Radiative Flux of a Spectral Distribution at the Surface of a TPV Thermal Emitter Resulting from the Combustion of Biomass: Case of Palms Nut Shells

Abstract

Thermo PhotoVoltaic (TPV) system convert into electrical energy the radiation emitted from an artificial heat source (i.e., solar or combustion) by the use of photovoltaic cells. In the last decade, TPV system has gained an increasing attention as cogeneration system for the distributed generation sector. Nevertheless, these systems are not fully developed and studied: several aspects need to be further investigated and completely understood. In this study, we modeled and investigated by performing numerical simulation on the feasibility of the TPV system exploiting waste heat energy during biomass combustion. To achieve this goal, we considered a TPV system in which we evaluated and analyzed the waste heat flux resulting from the combustion of the palm nuts shells as well as the corresponding temperature received at the surface of the TPV Thermal-emitter. Furthermore, we evaluated the heat intensity. Results obtained shows that the average temperature at the TPV absorber-emitter is around 1600k. Different variation of the net heat flux at the TPV absorber-emitter are observed for different position. The maximum heat intensity is around 15*1010 W.m-2.µm-1 for a wave length of 2000 nm. These results indicate that the model presented herein is therefore suitable for the design of the TPV system.