摘要 |
A thermophotovoltaic power source comprising a Cassegrain solar collector and concentrator, a thermal vessel including a containment vessel holding thermal storage material therein, the containment vessel having the shape of an annulus closed at one end and disposed with its open end in registry with an aperture in the thermal vessel, with a selective band radiating layer coating the internal surface of the annulus cavity, and further including an external array of photovoltaic cells mounted on a cooled cylinder disposed for insertion by a positioning motor to a desired depth into the annulus cavity and thus into adjacency with the selective band radiating layer. Concentrated solar energy is applied by the solar collector through a second aperture into the thermal vessel to heat the thermal storage material in the containment vessel and thereby cause the selective radiating layer to radiate energy to excite a current in the photovoltaic array. Constant current control and/or load-matching are obtained by varying the degree of insertion of the photovoltaic array into the thermal storage annular cavity.
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