Improving the thermophotovoltaic performance of a hydrogen-fueled planar combustor with four-corner inlets via partially inserting porous medium

Abstract

Micro thermophotovoltaic (TPV) generator is a potentially efficient approach to achieve microscale fuel-to-electricity conversion with high-energy–density, high-efficiency, and small-scale portability, where micro combustor provides the high-temperature continuous combustion process as well as a heat source of thermal radiation. In this study, a hydrogen-fueled planar combustor with four-corner inlets by partially inserting porous medium is proposed and investigated by a three-dimensional numerical model of porous medium combustion with detailed reaction mechanism and local thermal non-equilibrium. The combustor performance with and without partially inserting porous medium under various inlet velocities Vin and equivalence ratios ϕ are compared and analyzed to reveal the inherent strengthening mechanism. Moreover, the effects of various porous parameters on the energy conversion performance are examined: the porosity ɛ, thermal conductivity ks, and porous medium filled volume. The results demonstrate that the inserted porous medium can significantly enhance combustion efficiency, combustor wall temperature and its uniformity, and the largest increase in mean wall temperature reaches 79.7 K at Vin = 9 m/s, resulting in a 35.8 % increase in micro-TPV system efficiency. As ɛ and ks decrease, the combustor energy conversion performance increases while the temperature uniformity decreases. A moderate channel width L = 2.0 mm is good for further improving temperature uniformity and energy conversion efficiency. This study paves the way for the improvement of efficient, practical, and portable microscale generators.