Applied Thermal Engineering 86 (2015) 161e167

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research paper

Thermal performance of a Stirling engine powered by a solar

simulator

Fatih Aksoy a, Halit Karabulut b, Can nar b, Hamit Solmaz b, *, Yasar Onder o
Ozg ren a,
Ahmet Uyumaz c
a
Department of Automotive Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Afyon Kocatepe University, 03200 Afyonkarahisar, Turkey
b
Department of Automotive Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Gazi University, 06500 Teknikokullar, Ankara, Turkey
c
Automotive Technologies, Vocational High School of Technical Sciences, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, 15100 Burdur, Turkey

h i g h l i g h t s

The performance of a beta type Stirling engine was investigated.

400 and 1000 W halogen lamps were used as a solar simulator in the experiments.

Cavity temperature was measured 623 and 873 K for 400 and 1000 W lamps.

1000 W halogen lamp provided better engine performance and thermal efciency.

Experimental results of efciency were compared with nodal analysis results.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, the performance of a beta type Stirling engine which works at relatively lower tempera-
Received 15 January 2015 tures was investigated using 400 W and 1000 W halogen lamps as a heat source and helium as the
Accepted 13 April 2015 working uid. The working uid was charged into the engine block and the pressure of the working uid
Available online 26 April 2015
was ranged from 1 to 5 bars with 1 bar increments. The halogen lamps were placed into a cavity adjacent
to the hot end of the displacer cylinder, which is made of aluminum alloy. In the experiments conducted
Keywords:
with 400 W halogen lamp, the temperature of the cavity was 623 10 K. The power, torque and thermal
Stirling engine
efciency of the engine were determined to be 37.08 W, 1.68 Nm and 9.27%, at 5 bar charge pressure. For
Solar energy
Beta type
the 1000 W halogen lamp, the temperature of the cavity was determined to be 873 10 K. The power,
Halogen lamp torque and thermal efciency of the engine were determined to be 127.17 W, 3.4 Nm and 12.85%, at the
Solar simulator same charge pressure. The experimental thermal efciencies of the engine were also compared with
thermodynamic nodal analysis.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction mandatory because of the risk of petroleum depletion and the

negative effects of fossil fuels on the environment and human
The demand for energy around the world is escalating day by health [3]. Many researchers exert a great effort in order to develop
day. However, existing energy sources and energy diversication is different renewable energy sources [4].
still not sufcient to satisfy energy demand [1]. In addition, the cost Solar energy is one of the most attractive alternative renewable
of the existing energy sources is increasing steadily [2]. A large energy sources. In addition, solar energy is the most abundant and
proportion of the world's energy requirements are currently inexhaustible energy source [5]. The reduction of air pollutant and
generated by fossil-based fuels. Focusing on new energy sources is greenhouse gases, the promotion of national energy independency
and the protection of water resources are the main advantages of
solar energy [6]. Today solar energy is mainly used for the pro-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 903122028653; fax: 903122028649. duction of electricity. There are several ways to convert solar energy
E-mail addresses: faksoy@aku.edu.tr (F. Aksoy), halitk@gazi.edu.tr
(H. Karabulut), cancinar@gazi.edu.tr (C. nar), hsolmaz@gazi.edu.tr (H. Solmaz),
into electricity, such as with photovoltaic cells [7], parabolic trough
yasarozgoren@aku.edu.tr
(Y.O. o
Ozg ren), auyumaz@mehmetakif.edu.tr collectors [8], solar towers [9] and parabolic dish collectors [10].
(A. Uyumaz).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.04.047
1359-4311/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
162 F. Aksoy et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 86 (2015) 161e167
Nomenclature
Ai nodal values of heat transfer surface (m2)
Cp specic heat at constant pressure (J/kg K)
CV specic heat at constant volume (J/kg K)
Ei enthalpy ow in and out the nodal volumes (J)
[c length of cold volume (m)
[h length of hot volume (m)
hp/2 distance between piston top and piston pin (m)
hd displacer length (m)
hi nodal values of convective heat transfer coefcient (W/
m2K)
[d length of displacer rod (m)
[m distance between xing pin and crank pin (m)
[r length of displacer rod (m)
[p length of piston rod (m)
mt total mass of working uid (kg)
mi nodal values of working uid mass (kg)
Generally, in most solar energy applications, solar radiation is
converted to heat in order to obtain superheated steam. While the
superheated steam expands in a turbine, an electricity generator
working with the turbine simultaneously produces electricity. On
the other hand, solar radiation can be used to run a heat engine,
such as a Stirling engine. The parabolic dish collector focuses the
solar radiation on a receiver mounted on the heat engine. The
receiver converts the solar radiation to heat and transfers this heat
to a working uid that runs the heat engine. Thus mechanical en-
ergy produced by the heat engine is converted to electricity via an
electricity generator [11]. The efciencies of the parabolic trough
collectors, the solar energy towers and the dish/heat engines are
approximately 21%, 23% and 29% [12]. The photovoltaic cells
convert the solar radiation into electricity with peak efciencies in
the range of 5e24% [13]. Xing et al. reported a 5% experimental
efciency for thermoelectric elements [14]. It is seen that dish/heat
engine solar energy systems are capable of providing high con-
version efciency.
Stirling engines have a wide range of research and application
elds. The Stirling engines are attractive because they can be
operated with any heat sources including solar radiation,
geothermal energy, fossil fuels, coal, wood and radioisotope [15].
The rst idea of solar energy conversion using Stirling engine was
investigated by Malik and Parker in 1962 [16]. Many of the dish/
Stirling solar energy conversion systems were built with a free
piston Stirling engine (FPS). However, kinematic Stirling engines
were also used in solar energy applications [17].
Fujita et al. performed a study to compare performance char-
acteristics of three different solar energy systems. In their study, a
dish/Stirling engine, a gas turbine operated with a Brayton cycle
and a gas turbine operated with a BraytoneRankine cycle solar
energy conversion systems were investigated. It was determined
that the gas turbine systems using Brayton and BraytoneRankine
combined cycles had advantages at high temperatures. However,
the performance of the dish/Stirling engine solar energy system
was higher than the gas turbine applications at temperatures below
950  C. Therefore, for small-scale solar energy conversion, it was
determined that the dish/Stirling engine solar energy conversion
system is more appropriate [18].
Advanco Corparation developed a 25 kW dish/Stirling engine
solar energy system called the Vanguard System as a result of a
three-year study conducted between 1982 and 1985. In the
Dmi variation of nodal mass within a time frame (kg)
Rg gas constant (J/kg K)
R radius of crankshaft (m)
SL length of lever arm connected to displacer rod (m)
hc length from cylinder top to the center of the xing pin
(m)
Ti nodal values of working uid temperature (K)
Tc cold end temperature of displacer cylinder (K)
Th hot end temperature of displacer cylinder (K)
Tw,i nodal values of heat transfer surface temperature (K)
t time (s)
Dt change in time (s)
Vi nodal values of volume (m3)
4 angle between the lever arms (rad)
bp angle made by piston rod with vertical (rad)
bd angle made by displacer rod with vertical (rad)
g angle made by slotted arm of lever with vertical (rad)
q crankshaft rotation (rad)
Vanguard System, the United Stirling 4-95 Mark II kinematic Stir-
ling engine and a glass-faceted dish with a 10.5 m diameter were
used. Although the lubrication, vibration, noise and hydrogen
leakage problems, 29.5% net solar to electricity conversion ef-
ciency was obtained which was the world record [19]. In 1984, two
50 kW dish/Stirling systems were built in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by
Schlaich-Bergerimann und Partner (SBP) of Stutgart, Germany.
United Stirling 4-275 kinematic Stirling engines with direct inso-
lation receivers and 17 m diameter dishes that stretched-
membrane concentrators were used in the system [20]. In 1985, a
dish-Stirling solar energy system was built in the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology (JPL) on the
behalf of US Department of Energy. The Stirling engine used in the
solar energy system was United Stirling 4-95 Mark II, the same
engine that was used in Vanguard System. The power output of the
system reached 25 kW with a conversion efciency of 35% [21]. In
1991, Cummins Power Generation started to develop two dish/
Stirling solar energy systems with 7 kW and 25 kW power [29].
Cummins used advanced technologies in its dish/Stirling solar
systems [22]. However, in 1996, the Cummins Engine Company
decided to refocus on diesel engine development which was its
core research eld. As a result, the solar operations of Cummins
Power Generation were sold to Kombassan Company in Turkey
[20]. Under the Eurodish project, a 10 kW dish/Stirling solar energy
system was developed by Deutsches Zentrum fr Luft und Raum-
fahrt (DLR) and SBP. In this system, an alpha type Stirling engine
was used. The conversion efciency and power output of the sys-
tem were 21.6% and 11.1 kW [23].
Kongtragol and Wongwises performed two investigations on a
solar energy system using Stirling engine. In the rst study, a
gamma type double piston LTD Stirling engine was tested at 399,
409, 419 and 436 K heater temperatures. They used a 1000 W
halogen lamp as the heat source in the experiments. While
maximum engine torque was obtained as 0.352 Nm at the engine
speed of 23.2 rpm, the maximum engine power and thermal ef-
ciency were 1.69 W and 0.645%, at the engine speed of 52.1 rpm
[24]. In their other study, the performance of a gamma type LTD
Stirling engine with four power pistons was investigated under
atmospheric conditions at four different hot source temperatures
using four halogen lamps as the solar simulator. The maximum
engine power and thermal efciency were 6.1 W and 0.44% at
20 rpm engine speed and 439 K hot source temperature [25].
 F. Aksoy et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 86 (2015) 161e167
Tavakolpour et al. designed and manufactured a gamma type
LTD Stirling engine. The LTD Stirling engine was tested using a at
plate solar collector as the heat source. 0.27 W engine power was
obtained at a collector temperature of 110  C and at an engine
speed of 14 rpm. The engine reached 30 rpm engine speed under
no-load conditions at a solar radiation intensity of 900 W/m2 [26].
In an experimental study performed by Karabulut et al., a small
dish/Stirling solar energy system was built and tested. In the sys-
tem, no solar receiver was used and the solar radiation was directly
reected to the outer surface of the displacer cylinder. The system
was tested under 820 W/m2 solar radiation. The hot end temper-
ature of the beta type engine reached to 156  C and 23.59 W power
output was obtained [27]. Aksoy and Karabulut developed a
microsolar energy conversion system with a beta type Stirling en-
gine. They used a fresnel lens instead of a dish to focus the solar
radiation on the receiver. It was determined that the material of the
cavity affects the conversion efciency. Total conversion efciencies
were obtained as 3% and 5.6% with copper and aluminium cavities
[28].
Thermodynamic analyses are useful to predict engine perfor-
mance before manufacturing process. There are several thermo-
dynamic analysis method for Stirling engines [29]. One of these
methods is Nodal analysis which was developed by Finkelstein in
1967. Finkelstein divided the total volume of the engine into 13
nodal volumes, which were expansion volume, heater volume,
regenerator volume, cooler volume and cold volume. Instantaneous
pressure and temperature variations were calculated in these nodal
volumes [30]. Martini performed a ve zone nodal analysis in 1978.
He assumed that the temperature of the working uid was equal to
wall temperature [31]. Karabulut et al. conducted a nodal analysis
to predict performance characteristics of a gamma type Stirling
engine. In that study, the power cylinder was concentrically placed
into the displacer cylinder to increase specic power [32]. Aksoy
and Cinar conducted a nodal analysis on a beta-type rhombic
driven engine. They used 50 nodal volumes in the analysis. They
reached 86.30 W engine power with a smooth displacer for a heat
transfer coefcient of 200 W/m2K [29]. Another nodal analysis on a
lever-driven Stirling engine was performed by Solmaz and Kar-
abulut. They compared the novel lever-driven arrangement with a
rhombic-driven engine. In the study, the total volume of the en-
gines was divided into 12 nodal volumes. They compared the per-
formance of both engines at 500, 1000 and 1500 W/m2K heat
transfer coefcients [15].
The convective heat transfer coefcient has a signicant effect
on engine performance [33]. In the nodal analysis, it is required to
make an assumption for the heat transfer coefcient. However, it is
difcult to estimate the convective heat transfer coefcient in
advance. Because of this situation, the performance of the analyses
is decreasing. In the present study, the convective heat transfer
coefcient was predicted by considering experimental results. In
the experiments, 400 W and 1000 W halogen lamps were used to
simulate solar energy. The halogen lamps were placed into the
cavity. Thus, more stable operating conditions and temperature
distribution were obtained compared to solar energy tests at at-
mospheric conditions. Nodal analysis was conducted with the
predicted heat transfer coefcient and results were compared with
experimental results.
2. Experimental setup and procedure
A schematic view of the experimental set-up is given in Fig. 1.
The technical specications of the test engine are given in Table 1.
The design details of the engine are given in Refs. [17,28]. In order to
apply the solar energy to the engine its displacer cylinder has been
modied so as to capture the reected sun rays. The displacer
163
Fig. 1. A schematic view of the experimental set-up.
cylinder designed and manufactured for solar energy is consisted of
two sections and mounted to each other by means of screwing. The
lower section performs as cooler and regenerator and is made of
non-brass ASTM steel. The upper section functions as a heater and
is made of aluminum alloy. Fig. 2 illustrates details of both sections.
The upper section comprises a cavity in which the solar rays would
be focused when solar energy is applied to the engine. In the ex-
periments prior to the solar application however, the engine is
powered with halogen lamps placed into the cavity. The outer
surface of the both sections of the displacer cylinder has been
covered with an insulation material in order to minimize heat
losses. The heat transfer area on the working uid side of the dis-
placer cylinder was enlarged by means of growing span-wise slots
with 3 mm depth and 2 mm width.
The engine has been loaded using a prony type dynamometer,
which operates based on friction principle. The dynamometer
consists of a shaft on which there is a disc, two consoles holding the
roller bearings of the shaft, a hydraulic device to accomplish
loading of the engine by means of compressing the disc, a load cell
and a torque arm which transfers the braking force to the load cell.
The load cell used in the experiments is type ESIT BB20 and it has a
total measurement error of 0.05%. Uncertainty of engine moment,
power and thermal efciency were determined as 0.395%, 0.442%
and 0.667%. In order to measure the speed of the engine, a digital
tachometer operating with magnetic pulse and having 1 rpm ac-
curacy has been used. The charge pressure has been measured by a
bourdon type pressure gauge, which can make measurements be-
tween 0 and 10 bar with 0.1 bar accuracy. A pressure regulation
valve has been used in order to set the charge pressure to desired
values. The working uid has been charged into the engine block.
The pressure of the working uid charged into the engine block
was increased up to 5.5 bar without any leakage problem. Before
recording experimental results, the engine was operated under
several operating conditions in order to ensure steadiness of the
engine's operation. Test operation includes measurements of hot
source temperature, cold source temperature, block pressure, en-
gine speed and torque. As the engine torque and speed are related
to each other, they were measured simultaneously. During the
experiments, the pressure ranged from up to down with 1 bar
164 F. Aksoy et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 86 (2015) 161e167

Table 1
Technical specications of the test engine.

R
bp arcsin sin q (1)
Parameters Specications [p
Engine type Beta
Bore (mm) 69

Displacer stroke (mm) 79 0:7071 sin q
Displacer diameter (mm) 295 g arctan (2)
2:5 cos q
Displacer swept volume (cc) 70
Power piston stroke (mm) 60
Power piston swept volume (cc) 230

Working uid
s R
Helium bd arcsin cosg  4  0:7071 (3)
Compression ratio 1.65 [d [d
Heating Solar Simulator (400 and 1000 W
halogen lamps)
Maximum engine power 127.17 W @ 405 rpm R0:7071 sin q
Maximum engine torque 3.4 Nm @192 rpm [m (4)
Maximum engine efciency 12.85% @ 405 rpm
sin g

hp
[c [d cos bd  SL sing  4 [r  [m cos g  [p cos bp 
2
decrements. In the experiments conducted with a 400 W lamp, the
(5)
temperature of the aperture of cavity was measured as 623 10 K
using an infrared thermometer. Through the experiments con-
ducted with a 1000 W lamp, the temperature of the same point was [h hc  [d cos bd SL sing  4  [r  hd (6)
measured as 873 10 K. The working uid was cooled by circu-
lating water around the piston cylinder and cooling water tem- The ow loss was disregarded, and the pressure was calculated
perature was kept about 300 K. by,

mt Rg
3. Kinematic and thermodynamic relations of the engine pV P (7)
c
Tc Vh
Th n2 VRi
i3 TRi
The mechanical arrangement of the test engine, which is shown
in Fig. 3, was developed by Karabulut et al. [34]. In this mechanism, Time dependent temperature changes in nodal volumes were
a slotted lever provides interconnected movement of the piston, calculated using the rst law of thermodynamics for an open
displacer and crankshaft. The angle between the lever arms is 70 system,
and the lever is xed with a bearing at the junction points of the
arms. While the crank pin is sliding in the slotted arm of the lever,
the other lever arm moves the displacer connecting rod. Therefore
the required movement synchronization of the mechanism for the
Stirling cycle is provided. A detailed explanation about the
arrangement can be seen in the study conducted by Karabulut et al.
[34]. In the nodal analysis the space occupied by working uid is to
be divided to a number of nodal volumes. In the present study, 51
nodal volumes were used. The 49 nodal volumes were in the
regenerator and these volumes had constant magnitudes. The rst
nodal volume was hot volume and the last nodal volume was cold
volume. The cold and hot volume variations were calculated using
kinematic relations below;

Fig. 2. A schematic view of both sections of the engine. Fig. 3. Schematic illustration of the test engine.
 F. Aksoy et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 86 (2015) 161e167 165

  engine speeds with the maximum engine powers for 400 W and
hi Ai Tw;i  Ti Dt  Dmi cv Ti Ei  pDVi DTi U 1000 W lamps were recorded as 221 rpm and 405 rpm. The engine
DTi (8)
mi cv U power varies dependent on the engine torque and the engine
speed. With the increase of the engine speed, the engine power
where U is an arbitrary constant and Ei is the enthalpy ow of the increases as well up to a certain value of engine speed and then
nodal volume. If U is taken as zero, the numerical solution of the starts to decrease. The heat exchange time is shortened at high
equations does not converge and cannot be solved. Therefore U is engine speeds. Therefore, it can be clearly said that the heat
chosen, preferably as 1. Instantaneous values for mass (mi) can be transferred into the working uid becomes insufcient. Also the
calculated using the ideal gas equation. The enthalpy ow in or out mechanical losses increase with the increase of engine speed.
of the nodal volume can be calculated by, Therefore, the engine power decreases at higher engine speeds. It
was also obtained that thermal efciencies were 9.26% and 12.85%
Ti Ti1
Ei cp Dmi1 Dmi2 / Dmn with 400 and 1000 W halogen lamps at 5 bar charge pressure. The
2 thermal efciency of a cycle depends on the maximum and mini-
T Ti
 cp i1 Dm1 Dm2 / Dmi1 (9) mum temperatures of the cycle [28]. When the 1000 W halogen
2 lamp was used, a higher thermal efciency was obtained because of
increasing temperature difference between hot and cold volumes.
For both halogen lamps, the variations of maximum engine
power, engine torque and thermal efciency versus charge pressure
4. Results and discussion
are seen in Fig. 7. It can be concluded that maximum engine
powers, engine torque and thermal efciencies increased as the
Fig. 4 illustrates the variations of engine torque versus engine
charge pressure and the heat input increased. Heating performance
speed for 400 W and 1000 W halogen lamps. When the 400 W
of the lever driven beta-type Stirling engines is better than some
halogen lamp was used, at the charge pressures of 4 and 5 bar, the
other Stirling engine drive mechanisms [15]. Therefore with
engine torques were obtained as 1.65 Nm at 191 rpm and 1.68 Nm
increasing charge pressure, the heating performance did not
at 197 rpm. The maximum engine torques were obtained as
decreased immediately, and thermal efciency, engine power and
3.05 Nm at 181 rpm and 3.4 Nm at 192 rpm, at 4 and 5 bar charge
engine torque increased. On the other hand, the increase of charge
pressures with 1000 W halogen lamp. At low engine speeds, higher
pressure caused sealing problems. For this reason, the engine could
torque values were obtained. Similar speed-torque behaviors were
not be operated at higher charge pressures. It is expected that the
obtained by other researchers Karabulut et al. [17], Tavakolpour
engine performance may have decreased after a certain level of the
et al. [26] and Kongtragool et al. [35]. Higher engine torques were
charge pressure because of the inadequate inner surface area like
obtained at low engine speeds because the ow losses decreased
the other studies in the literature [14,15,36,37]. It can be also
and the prolonged heat exchange time enabled a better thermo-
concluded from Fig. 6 that the maximum curves are beyond the
dynamic cycle. Also this torque behavior of the engine indicates
applied range of the charge pressure. This implies that at higher
inadequate heat transfer surface area in the expansion volume at
charge pressures applied in this testing, the engine would give
higher speeds [15]. In order to obtain the same level of the engine
higher power outputs and thermal efciency.
torque at higher engine speeds, some applications may be per-
A detailed thermodynamic nodal analysis of the test engine was
formed for increasing the heat transfer at the hot end, such as
already presented previously by Karabulut et al. [34]. In the pre-
increasing the heater temperature, providing a higher heat transfer
vious study, the working uid space of the engine was divided 51
coefcient in the expansion volume and trying to enlarge the inner
nodal volumes consisting of cold, hot and regenerator volumes. In
surface area.
the present study, experimental results were compared with the
In Figs. 5 and 6, the engine shaft power and thermal efciency
nodal analysis results using the same analysis method. In this
variations are seen. For both halogen lamps, the maximum engine
experimental study, the maximum engine power was obtained as
powers were obtained at 5 bar charge pressure. The maximum
127.17 W at 405 rpm for the 1000 W halogen lamp. In these con-
engine powers were obtained with 400 W and 1000 W halogen
ditions, the cyclic work was calculated as 18.84 J. The test was
lamps as 37.08 W and 127.17 W. In addition, the corresponding

Fig. 4. The variations of engine torque versus engine speed. Fig. 5. The variations of engine power versus engine speed.
166 F. Aksoy et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 86 (2015) 161e167
Fig. 6. The variations of thermal efciency versus engine speed.
Fig. 7. The variations of maximum engine power, engine torque and thermal efciency
versus charge pressure.
Fig. 8. The comparison of peV diagrams obtained in nodal and isothermal conditions
at the 5 bar charge pressure.
Fig. 9. The comparison of the predicted and experimental thermal efciencies of the
engine.
carried out at 300 K cold source and 873 K hot source temperatures,
405 rpm engine speed, 170 cc regenerator volume, 1800 cc heat
transfer surface, 0.177 g working uid mass. The thermodynamic
nodal analysis was performed using the experimental test condi-
tions. Using of nodal analysis, the convective heat transfer coef-
cient was estimated as 148.3 W/m2K for the same cyclic work
generation of the both experimental and numerical study. peV
diagrams of the engine for both isothermal and estimated heat
transfer coefcient are shown in Fig. 8. In the isothermal analysis, it
is assumed that the heat transfer performances of the heating and
cooling processes were perfect. Therefore the heat transfer coef-
cient converged to innity. However, because of the thermal and
mechanical losses, it is not possible to provide innite heat transfer
coefcient in Stirling engines. As seen in Fig. 8, net cyclic work area
of the peV diagram of the estimated heat transfer coefcient is less
than the isothermal condition.
Fig. 9 shows the comparison of the experimental and the pre-
dicted thermal efciencies of the engine for 1000 W halogen lamp.
Both the experimental and the theoretical results were obtained at
5 bar charge pressure, 300 K cold source temperature and 873 K hot
source temperature. For the same cold and hot source tempera-
tures, Carnot efciency was calculated as 65.64%. The predicted
efciencies were obtained via the nodal analysis presented by
Karabulut [34]. When the maximum thermal efciency was pre-
dicted as 25.38% at 237 rpm, the maximum experimental efciency
was obtained as 12.717% at 405 rpm. The difference between the
experimental and theoretical efciency was quite large at low en-
gine speeds. This difference decreased with increasing engine
speed. This is because of the worsening heating performance due to
an insufcient heat transfer time at higher engine speeds. Also it
may be resulted from the decreasing leakages, which affects engine
performance positively, in the experimental study at higher engine
speeds.
5. Conclusion
In this study, a beta type Stirling engine was tested using 400 W
and 1000 W halogen lamps as the solar simulator. The experiments
were conducted between the range of 1e5 bar charge pressure with
1 bar increments and 150e500 rpm engine speeds. Using 400 W
halogen lamp, 37.08 W maximum power output, 1.68 Nm
maximum torque and 9.27% maximum thermal efciency were
obtained at 5 bar charge pressure. The maximum torque and power
 F. Aksoy et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 86 (2015) 161e167 167

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