Parametric optimization and energy loss analysis of a solar thermophotonic energy converter

Abstract In the present work, the model of a solar thermophotonic energy converter (STEC) is established, of which the energy balance constraint equations at both the hot and cold sides are numerically solved to uncover the dependencies of the operating temperatures of the light emitting diode (LED) and photovoltaic (PV) cell on thermal, electrical, and structural parameters. For a given band-gap 0.36 eV of the semiconductor and a concentrated factor 20 of the concentrator, the LED’s bias voltage and the PV cell’s output voltage are optimized to achieve a local maximum efficiency 13% of the STEC. Furthermore, the conditions are optimized to attain an overall maximum efficiency of 15.94%. The distributions of energy losses are presented to reveal the underlying loss mechanisms. The results obtained in this work can provide theoretical guidance for the efficient utilization of solar energy.