Identification of Damping Characteristics of Free-piston Stirling Engines via Nonlinear Dynamic Model Predictions

Recently, researches on the free-piston Stirling engines(FPSEs) are actively investigated. FPSEs have merits in its light weight, simple structure, and little need for maintenance, thus becoming a promising solution for the power conversion of renewable energy and waste heat recycle. This paper presents the methodology that estimates damping coefficients using analytical models of linear and nonlinear dynamics for FPSEs, and validates the methodology by comparing with existing experimental results. The analysis model predicts an operable range of linear damping coefficients forming limit cycles by using the root locus, and time responses obtained by numerical integration determines nonlinear damping coefficients. The model predictions are compared with experimental results of the well-known FPSE B-10B. We also investigate the damping characteristics regarding heater temperatures and power piston motions.