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Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United States Energy Information Administration as low-, medium-, or high-temperature collectors.
Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) energy conversion is a direct conversion process from heat to electricity via photons.A basic thermophotovoltaic system consists of a hot object emitting thermal radiation and a photovoltaic cell similar to a solar cell but tuned to the spectrum being emitted from the hot object.
Solar cells operate as quantum energy conversion devices, and are therefore subject to the thermodynamic efficiency limit. Photons with an energy below the band gap of the absorber material cannot generate an electron-hole pair, and so their energy is not converted to useful output and only generates heat if absorbed.
The collector absorbs the incoming solar radiation, converting it into thermal energy. This thermal energy is then transferred to a heat transfer fluid circulating within the collector. [32] The heat transfer fluid can be air, water, oil, or a mixture including glycol (an antifreeze fluid), especially in forced circulation systems. [32]
The frequency dependence of the absorption and effectively the reflectance of materials can be taken into account when calculating the solar cell efficiency. [12] [13] According to Shockley-Quiesser limit, solar cell efficiency of semiconductors depend on the band gap of the material. Here, it is assumed that optical absorption starts above the ...
The efficiency of a concentrating solar power system depends on the technology used to convert the solar power to electrical energy, the operating temperature of the receiver and the heat rejection, thermal losses in the system, and the presence or absence of other system losses; in addition to the conversion efficiency, the optical system ...