The visible-light concentrator thermophotovoltaic SunCell® (cTPV-SunCell®) shown in this photo comprises a plasma cell that injects hydrogen and catalyst, and two electromagnetic pumps serve as electrodes by injecting intersecting molten tin streams from corresponding reservoirs containing 10-12 kg of tin wherein the connected streams carry a low voltage, high current to form a Hydrino®-reaction plasma with an energy release of 200 times that of burning the hydrogen that can be obtained from water as a 0.5% parasitic load.
Optical power or radiation transfers power at 100 times the power per area compared to conduction and convection of combustion and nuclear power plants. The 5600K SunCell® plasma shown in our March 30th post emits radiation at a power density of 56 MW/m2. Ray-trace modeling shows that the SunCell will heat to a very practical maximum temperature and radiate 100% of power directly or indirectly thereafter through a transparent chamber comprising 75% of the area of the standard spherical emission surface of a point-like blackbody radiator with highly reflective surfaces comprising the balance of the area. The current design comprises a commercial 8-inch-flanged viewport capable of operation to 300°C. Given the distance from the plasma, the 5-inch-diameter viewport aperture corresponds to about 1% of the emission area. Thus, the SunCell heats to failure at very high generated powers despite having refractory liners. Moreover, the maximum operating temperature of the viewport is exceeded. To solve the power transfer issue, Brilliant has developed a lightbulb type of design that has about 20 innovations over this current design including a new type of window chamber vacuum sealing technology that is not currently available commercially.
This video from the current SunCell generation shows the tremendous optical power produced by the SunCell considering that this light is maximumly attenuated by the camera, it is emitted from only 1% of the possible spherical emission area, and is recorded at 12 feet over the viewport corresponding to the retraction position of the startup kiln that was vertically retracted post startup. An interesting aspect of the Hydrino reaction is that when the optical power increases to higher intensity, the input power drops significantly as the plasma transitions to an arc plasma condition which provides positive feedback to the Hydrino reaction.