Thermodynamic and Detail Design of a 0.5 kW Stirling Engine for Domestic Scale Cogeneration

Abstract

This paper describes the principal aspects of the thermodynamic and detail design of a prototype Stirling engine, primarily intended to be mass produced for use in a domestic scale combined heat and power (CHP) system. These include the design of the natural gas fired burner, the heat-transfer system (the regenerator and the cast compression and expansion space heat exchangers) and the crankdrive The latter includes the use of dry running bearings and seals, in answer to the inherent lubrication and gas sealing problems of the Stirling engine.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Rix

D. H.

Some aspects of the outline design specification of a 0.5 kW Stirling engine for domestic scale cogeneration. Proc. Instn Mech Engrs, Part A (submitted).

Beer

J. M.

Chigier

N. A.

Combustion aerodynamics, 1972 (Applied Science Publishers, London).

Kays

W. M.

London

A. L.

Compact heat exchangers, 1955 (McGraw-Hill, London).

Miyabe

An approach to the design of Stirling engine regenerator matrix using packs of wire gauzes. Proceedings of Seventeenth Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Los Angeles, 1982, pp. 1839–1844.

Walker

Stirling cycle machines, 1973 (Clarendon Press, Oxford).

Carlqvist

Results from testing a hermetically sealed single-cylinder Stirling engine. Proceedings of Twenty-fourth Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Washington, 1989, pp. 2225–2230.

SKF General Catalogue, SKF Group, 1989.

West

C. D.

Principles and applications of Stirling engines, 1986 (Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York).