MTPV LLC engages in the research, development and commercialization of micron-gap thermal photovoltaic (MTPV) products. The firm offers semiconductor chips that can covert waste heat directly into electricity. The company also provides waste heat conversion products that are used in industrial environments for converting waste heat to electricity. MTPV technology has been developed over the past 15 years; beginning at MIT and Draper Laboratory, resulting in a patent portfolio containing five currently awarded patents, nine pending awards and over forty foreign patents filed. The firmâs micron-gap ThermalPhotoVoltaics (MTPV) is a new technology offering a breakthrough in the solid-state conversion of heat to electricity. Thermophotovoltaic devices consist of a heated black-body radiating electromagnetic energy across a gap onto a photovoltaic device which converts the radiant power into electrical power. The amount of power generated from a given TPV device area MTPV versus TPV is constrained by the temperature of the hot side of the device and generally requires very high temperatures thereby creating barriers to its practical use. In contrast, Micron-gap TPV (MTPV) provides a significant breakthrough in power source technology by transferring more power between the emitter and receiver by reducing the size of the gap between them. By employing a submicron gap, the achievable power density for MTPV can be increased by approximately an order of magnitude as compared to conventional TPV. Equivalently, for a given active area and power density, the temperature on the hot side of an MTPV device can be reduced by about 45%, which allows for new applications for on chip power, waste heat power generation, and converter power
