Maximal nighttime electrical power generation via optimal radiative cooling

Fan, Lingling; Li, Wei; Jin, Weiliang; Orenstein, Meir; Fan, Shanhui

doi:10.1364/OE.397714

Title: Maximal nighttime electrical power generation via optimal radiative cooling

Abstract

We present a systematic optimization of nighttime thermoelectric power generation system utilizing radiative cooling. We show that an electrical power density >2 W/m ² , two orders of magnitude higher than the previously reported experimental result, is achievable using existing technologies. This system combines radiative cooling and thermoelectric power generation and operates at night when solar energy harvesting is unavailable. The thermoelectric power generator (TEG) itself covers less than 1 percent of the system footprint area when achieving this optimal power generation, showing economic feasibility. We study the influence of emissivity spectra, thermal convection, thermoelectric figure of merit and the area ratio between the TEG and the radiative cooler on the power generation performance. We optimize the thermal radiation emitter attached to the cold side and propose practical material implementation. The importance of the optimal emitter is elucidated by the gain of 153% in power density compared to regular blackbody emitters.

Authors:

;

; Jin, Weiliang; Orenstein, Meir; Fan, Shanhui

Publication Date:: Thu Aug 13 00:00:00 EDT 2020

Research Org.:: Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

OSTI Identifier:: 1647405

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1800481

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-07ER46426

Resource Type:: Published Article

Journal Name:: Optics Express

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: Optics Express Journal Volume: 28 Journal Issue: 17; Journal ID: ISSN 1094-4087

Publisher:: Optical Society of America

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Optics

Citation Formats


                    Fan, Lingling, Li, Wei, Jin, Weiliang, Orenstein, Meir, and Fan, Shanhui. Maximal nighttime electrical power generation via optimal radiative cooling.  United States: N. p., 2020. 
Web.  doi:10.1364/OE.397714.

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                    Fan, Lingling, Li, Wei, Jin, Weiliang, Orenstein, Meir, & Fan, Shanhui. Maximal nighttime electrical power generation via optimal radiative cooling.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.397714

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                    Fan, Lingling, Li, Wei, Jin, Weiliang, Orenstein, Meir, and Fan, Shanhui. Thu .  
"Maximal nighttime electrical power generation via optimal radiative cooling".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.397714.

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@article{osti_1647405,

  title        = {Maximal nighttime electrical power generation via optimal radiative cooling},

  author       = {Fan, Lingling and Li, Wei and Jin, Weiliang and Orenstein, Meir and Fan, Shanhui},

  abstractNote = {We present a systematic optimization of nighttime thermoelectric power generation system utilizing radiative cooling. We show that an electrical power density >2 W/m 2 , two orders of magnitude higher than the previously reported experimental result, is achievable using existing technologies. This system combines radiative cooling and thermoelectric power generation and operates at night when solar energy harvesting is unavailable. The thermoelectric power generator (TEG) itself covers less than 1 percent of the system footprint area when achieving this optimal power generation, showing economic feasibility. We study the influence of emissivity spectra, thermal convection, thermoelectric figure of merit and the area ratio between the TEG and the radiative cooler on the power generation performance. We optimize the thermal radiation emitter attached to the cold side and propose practical material implementation. The importance of the optimal emitter is elucidated by the gain of 153% in power density compared to regular blackbody emitters.},

  doi          = {10.1364/OE.397714},

  journal      = {Optics Express},

  number       = 17,

  volume       = 28,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Aug 13 00:00:00 EDT 2020},

  month        = {Thu Aug 13 00:00:00 EDT 2020}

}

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Title: Maximal nighttime electrical power generation via optimal radiative cooling

Abstract

Citation Formats

Radiative cooling of solar absorbers using a visibly transparent photonic crystal thermal blackbody journal, September 2015

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Valuing variable renewable energy for peak demand requirements journal, December 2018

Thermoelectric performance of a metastable thin-film Heusler alloy journal, November 2019

Generating Light from Darkness journal, November 2019

Passive radiative cooling below ambient air temperature under direct sunlight journal, November 2014

Figure of merit ZT of a thermoelectric device defined from materials properties journal, January 2017

Contactless steam generation and superheating under one sun illumination journal, December 2018

Passive directional sub-ambient daytime radiative cooling journal, November 2018

Complex thermoelectric materials journal, February 2008

Inverse design of compact multimode cavity couplers journal, January 2018

Giant thermoelectric power factor in ultrathin FeSe superconductor journal, February 2019

Radiative cooling to deep sub-freezing temperatures through a 24-h day–night cycle journal, December 2016

Scalable-manufactured randomized glass-polymer hybrid metamaterial for daytime radiative cooling journal, February 2017

Overcoming limits to near-field radiative heat transfer in uniform planar media through multilayer optimization journal, January 2017

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A polydimethylsiloxane-coated metal structure for all-day radiative cooling journal, August 2019

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A nanophotonic solar thermophotovoltaic device journal, January 2014

A Comprehensive Photonic Approach for Solar Cell Cooling journal, March 2017

Photon-enhanced thermionic emission for solar concentrator systems journal, August 2010

Optimization of Multilayer Optical Films with a Memetic Algorithm and Mixed Integer Programming journal, December 2017

Radiative cooling to low temperatures: General considerations and application to selectively emitting SiO films journal, June 1981

Ultrabroadband Photonic Structures To Achieve High-Performance Daytime Radiative Cooling journal, March 2013

Radiative cooling of solar cells journal, January 2014

Ultraefficient thermophotovoltaic power conversion by band-edge spectral filtering journal, July 2019

Harvesting renewable energy from Earth's mid-infrared emissions journal, March 2014

Thermodynamic limits for simultaneous energy harvesting from the hot sun and cold outer space journal, April 2020

Hierarchically porous polymer coatings for highly efficient passive daytime radiative cooling journal, September 2018

Experimental estimation of the transient free convection heat transfer coefficient on a vertical flat plate in air journal, July 2002

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Radiative cooling of solar absorbers using a visibly transparent photonic crystal thermal blackbody
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A survey on ambient energy sources and harvesting methods for structural health monitoring applications
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Valuing variable renewable energy for peak demand requirements
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Thermoelectric performance of a metastable thin-film Heusler alloy
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Generating Light from Darkness
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Passive radiative cooling below ambient air temperature under direct sunlight
journal, November 2014

Figure of merit ZT of a thermoelectric device defined from materials properties
journal, January 2017

Contactless steam generation and superheating under one sun illumination
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Passive directional sub-ambient daytime radiative cooling
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Complex thermoelectric materials
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Giant thermoelectric power factor in ultrathin FeSe superconductor
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Radiative cooling to deep sub-freezing temperatures through a 24-h day–night cycle
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Scalable-manufactured randomized glass-polymer hybrid metamaterial for daytime radiative cooling
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Thermodynamic limits for simultaneous energy harvesting from the hot sun and cold outer space
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