The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 17, 2001
Filed:
May. 15, 1998
William P. Mulligan, Seattle, WA (US);
John E. Samaras, Seattle, WA (US);
Lewis M. Fraas, Issaquah, WA (US);
JX Crystals Inc., Issaquah, WA (US);
Abstract
A small and light cylindrical thermophotovoltaic generator uses gaseous fuels, a counter flow heat exchanger, regenerator and low bandgap photovoltaic cells. In the fuel injection system, with preheated air from a recuperator, fuel combustion begins immediately when the fuel and air first meet. A hot and compact burn results from complete and rapid fuel and air mixing. A venturi necks down the air flow, and a chemically etched jet shim disk creates over 150 small fuel jet streams. The emitter geometric configuration provides good hot gas energy transfer to the IR emitter. Four alternate emitter configurations accomplish the good heat transfer. One emitter is a composite SiC with integrally formed internal fins which extend into the combustion chamber. The photovoltaic converter assembly has good spectral control, good high rate but lightweight heat removal and high current-carrying capability, while maintaining low parasitic IR absorption. A modular photovoltaic converter circuit is complete with series connected low bandgap filtered cells, a heat spreader and high current-carrying mirror-shielded interconnects. An efficient but lightweight and short heat exchanger regenerator is fairly easy to fabricate by inserting an array of angled vanes through slits in a simple cylinder. One regenerator is formed with integrally extruded or machined fins on a high temperature SiC composite.