Study of temperature distribution in a Stirling engine regenerator

Abstract A gamma Stirling engine is studied in this paper. A special care was accorded to the instrumentation of this engine and especially the instrumentation of the regenerator. A preliminarily set of experimental measurement reveals a difference of temperature between both regenerator sides. A second set of experiments was proposed to detect the influence of this phenomenon on Stirling engine performances. The asymmetry of heat transfer inside the Stirling engine regenerator’s is one of the important phenomenons which consume a part of the produced energy. Two experiments are made to find out the causes of this asymmetry. In order to know the influence of the different operation parameters on this new phenomenon the experimental design method is adopted. The experimental design is an alternative to identify the parameters sets allowing optimal Stirling engine performances. A central composite rotatable design was adopted for minimizing the asymmetry of temperature between both regenerator sides and maximizes the engine brake power. The selected four independent parameters are: heating temperature (300 °C–500 °C), initial filling pressure (3 bar–8 bar), cooling water flow rate (0.2 l/m–3 l/min) and operation time (4–20 min after study regime). The four adopted factors are experimentally varied. The results show that the heating temperature is the most significant factor for the studied phenomenon. The major damages caused by this phenomenon will be presented too.

[1]  Can Çinar,et al.  Torque and power characteristics of a helium charged Stirling engine with a lever controlled displacer driving mechanism , 2010 .

[2]  Henrik Carlsen,et al.  Numerical study on optimal Stirling engine regenerator matrix designs taking into account the effects of matrix temperature oscillations , 2006 .

[3]  Ghislain Despesse,et al.  Analytical model for Stirling cycle machine design , 2010 .

[4]  Wen Lih Chen,et al.  A numerical analysis on the performance of a pressurized twin power piston gamma-type Stirling engine , 2012 .

[5]  Alexander Kronberg,et al.  Single-piston alternative to Stirling engines , 2012 .

[6]  Ali Reza Tavakolpour,et al.  Simulation, construction and testing of a two-cylinder solar Stirling engine powered by a flat-plate solar collector without regenerator , 2008 .

[7]  Amir H. Mohammadi,et al.  Multi-objective thermodynamic-based optimization of output power of Solar Dish-Stirling engine by implementing an evolutionary algorithm , 2013 .

[8]  Chin-Hsiang Cheng,et al.  Theoretical and experimental study of a 300-W beta-type Stirling engine , 2013 .

[9]  R. Lenth.  Quick and easy analysis of unreplicated factorials , 1989 .

[10]  J. S. Chiou,et al.  Heat-transfer aspects of Stirling power generation using incinerator waste energy , 2003 .

[11]  Chin-Hsiang Cheng,et al.  Optimization of geometrical parameters for Stirling engines based on theoretical analysis , 2012 .

[12]  Iskander Tlili,et al.  Thermodynamic analysis of the Stirling heat engine with regenerative losses and internal irreversibilities , 2008 .

[13]  Can Çinar,et al.  Beta-type Stirling engine operating at atmospheric pressure , 2005 .

[14]  Michel Feidt,et al.  Optimisation thermodynamique en temps fini du moteur de Stirling endo- et exo-irréversible , 1996 .

[15]  Jiju Antony,et al.  Design of experiments for engineers and scientists , 2003 .

[16]  Jincan Chen,et al.  Efficiency bound of a solar-driven Stirling heat engine system , 1998 .

[17]  Hoseyn Sayyaadi,et al.  Designing a solar powered Stirling heat engine based on multiple criteria: Maximized thermal efficiency and power , 2013 .

[18]  Nadia Martaj,et al.  Exergetical analysis and design optimisation of the Stirling engine , 2006 .

[19]  Mohand Tazerout,et al.  Experimental investigations of a gamma Stirling engine , 2012 .

[20]  Joachim Bluhm,et al.  A Study of the Effects of Machining Parameters on the Surface Roughness in the End-Milling Process , 2007 .

[21]  Yoshitaka Kato,et al.  Empirical estimation of regenerator efficiency for a low temperature differential Stirling engine , 2014 .

[22]  Wen Lih Chen,et al.  An experimental study on the performance of the moving regenerator for a γ-type twin power piston Stirling engine , 2014 .

[23]  Halit Karabulut,et al.  Manufacturing and Testing of a V-Type Stirling Engine , 2000 .

[24]  Sassi Ben Nasrallah,et al.  Study of the regenerator constituting material influence on a gamma type Stirling engine , 2012 .

[25]  Leandro L. Minku,et al.  DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS IN NEURO-FUZZY SYSTEMS , 2010 .