NEW TYPES OF THERMAL ENERGY CONVERTERS BASED ON GRANULAR SILICON

Abstract

New types of thermal energy converters are described, the working fluid of which is made of granular silicon, which is a silicon powder, the particles of which are not sintered and are not fused with each other. In such a material, the Seebeck coefficient is much higher than in monocrystalline silicon with a lower thermal conductivity, which makes it possible to consider this modification of silicon as a promising thermoelectric material. Key words : thermal energy converter, granular silicon, Seebeck coeffi cient, concentrated solar radiation, tunneling of charge carriers