compared to the case without a media, increasing the system’s lifetime. Moreover, the 6 mm-long porous media enhanced radiation efficiency and exergy efficiency by 37 % and 79.7 %, respectively, compared to the conventional micro combustor. The total energy conversion efficiency from the fuel chemical energy to electric power increased from 8.9 % to 12.32 %.