IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v336y2025ics0360544225039969.html

Optimized cold-end structure in a MTPV-MTEG utilization system: Analysis of combustion characteristics and energy efficiency

Author

Listed:
  • Yan, Yunfei
  • Meng, Xiaoyue
  • Wang, Dandan
  • Wu, Yonghong
  • Zhang, Chenghua
  • Zhao, Xuelin

Abstract

The micro-thermophotovoltaic (MTPV)-thermoelectric (MTEG) two-stage utilization system based on micro-combustor design demonstrates enhanced combustion stability and energy conversion efficiency. However, the thermal management constraints at the MTEG cold-end significantly limit the overall system performance improvement. To address this critical challenge, we proposed three novel heat dissipation architectures: plate fin structure, needle fin structure, and lattice structure. Through systematic numerical investigations, the thermal regulation effects of different configurations on temperature gradient formation and energy conversion characteristics were comprehensively evaluated. Remarkably, structural modifications at the cold-end exhibit negligible impacts on MTPV module performance and combustion chamber dynamics. The lattice structure demonstrates superior thermal dissipation capacity (150mm3 heat dissipation volume) coupled with exceptional mass-specific performance, achieving peak MTEG output of 3.94 W and elevating total system efficiency to 7.96 %. Furthermore, the optimized system extends the operational envelope to 16 m/s inlet velocity, delivering 21.89 W total power output (including 7.24 W from MTEG) while maintaining 6.75 % energy conversion efficiency. This work establishes fundamental design principles for advanced thermal management in micro-energy systems, providing critical insights for next-generation portable power devices development.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan, Yunfei & Meng, Xiaoyue & Wang, Dandan & Wu, Yonghong & Zhang, Chenghua & Zhao, Xuelin, 2025. "Optimized cold-end structure in a MTPV-MTEG utilization system: Analysis of combustion characteristics and energy efficiency," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:336:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225039969
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.138354
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225039969
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.138354?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Merotto, L. & Fanciulli, C. & Dondè, R. & De Iuliis, S., 2016. "Study of a thermoelectric generator based on a catalytic premixed meso-scale combustor," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 346-353.
    2. Zuo, Wei & Li, Dexin & E, Jiaqiang & Xia, Yongfang & Li, Qingqing & Quan, Yifan & Zhang, Guangde, 2023. "Parametric study of cavity on the performance of a hydrogen-fueled micro planar combustor for thermophotovoltaic applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PD).
    3. He, Ziqiang & Yan, Yunfei & Zhang, Zhien, 2021. "Thermal management and temperature uniformity enhancement of electronic devices by micro heat sinks: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    4. Zuo, Wei & Wang, Zijie & Li, Qingqing & Zhou, Kun & Huang, Yuhan, 2024. "Numerical investigations on the performance enhancement of a hydrogen-fueled micro planar combustor with finned bluff body for thermophotovoltaic applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    5. Yan, Yunfei & Wei, Yu & Wang, Dandan & You, Jingxiang & He, Ziqiang & Zhang, Chenghua, 2024. "Numerical study on combustion and energy efficiency characteristics of thermophotovoltaic-thermoelectric two-stage utilization system filled with porous media," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    6. Xiao, Gang & Yang, Tianfeng & Liu, Huanlei & Ni, Dong & Ferrari, Mario Luigi & Li, Mingchun & Luo, Zhongyang & Cen, Kefa & Ni, Mingjiang, 2017. "Recuperators for micro gas turbines: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 83-99.
    7. Aravind, B. & Khandelwal, Bhupendra & Ramakrishna, P.A. & Kumar, Sudarshan, 2020. "Towards the development of a high power density, high efficiency, micro power generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    8. Aravind, B. & Khandelwal, Bhupendra & Kumar, Sudarshan, 2018. "Experimental investigations on a new high intensity dual microcombustor based thermoelectric micropower generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1173-1181.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sankar, Vinay & Mukhopadhyay, Sudipto & Velamati, Ratna Kishore, 2025. "Scaling up ethanol fueled step micro-combustor for higher power generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    2. Li, Guoneng & Fan, Yiqi & Li, Qiangsheng & Zheng, Youqu & Zhao, Dan & Wang, Shifeng & Dong, Sijie & Guo, Wenwen & Tang, Yuanjun, 2025. "A review on micro combustion powered thermoelectric generator: History, state-of-the-art and challenges to commercialization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    3. E, Jiaqiang & Luo, Bo & Han, Dandan & Chen, Jingwei & Liao, Gaoliang & Zhang, Feng & Ding, Jiangjun, 2022. "A comprehensive review on performance improvement of micro energy mechanical system: Heat transfer, micro combustion and energy conversion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    4. Aravind, B. & Hiranandani, Karan & Kumar, Sudarshan, 2020. "Development of an ultra-high capacity hydrocarbon fuel based micro thermoelectric power generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    5. He, Ziqiang & Yan, Yunfei & Zhao, Ting & Zhang, Zhien & Mikulčić, Hrvoje, 2022. "Parametric study of inserting internal spiral fins on the micro combustor performance for thermophotovoltaic systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    6. Li, Guoneng & Zheng, Youqu & Guo, Wenwen & Zhu, Dongya & Tang, Yuanjun, 2020. "Mesoscale combustor-powered thermoelectric generator: Experimental optimization and evaluation metrics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    7. Dai, Churong & Zuo, Wei & Li, Qingqing & Zhou, Kun & Huang, Yuhan & Zhang, Guangde & E, Jiaqiang, 2025. "Numerical investigations on the performance of a hydrogen-fueled micro planar combustor with V-shaped baffle for thermophotovoltaic applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    8. Aravind, B. & Khandelwal, Bhupendra & Ramakrishna, P.A. & Kumar, Sudarshan, 2020. "Towards the development of a high power density, high efficiency, micro power generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    9. Abedi, H. & Migliorini, F. & Dondè, R. & De Iuliis, S. & Passaretti, F. & Fanciulli, C., 2019. "Small size thermoelectric power supply for battery backup," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    10. Liu, Zeqi & Liu, Wanhao & Du, Yiqing & Fan, Aiwu, 2024. "Experimental study on the propagation characteristics of non-premixed H2/air flames in a curved micro-combustor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    11. Li, Guoneng & Zhu, Zhihao & Zheng, Youqu & Guo, Wenwen & Tang, Yuanjun & Ye, Chao, 2023. "Experiments on a powerful, ultra-clean, and low-noise-level swirl-combustion-powered micro thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PB).
    12. Bhanuprakash Reddy Guggilla & Jack Perelman Camins & Benjamin Taylor & Smitesh Bakrania, 2021. "Examining Thermal Management Strategies for a Microcombustion Power Device," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, October.
    13. Luo, Bo & E, Jiaqiang & Chen, Jingwei & Zhang, Feng & Ding, Jiangjun, 2024. "Effect of NH3/H2/O2 premixed combustion on energy conversion enhancement and NOx emission reduction of the segmented nozzle micro-combustor in thermophotovoltaic system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    14. Liu, Xiong & Zuo, Wei & Li, Qingqing & Zhou, Kun & Huang, Yuhan & Li, Yawei, 2025. "NOx emission and thermal performance studies on ammonia/oxygen premixed combustion in micro planar combustor with a secondary oxygen injection," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    15. Zhu, Xingzhuang & Zuo, Zhengxing & Wang, Wei & Jia, Boru & Zhan, Tianzhuo, 2023. "Experimental research and optimization of a thermoelectric generator excited by pulsed combustion mode under limited heat dissipation for combined heat and power supply," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 349(C).
    16. Huang, Chaoqun & Zhang, Long & Hu, Lei & Yin, Ruixue & Fu, Guang & Peng, Qingguo, 2025. "Experimental and numerical investigation on multi-factors for improving thermal performance and energy efficiency of the H2/CH4 fueled thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    17. Wang, Hao & Peng, Qingguo & Tian, Xinghua & Yan, Feng & Wei, Depeng & Liu, Hui, 2024. "Experimental and numerical investigation on H2-fueled micro-thermophotovoltaic with CH4 and C3H8 blending in a tube fully/partially inserted porous media," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    18. Liu, Xiong & Zuo, Wei & Li, Qingqing & Zhou, Kun & Huang, Yuhan & E, Jiaqiang & Li, Yawei, 2025. "Multi-objective optimization of an ammonia-fueled micro planar combustor with a secondary oxygen injection for thermophotovoltaic applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    19. Yan, Yunfei & Wei, Yu & Wang, Dandan & You, Jingxiang & He, Ziqiang & Zhang, Chenghua, 2024. "Numerical study on combustion and energy efficiency characteristics of thermophotovoltaic-thermoelectric two-stage utilization system filled with porous media," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    20. Huang, Zhixin & Peng, Qingguo & Wu, Yifeng & Wang, Hao & Wei, Depeng & Tian, Xinghua & Huang, Chaoqun & Yin, Ruixue & Zhang, Fugui & Fu, Guang, 2025. "Investigation on multi-factors of triply periodic minimal surface porous media for enhancing combustion and energy efficiency of carbon free fuels powered micro generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:336:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225039969. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.