Design, Fabrication and Analysis of Solar Powered Stirling

Engine for Producing Electricity

Submitted by

Md. Hasibul Hasan Shanto ID NO.170203006

Riasad Rimon Anik ID NO. 170203011

Supervised by

Dr-Ing. Irfan Ahmed

Associate Professor and Head

Department of Mechanical Engineering

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilling of the requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of science in mechanical engineering

Bangladesh Army University of Science & Technology (BAUST)

Saidpur cantonment, Bangladesh

Department of Mechanical Engineering

March 2022
 APPROVAL
This is to certify that the project and thesis work submitted by Md. Hasibul Hasan Shanto
(ID NO. 170203006), Riasad Rimon Anik (ID NO. 170203011) entitled “DESIGN,
FABRICATION AND ANALYSIS OF SOLAR POWERED STIRLING ENGINE
FOR PRODUCING ELECTRICITY” has been approved by the board of examiners for
the partial fulfillment of the requirement often degree of b.sc in mechanical engineering,
BANGLADESH ARMY UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Saidpur-
5310, Bangladesh

BOARD OF EXAMINEE

1.

Dr-Ing. Irfan Ahmed

Associate Professor and Head of The Department

Department Of Mechanical Engineering 

BANGLADESH ARMY UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Saidpur-5310, Bangladesh

2.

Md Alamgir Hossain

Lecturer,

BANGLADESH ARMY UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Saidpur-5310, Bangladesh
 DECLARATION
This is to certify that the project and thesis work entitled “DESIGN, FABRICATION
AND ANALYSIS OF SOLAR POWERED STIRLING ENGINE FOR
PRODUCING ELECTRICITY” has been carried out by the group member only
studied in the department of mechanical engineering, BANGLADESH ARMY
UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Saidpur-5310, Bangladesh. This above
thesis work or any part of this work has been submitted anywhere for the award of any
degree or diploma.

Thanking you,

Md. Hasibul Hasan Shanto

ID No. 170203006

Riasad Rimon Anik

ID No. 170203011
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First, we pay our gratitude to the Almighty Allah for giving us the ability to work hard
successfully. Words actually will never be enough to express our gratefulness.

We are grateful to our beloved parents for their love, affection, and patience which made
this work possible, and also the blessings and encouragement of our beloved parents
greatly helped us in carrying out this research work. We are also extremely thankful to
our relatives for their kind support in every situation. It gives us immense pleasure to
express our deep sense of gratitude to our respected supervisor Dr.-Ing. Irfan Ahmed &
co supervisor Md. Alamgir Hossain for his invaluable guidance, motivation, constant
inspiration, and above all for his ever-co-operating attitude that enabled us in bringing up
this thesis in the present form.

Sincere Gratitude also goes to the Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh Army University of

Science and Technology, Saidpur for providing us with the budget for this project. We
also want to thank Professor Dr. Md. Syful Islam, Dean, and Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering. We would also like to thank all the staff members of the different
laboratories who guided us and helped us during the project work and providing us with
the necessary information.

The authors are greatly appreciating and also want to show gratitude to the Bangladesh
Army University of Science and Technology for supporting us from the beginning of our
study. We owe the Department of Mechanical Engineering, BAUST, and all the faculty
members for their invaluable support, kindness, and inspiration in every situation and
need. Our very special thanks go to the Bangladesh Army for supporting us in this study.
 ABSTRACT

This paper provides a study on renewable energy resources for electricity generation in
rural and remote areas of our country. The paper consists of design, development and
analysis of solar powered Stirling engines for producing electricity. Solar energy or heat
from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times. However, only a small
fraction of the available solar energy is used. Solar powered electrical generation relies on
heat engines or photovoltaic panels from a few watts to several megawatts.

In this research paper we will design, fabricate, analyzes the thermal lag type Stirling
engine, instead of using any kind of fossil fuel, we will use a parabolic reflector as a heat
source to run the engine. The key principle of a Stirling engine is that a fixed amount of a
gas is sealed inside the engine. The Stirling cycle involves a series of events that change
the pressure of the gas inside the engine, causing it to do work. A parabolic mirror is used
to condense solar ray into a fixed point to generate heat. The parabolic mirror will fit on
to a stand and the engine will be mounted at the focal point of the mirror.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..................................................................................................I
ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................II
TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................III
NOMENCLATURE..........................................................................................................V
LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................VII
LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................................................IX
CHAPTER 1.......................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1
1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................1
1.2 Stirling Engine..................................................................................................................1
1.2.1 Stirling Engine History....................................................................................................2
1.2.2 Stirling Cycle...................................................................................................................2
1.2.3 Operational Feature of The Stirling Engine.....................................................................3
1.2.4 Stirling Cycle Engine Configuration.................................................................................4
1.3 Parabolic Solar Concentrator...........................................................................................5
1.3.1 Description.........................................................................................................................5
1.3.2 Solar Thermal Power......................................................................................................6
1.3.3 Solar Powered Stirling Engine.........................................................................................7
1.3.4 Theoretical Limit for Solar Concentrator........................................................................7
1.3.5 Solar Concentrator Material...........................................................................................8
1.4 Goal of the Project..........................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2.......................................................................................................................9
LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................................9
2.1 Review of Previous Works.....................................................................................................9
2.2 History of Solar Powered Stirling Engine.............................................................................10
2.3 Using Solar Energy for Generating Electricity......................................................................11
2.4 Suitable Type of Engine for Generating Electricity..............................................................12
2.5 Using Parabolic Solar Concentrator as A Heat Source.........................................................12
CHAPTER 3.....................................................................................................................13
METHODOLOGY...........................................................................................................13
3.1 Stirling Engine Design Parameters.................................................................................13
 3.1.1 Working Principle.........................................................................................................13
3.1.2 Engine Parts and Components.....................................................................................16
3.1.3 Materials Selection.......................................................................................................17
3.1.4 Dimensions of the Components...................................................................................17
3.2 Parabolic Solar Concentrator...............................................................................................18
3.2.1 Working Principle.........................................................................................................18
3.2.2 Parts and Components:................................................................................................19
3.2.3 Material Selection........................................................................................................19
3.2.4 Focus Point and Dimensions:........................................................................................19
3.2 Design Analysis and Designing of Parts.........................................................................20
3.3.1 Designing of Individual Parts of The Engine..................................................................20
CHAPTER 4.....................................................................................................................24
CONSTRUCTION, EXPERIMENTATION & CALCULATION..............................24
4.1 Construction........................................................................................................................24
4.1.1 Regenerator with Pulse Tube...........................................................................................24
4.1.2 Nozzle...............................................................................................................................25
4.1.3 Cylinder............................................................................................................................25
4.1.4 Piston and Connecting Rod..............................................................................................25
4.1.5 Flywheel...........................................................................................................................26
4.1.6 Cooling Fin (Copper Tube)................................................................................................26
4.1.7 Parabolic Solar Concentrator............................................................................................27
4.1.8 Stand for Solar Concentrator............................................................................................27
4.2 Experimental Setup....................................................................................................28
4.2.1 Assembly of The Engine....................................................................................................28
4.2.2 Assembly of The Solar Concentrator................................................................................29
4.2.3 Complete Assembly of The Experimental Project............................................................30
4.3 Experimental Result...................................................................................................31
4.3.1 Calculations......................................................................................................................31
4.3.3 Calculated Value
..............................................................................................................................36
4.3.4 Table and Graph...............................................................................................................37
4.3.4.1 Thermal Efficiency Vs Hot Temperature....................................................................37
4.3.4.2 Thermal Efficiency Vs Cold Temperature.......................................................................38
4.3.4.3 Net Work Vs Hot Temperature......................................................................................39
CHAPTER 5.....................................................................................................................41
MOTIVATION.................................................................................................................41
 5.1 Background.........................................................................................................................41
5.2 Potential of the Thermal Lag Engine..............................................................................41
CHAPTER 6.....................................................................................................................43
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................43
6.1 Future Work........................................................................................................................43
6.2 Final Words.........................................................................................................................43
References.........................................................................................................................45
 NOMENCLATURE

Symbols Description

D Bore diameter

L Stroke length

Ap Cross sectional area of piston

Qin Heat input from solar concentrator

Tmax Temperature of hot side

Tmin Temperature of cold side

R Universal gas constant

Cp Heat capacity at constant pressure

Cv Heat capacity at constant volume

Ƞth Thermal efficiency

Vr Ideal volume Ratio

 Vt Total volume

Vs Swept volume

Vc Clearance volume

L Stroke to bore ratio

D

r Compression ratio

mact Actual mass in the system

patm Atmospheric pressure

Vcomp Compression volume

Pi Initial pressure

P2 Final pressure
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Solar Concentrator Material...................................................................................8

Table 2: Materials Selection for project.............................................................................16
Table 3: Dimensions of the Components...........................................................................17
Table 4: Material Selection for Parabolic Solar Concentrator...........................................18
Table 5: List of Calculated Value......................................................................................34
Table 6: Thermal Efficiency Vs Hot Temperature............................................................35
Table 7: Thermal Efficiency Vs Cold Temperature...........................................................36
Table 8: Net Work Vs Hot Temperature............................................................................36
Table 9: Net Work Vs Cold Temperature..........................................................................37
 LIST OF FIGURES

Fig 1.1: P-V diagram of Stirling cycle.................................................................................3

Fig 1.2: T-S diagram of Stirling cycle.................................................................................3
Fig 1.3: schematic diagram of Alpha configuration.............................................................4
Fig:1.4: schematic of Beta configuration.............................................................................4
Fig 1.5: schematic of gamma configuration.........................................................................5
Fig1.6: schematic of thermal lag configuration...................................................................5
Fig 1.7: solar concentrator....................................................................................................6
Fig1.8: Solar powered Stirling engine................................................................................7
Fig 1.9: Thermodynamic limit diagram.............................................................................8
Fig 3.1: Tailer Thermal lag type Stirling engine for generating electricity.......................13
Fig 3.2: Tailer’s TLE cycle................................................................................................14
Fig 3.3: Tailer’s vertical TLE.............................................................................................15
Fig 3.4: Air (gas) circulating inside the engine..................................................................16
Fig 3.5: schematic of a parabolic solar concentrator..........................................................18
Fig 3.6: Parallel rays arriving to a parabolic reflector are concentrated at a point F. The
vertexes V, and the axis of symmetry passes through V and F..........................................20
Fig 3.7: Regenerator with Pulse Tube with cooling fin.....................................................21
Fig 3.8: Nozzle...................................................................................................................21
Fig 3.9: Cylinder................................................................................................................21
Fig 3.10: Piston..................................................................................................................21
Fig 3.11: Connecting Rod..................................................................................................22
Fig 3.12: Flywheel.............................................................................................................22
Fig 3.13: Assembly............................................................................................................22
Fig 3.14: parabolic solar concentrator................................................................................23
Fig 4.1: Hot section pulse tube...........................................................................................24
Fig 4.2: Regenerative material (glass wool)......................................................................24
Fig 4.3: Nozzle...................................................................................................................25
Fig 4.4: Cylinder................................................................................................................25
Fig 4.5: Piston and Connecting Rod..................................................................................26
Fig4.6: Flywheel................................................................................................................26
Fig 4.7: cooling tube(copper).............................................................................................26
Fig 4.8: solar concentrator..................................................................................................27
Fig 4.9: Solar Concentrator................................................................................................28
Fig 4.10: Assembly of The Engine....................................................................................29
Fig 4.11: Assembly of The Solar Concentrator.................................................................30
Fig 4.12: Complete Assembly............................................................................................30
Fig 4.13: Graph of Thermal efficiency vs Hot temperature...............................................37
Fig 4.14: Graph of Thermal efficiency vs Cold temperature.............................................38
Fig 4.15: Graph of Net work vs Hot temperature..............................................................39
Fig 4.16: Graph of Net work vs Cold Temperature...........................................................40
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Stirling engine is a basic engine which convert thermal energy into kinetic energy
by heating and cooling the working gas sealed Inside of the cylinder. Stirling engine is an
external combustion engine invented by Robert Stirling in 1816. Like any heat engine, the
Stirling engine goes through the four basic processes of compression, heating, expansion,
and cooling. Stirling engine runs directly on any available heat source, whether it be
solar, geothermal, nuclear or waste heat. A Stirling engine uses the Stirling cycle, which
is unlike the cycles used in internal-combustion engines. The gasses used inside a Stirling
engine never leave the engine. There are no exhaust valves that vent high-pressure gasses,
as in an IC engine, and there are no explosions taking place. Because of this, Stirling
engines are very quiet. The key principle of a Stirling engine is that a fixed amount of a
gas is sealed inside the engine. The Stirling cycle involves a series of events that change
the pressure of the gas inside the engine, causing it to do work.
A parabolic reflector is a reflective device used to accumulate or projection of energy
such as light, sound, or radio waves A Fresnel lens or parabolic mirror can condensed the
sunlight or solar into a small point and that can produce decent amount of temperature
according to the size of parabolic dish. The parabolic reflector operates due to the
geometric characteristics of the paraboloidal shape: any arriving rays that are parallel to
the axis of the dish will be reflected to a central point, or focus. Because various kinds of
energy can be reflected in the above said way, parabolic reflectors can be used to gather
and accumulate energy entering the reflector at a specific angle. Similarly, energy emitted
from the focus to the dish can be transferred outwards in a beam that is parallel to the axis
of the dish.

1.2 Stirling Engine

The Stirling engine is a device well suited to a large number of applications and has a
lot of very desirable performance and environmental qualities. Working on the idea of a
domestic power supply for dwellings away from the national electricity grid, and a desire
for a clean source of electrical energy and hot water, a Solar heated Stirling engine
generator set was looked at for this project.
In the light of a growing awareness of environmental degradation the world is looking for
solutions. Stirling engines are external combustion engines that have inherent advantages such as
fuel flexibility, continuous combustion with clean emissions, silent operation amongst other
things. The Thermal Lag Engine (TLE) represents a mechanical simplification of the Stirling
engine, which adds a new, social dimension to the concept. The TLE could make a difference in
developing countries, where the need for low-cost site-built engines running on local resources
can be met.

1.2.1 Stirling Engine History

Hot air engines have been known as early as 1699. They were revolutionized by
the invention of the Stirling brothers called the ’economizer’ or ’regenerator’, patented in
1816. The driving force behind the invention was the concern of one of the brothers, Rev.
Robert Stirling, regarding the health of his parishioners, who were often injured in steam
engine accidents. By 1843, the brothers had pressurized the engine and had sufficiently
increased power to drive all the machinery at an iron foundry in Dundee, Scotland.
Although these engines have known significant success, they faded into obscurity as
steam engines became safer with the introduction of high-quality steel. Some eighty years
later, the internal combustion engine was invented, ready to outrun the competition. More
than a century later, in the 1960’s, renewed interest in Stirling engines was shown.
Several engine types regarding piston and cylinder configuration, displacer movement
mechanisms and the like were developed. One of these new developments was the free
piston engine, developed by researchers, specifically William T. Beale, from the
Mechanical Engineering Department of Ohio University in 1964. The team left the
university to create SunPower Inc in 1974, with the intent of developing commercially
feasible free piston engines for low-tech applications [8]. In its mission statement,
SunPower Inc shows a distinct sense of social awareness by stating that it primarily
pursues applications in developing countries. It is a clear response to the general
unawareness of Stirling capabilities and limitations, as sponsors were expecting an engine
competing with internal combustion engines.

1.2.2 Stirling Cycle

 Stirling engines produce work by compressing and expanding a working fluid at
different temperature levels. The Stirling cycle is made up of the following four
processes,
Process 1-2: isothermal compression.
Process 2-3: constant volume regenerative transfer process.
Process 3-4: isothermal expansion.
Process 4-1: constant volume regenerative transfer process.

Fig 1.1: P-V diagram of Stirling cycle

Fig 1.2: T-S diagram of Stirling cycle

1.2.3 Operational Feature of The Stirling Engine

Most of the desirable properties of the Stirling engine are due to the combustion or
source of heat being external to the cylinder-. These are; • Possibility of running the
Stirling cycle engine on any heat source, i.e., Natural Gas, Coal, Biomass, Geothermal,
Solar energies (Kolin 1991).
• Reduced need for maintenance, particularly of the seals within the cylinder. The reason
for this is that there are no combustion products within the cylinder to cause degradation
of the surfaces and components.
• Quiet operation. With no periodic explosions occurring, the noise from a Stirling cycle
engine is very low, most being due to the combustors (if a combustion heat source is
used.), and the drive linkages.
• Complete combustion of fuels (if used) due to the continuous nature of the combustion,
and the abundance of oxygen.
• Having the same unit of gas trapped in the cylinder without being passed out each cycle
means that the engine can be charged with exotic gases which have good thermal and
transport properties e.g., Helium, and Hydrogen. 7
There are draw-backs with external combustion the major one being the problem of
getting the heat into the cylinder efficiently. The design of the heat exchangers in Stirling
cycle engines is very critical and there has been a large amount of research done to
address this problem. As with most design problems, there are trade-offs needed, and in
this case, there are three main ones; pressure drop through the heat exchangers, good heat
transfer coefficient, and keeping the gas volume down. Unfortunately, these requirements
all conflict with each other, leading to an interesting design optimization problem.

1.2.4 Stirling Cycle Engine Configuration

The configuration of Stirling engines is based upon the arrangements of the
cylinder(s), not upon the overall form due to the vast number of mechanisms that 9 have
been designed to produce the appropriate motions.
Alpha Configuration: This is a typical single acting two piston engine. In this
arrangement, there is no displacer, as the two pistons are phased such that they shuttle the
gas between their two cylinders through the regenerator, and heat exchangers. They have
several main subgroups within them.

Fig 1.3: schematic diagram of Alpha configuration

Beta Configuration: The Beta configuration machine makes very efficient use of
cylinder space and size, being a single acting single cylinder piston-displacer engine.
There are very few variations of this type.
 Fig:1.4: schematic of Beta configuration
Gamma Configuration: The possible arrangements and mechanisms available for this
type of configuration are very wide. The basic requirement for a Gamma engine is that it
has a piston, a displacer, two cylinders and be single acting.

Fig 1.5: schematic of gamma configuration

Thermal Lag Engine: This new concept is a mechanical simplification of the classic
Stirling engines with mechanical displacers, see figure 3.9. The engine invented by Tailer
consists of two spaces: a hot space where the heat is supplied to power the engine and a
cooled cylinder in which the piston moves [19]. Because of the piston’s motion, the gas is
exposed intermittently to the cold heat exchange area. Compared to the standard Stirling
configurations, there is only one moving part. The piston adopts the role of the displacer
and power piston. Thus, there is no need for a complex linkage mechanism.

Fig1.6: schematic of thermal lag configuration

1.3 Parabolic Solar Concentrator

 1.3.1 Description

A parabolic reflector is a reflective device used to accumulate or projection of

energy such as light the parabolic reflector operates due to the geometric characteristics
of the parabolic shape: any arriving rays that are parallel to the axis of the dish will be
reflected to a central point, or focus. In solar-dish starling systems, a mirror of the
parabolic shaped concentrator focuses solar light on the focal point of the concentrator
where hot end of the Stirling engine is installed. Therefore, solar energy with a relatively
high temperature is transferred to the hot end of the heat exchanger in the engine.

Fig 1.7: solar concentrator

1.3.2 Solar Thermal Power

Solar Thermal Power generation involves the conversion of incoming solar
radiation into heat which is then used by a heat engine to drive an electrical generator,
and so photovoltaic cells do not fall within this category. Outside of the Earth's
atmosphere, the radiation flux is 1370 ± 6W/m2 with a variation of ± 3.4% due to the
elliptic nature of the Earth's orbit. 2 Of this, 8% is Ultraviolet radiation while 47% is in
the visible light wavelength band, and the remaining 45% is Infrared (San Martin 1992).
At the Earth's surface the flux incident on a horizontal surface varies with a peak at
approximately 1 kW 1m2 at midday with no cloud cover or atmospheric hazing. Over the
course of a day, the amount of solar energy incident on the horizontal plane at sea level,
will range up to 7kWh/m2. At higher latitudes, the flux is less because of the much lower
elevation of the sun position. There are a number of other heat engines competing against
the Stirling engine in this application. They are the Rankine cycle engines and the
Brayton cycle engines (Gas Turbine).
1.3.3 Solar Powered Stirling Engine

Fig1.8: Solar powered Stirling engine

1.3.4 Theoretical Limit for Solar Concentrator

solar concentration. If a solar concentrator could produce a sunlight intensity

corresponding to a temperature greater than the temperature at the sun's surface, then a
heat engine could operate successfully between the concentrator's focus and the surface of
the sun and extract energy at no cost, which is therefore a perpetual motion machine
(Winston 1991). Figure diagrammatically the mathematics behind the theoretical
maximum as applied to point focus systems. The total solar energy leaving the sun is
calculated through the intensity Isun at the sun's surface multiplied by the sun's surface area
4πR2.
 Fig 1.9: Thermodynamic limit diagram

This energy must all pass through the sphere2 containing the Earth's orbit, which means
that the intensity Iearth of the light going through the sphere is the total solar energy Esolar
divided by the surface area of the sphere 4πR2. Thus

The laws of thermodynamics state then that the intensity of the light on the earth cannot
exceed the intensity on the sun, therefore:

If the sun half angle = Ϭ, then from trigonometry, the maximum concentration ratio given by
D2/R2 is:

1.3.5 Solar Concentrator Material

Table 1: Solar Concentrator Material

Parts Material
1. Parabolic structure Mild steel(2mm)
2. Reflective materials Mirror finely cut (1” ×1”)
3. Stand Hollow steel pipe
1.4 Goal of the Project

The previous discussions make it clear that a great deal of research needs to be done to
understand the driving phenomena behind the engine. Apart from some guesses to its
working principle, very few people have tried to analyses and model the engine. Even
fewer experiments have been conducted. Up until now, these experiments have
considered the TLE as a black box. The researchers tried to make the engine run and
measured the work output. Basic parameters were changed and an interpretation was
given to the observations. No attempts have been made, however, to measure the cycle on
which the engine runs to obtain experimental verification of the claims that have been
made.
 To design a solar powered thermal lag type Stirling engine
 To fabricate and construct the Stirling engine
 To Analise the overall performance and efficiency of the fabricated Stirling
engine

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Review of Previous Works

 Design and development of Solar Stirling Engine for power generation.
(Design_and_development_of_Solar_Stirling_Engine_fo.pdf)
Doi: 10.1088/1757-899X/376/1/012022

This paper provides a study on the configuration of solar Stirling engine and analyzes the
performance of using a parabolic reflector as a heat source. The parabolic reflector
functions due to the geometric properties of the paraboloidal shape, any incoming ray that
is parallel to the axis of the dish will be focused at a point. This paper uses a gamma type
Stirling engine to produce electricity from solar heat.
This paper shows that Stirling engine can also be used to produce electricity in our
subcontinent. like many modern countries like USA, France, Germany currently using
Stirling engines to produce renewable energy sources and electricity.

1. Design and Analysis of Solar Powered Stirling Engine (Alpha- Configuration).

(92_14_DESIGNandanalysisOFSOLARPOWEREDSTIRLINGENGINE_IJ70303095_.pdf)
DOI:10.15680/IJIRSET.2018.0703092

The following paper briefs with the design process of Solar Powered Stirling engine. A
Stirling engine consists of rapid heating and cooling of a gas within piston/cylinder
device. It is an external combustion engine since the heat applied externally and there is
no exhaust or intake. Instead of using conventional fuels we have set out to utilize power
of the sun to provide necessary energy input to the system. Also, this engine is capable of
utilizing air as a working fluid. The main purpose of the project is to promote the use of
Stirling engines in ‘Green and Clean energy’ applications. For future solar energy
generation research Stirling engines are of prime importance as it has high theoretical
efficiencies.
This paper uses an Alpha configuration Stirling engine to produce electricity. It is a
simulation-based paper and analysis provided.

2.2 History of Solar Powered Stirling Engine

Considerable research has been carried out in the field of solar Stirling power
generation with a number of commercial systems available. The power range of the
generators used is generally 5kW to 25kW and are usually part of a solar power station.
Fitted into the focus of a parabolic dish reflector, the efficiencies of the Dish-Stirling
systems (around 30%) (Ross 1992, Erbeznik 1992, Bean 1992) are comparable to those of
the best photoelectric cell currently available. However, photoelectric cells are getting
better and cheaper all the time. This will be expanded on in later chapters. Because of the
nature of the incoming energy, the Solar Stirling application tends to have a much higher
overall efficiency compared to its combustion heated counterpart operating with the same
temperature differential, as the parasitic losses due to heat being lost up chimneys and
through the combustion chamber walls are not present here. In most currently available
systems, the configuration used is a single cylinder beta arrangement, which allows for a
fairly even heat flux into the cylinder head. However, with the more recent models, and
multi-cylinder engines like the DMC5 (Clucas 1993) developed in the Department of
Mechanical Engineering at the University of Canterbury, a heat pipe absorber system has
to be used to avoid hot spots. For lower temperature operations, a parabolic trough can be
used, which has cheaper but larger concentrator arrays. Unfortunately, with this system,
the efficiency is very poor - being only about 3 % total energy conversion to electricity
Like all other Solar Thermal systems the Solar Stirling system suffers from the problem
of night-time when the system cools off and does not produce any power. This
inconvenience means that the system has to be restarted every morning which may take a
considerable amount of time due to the system's thermal mass

2.3 Using Solar Energy for Generating Electricity

Located at an average distance of 149598000 km it is the nearest star to Earth. A
yellow dwarf star with a diameter of 1392000 km and a mass of (1.99x1030) kg, it is
wholly unremarkable, and quite safe to live next door to for the next (6x109) years, which
is considerably longer than humans will be in existence. In the sun's core the pressures are
so high (4.1x1016 Pa), that fusion reactions can occur between hydrogen atoms to form
Helium. energy' at a rate of (3.85x1026) W which corresponds to a mass of (4.7x109) kg
of matter every second, and produces temperatures near 14000000K within the core. The
gamma radiation from this reaction begins to travel to the surface, intercepting atoms,
being absorbed, and emitted many times. Finally, after several hundred thousand years
the much-degraded energy reaches the sun's surface in the form of lower energy radiation
such as infrared, and visible light. The energy flux passing through the sun's photosphere
("surface") is about 8kW/cm2 where the temperature is about 5800K. Most of the energy
disappears off out into deep space, but a tiny fraction of it, only 1 part in 2200000000,
reaches earth. Of this tiny amount, less than 75% of it gets to the planet's surface, through
the atmosphere, without being reradiated back into space. Of the energy that reaches the
Earth's surface, most is absorbed by the sea, where upon it causes evaporation and
eventually rain A very insignificant proportion of the sunlight produced by the sun may
fall into the concentrating collector array of a solar thermal power generation device. The
radiation flux becomes concentrated and is able to create very high temperatures allowing
the use of Stirling engines with very high efficiencies to generate power. Ultimately, all
renewable energy resources are the direct or indirect conversion of the sun's radiation.
Sunlight itself is, strictly, a non-renewable resource; however, we are in no immediate
danger of running out of it, nor can we control the sun to conserve its remaining fuel, so
we may as well use it.

2.4 Suitable Type of Engine for Generating Electricity

From the above conclusions; We choose a tailer thermal lag type single cylinder
Stirling engine for our project for its simplicity. it is easy to construct, less moving parts,
long lasting and rugged design. It can outstand in any weather and atmosphere. relatively
cheap to construct. It can be used for producing decent amount of electricity.

2.5 Using Parabolic Solar Concentrator as A Heat Source

A parabolic reflector is a reflective device used to accumulate or projection of

energy such as light the parabolic reflector operates due to the geometric characteristics
of the parabolic shape: any arriving rays that are parallel to the axis of the dish will be
reflected to a central point, or focus. In solar-dish Stirling systems, a mirror of the
parabolic shaped concentrator focuses solar light on the focal point of the concentrator
where hot end of the Stirling engine is installed.
 CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Stirling Engine Design Parameters

In this paper we have chosen a Tailer thermal lag type Stirling engine for generating
electricity using solar concentrator as a heat source. This engine contains fewer moving
parts than the other configurations. This engine contains single cylinder with only 7 types
of major parts on it.

Fig 3.1: Tailer Thermal lag type Stirling engine for generating electricity

3.1.1 Working Principle

Tailer explains his vision of the fundamental TLE cycle in four steps, The enclosed
engine volume consists of a long heater connected to a cooled cylinder space of much
higher diameter. Starting with the piston at bottom dead center, there is a temperature
difference between the gas in the cooled cylinder and the heater. the gas is being
compressed and the cold portion of gas is shifted into the hot space. At top dead center,
the gas takes time to heat up. Consequently, temperature and pressure rise. The gas
expands and pushes the piston back, delivering work. Because the hot section keeps
dumping heat into the gas, this expansion takes place at a higher temperature than if it
were adiabatic. Because of the piston’s motion, the cold section of the engine starts to
increase Underlying Physics in volume inducing a gas flow from the heater towards the
cylinder. The gas expands into the cylinder where bulk mixing takes place due to the gas
inertia and the movement of the piston. This increases temperature diffusion and heat
transfer with the cold cylinder walls. However, because of its thermal inertia, the gas does
not instantly drop in temperature. This happens gradually and continues when the piston
starts recompressing the gas. This time shift between the displacement of the gas and its
change in internal energy, is the key to the functioning of this engine. Compression
should take place at the lowest gas temperature possible. This will maximize the network
output of the engine.

Fig 3.2: Tailer’s TLE cycle

Tailer describes an idealized TLE, without making any statements about the inherent
losses that occur. West does [20]. He describes the effect of heat transfer occurring in the
cylinder during expansion which lowers expansion work. West thus acknowledges the
fact that some of the gas is cooled in the cylinder during expansion. At the right speeds,
however, the thermal inertia of the gas ensures that gas temperature stays above cooler
temperature at the end of expansion, which allows cooling to happen during compression.
West is the first to stress the importance of the relationship between the speed at which
the gas temperature in the cooler drops during expansion and the speed of the engine.
This is an important statement. It means that when the engine speed is too low, the
thermal inertia of the gas will not be sufficient to keep its temperature and pressure high
during expansion. Expansion work will thus decrease. The temperature difference
between gas and wall will be smaller at the end of expansion, reducing the potential for
cooling during compression. Compression work will thus increase. Relating to the
thermal lag effect, this means that the highest cooling rate is shifted towards the
expansion stroke. The ideal phase shift of 90◦ is then lost. Furthermore, heat transfer in
Tailer’s engine is not only rephased by the dwell times and thermal inertia. There are two
additional phenomena in this engine which reinforce the thermal lag effect.

Fig 3.3: Tailer’s vertical TLE

To illustrate the first effect, it is necessary to have a look at the cooler in Tailer’s TLE, the
entire piston cylinder and the duct leading to it is cooled. It is important to notice that part
of the cold heat transfer area is fixed and a part is variable. The heat transfer area, and
thus the heat transfer capacity of the cooler is maximized at bottom dead center because
of the piston’s motion. This shifts the cooling of the gas towards the end of expansion,
thus reinforcing the thermal lag effect. In Tailer’s engine [19], the ratio between variable
and fixed cold heat transfer area is only 0.23, as the piston stroke is only 1.9 cm. The
effect of the variable cooler area in his engine may thus not be overestimated.
Nonetheless, it would be interesting to investigate how much power output can be
improved using this effect. To achieve this, thermal lag test engines with long strokes
would be necessary. The second phenomenon is due to the nature of the gas flow inside
the changing geometry. When hot gas expands into the piston chamber, the incoming
mass flow is central of the piston chamber and velocities at the cylinder walls are
relatively low, there is some cooling due to temperature diffusion, but this is minimal
because of the gas’s low thermal conductivity. It is only when the piston starts
recompressing the gas that vortices are induced due to the mass inertia of the gas, much
higher velocities now occur at the cylinder walls and convection coefficients increase.
Furthermore, the gas is now being compressed against the cylinder head, which adds a lot
of effective heat transfer area to cool the gas during the compression stroke, this
phenomenon thus shifts the highest cooling rates towards the compression. This is
beneficial for the thermal lag effect.

Fig 3.4: Air (gas) circulating inside the engine

We are using a stainless-steel tube of diameter 4 cm as a pulse tube. A regenerator
material is placed inside the pulse tube to hold the temp inside of the tube and to flow
constant heat energy. The regenerator materials are made of glass wool. A CD
(converging-diverging) is used to transfer the hot gases from pulse tube to engine
cylinder. Hot gases hit the piston to move from TDC to BDC and the gas releases its heat.
When the piston moves from BDC to TDC it pushes the gas to pulse tube where it stores
heat energy. This process is a continuous process as long a heat is supplied.

3.1.2 Engine Parts and Components

Major parts to be manufactured for this engine are:
 Regenerator with Pulse tube (heated section)
 Nozzle
 Cylinder
 Piston
 Connecting Rod
 Flywheel
 Cooling fin (heat sink)

3.1.3 Materials Selection

Table 2: Materials Selection for project

Parts Material
1. Pulse tube Stainless steel
2. Regenerator Glass wool
3. Nozzle Aluminum bar

4. Cylinder Cast Iron

5. Piston Aluminum

6. Connecting Rod Aluminum sheet

7. Flywheel Aluminum bar

8.cooling fin (heat sink) Copper tube

3.1.4 Dimensions of the Components

Table 3: Dimensions of the Components

Parts Dimensions
 1. Pulse tube Diameter 5cm and length of 25cm

2. Nozzle hot side end is 5cm of diameter and cold side

end is of 4 cm diameter.

3. Piston Bore diameter of 4cm

4. cylinder The cylinder has a length of 10 cm and diameter

of 4.3cm. the stroke length of 2.5cm and bore
diameter of 4cm.
5. flywheel Diameter of 11.5 cm

3.2 Parabolic Solar Concentrator

3.2.1 Working Principle

Given below is proposed solid edge model of solar sterling engine with a parabolic reflector.
In solar-dish Stirling systems, a mirror of the parabolic shaped concentrator focuses solar
light on the focal point of the concentrator where hot end of the Stirling engine is
installed. Therefore, solar energy with a relatively high temperature is transferred to the
hot side heat exchanger of the Stirling engine. The Fig illustrates a schematic for a solar-
dish Stirling engine connected to a solar dish concentrator. The solar-dish is equipped
with a sun tracker which tracks the sun in order to have the maximum solar energy
transfer to the engine when the sun moves during the days. Hence, the maximum solar
energy is absorbed and transferred to the working fluid in the hot space of the engine
 Fig 3.5: schematic of a parabolic solar concentrator

3.2.2 Parts and Components:

The parabolic solar concentrator is consisting of three parts:

 Parabolic frame structure
 Reflective material (mirror)
 Holding stand

3.2.3 Material Selection

Table 4: Material Selection for Parabolic Solar Concentrator

Parts Material

1. Parabolic structure Mild steel(2mm)

2. Reflective materials Mirror finely cut (1” ×1”)

3. Stand Hollow steel pipe

3.2.4 Focus Point and Dimensions:

A more intricate calculation is required to obtain the diameter of the dish

measured all along its surface. This is occasionally called the "linear diameter", and
matches the diameter of the flat, circular sheet of material, typically metal, which is the
ideal size to be cut and bent to prepare the dish. Two intermediate results are useful in the
calculation:
𝑃 = 2F (or the equivalent: P= 𝑅 2 /2𝐷) Q=√ P2+ R 2
The diameter of the dish, calculated along the surface, is then given by:

where ln 𝑥 means the natural logarithm of 𝑥, i.e., its logarithm to base "e”. 𝑃 = 2𝐹 the
volume of the dish, the quantity of fluid it could accommodate if the rim were horizontal
and the vertex at the bottom (e.g., the capacity of a paraboloidal wok), is represented by(
π 2
𝑅 𝐷) where the symbols are described as above. This can be related with the formulae
2
2π 2 π
for the volumes of a cylinder (𝜋𝑅 2𝐷) a hemisphere ( 𝑅 𝐷 where 𝐷 = 𝑅) and a cone (
3 3
𝑅 2𝐷) Of course, (𝜋𝑅 2) is the aperture area of the dish, the area bounded by the rim, which
is proportionate to the quantity of sunlight the reflector dish can intercept.

Fig 3.6: Parallel rays arriving to a parabolic reflector are concentrated at a point F. The
vertexes V, and the axis of symmetry passes through V and F

3.2 Design Analysis and Designing of Parts

3.3.1 Designing of Individual Parts of The Engine

The Taylor thermal lag type engine has 7 major parts to design and construct. These are:
 Regenerator with Pulse tube
 Nozzle
 Cylinder
 Piston
 Connecting Rod
 Flywheel
 Cooling fin (heat sink)

Fig 3.7: Regenerator with Pulse Tube with cooling fin

Fig 3.8: Nozzle

Fig 3.9: Cylinder

 Fig 3.10: Piston

Fig 3.11: Connecting Rod

Fig 3.12: Flywheel

Fig 3.13: Assembly

Fig 3.14: parabolic solar concentrator
 CHAPTER 4

CONSTRUCTION, EXPERIMENTATION & CALCULATION

4.1 Construction
The construction and development of the Stirling engine is done by manufacturing
each individuals’ parts. As design requirement we manufacture 7 types of major parts
using our university lab machine. We manufacture our engine parts in the machine shop
of our university where we use 4 types of machine tools-
• Central lathe machine
• Milling machine
• Drilling machine
• Grinding machine

4.1.1 Regenerator with Pulse Tube

We used a stainless steel cylindrical hollow pipe of diameter 5cm and length of
25cm. a stack of glass wool is used as regenerator material, which is used to hold the heat
and to produce a constant heat flow to the sealed gas or air.

Fig 4.1: Hot section pulse tube

Fig 4.2: Regenerative material (glass wool)

4.1.2 Nozzle

We used a solid Aluminum bar to construct the nozzle. It is a cd (converging

diverging) type nozzle in which hot side end is 5cm of diameter and cold side end is of 4
cm diameter.

Fig 4.3: Nozzle

4.1.3 Cylinder

The cylinder is made of cast iron pipe. The casted iron pipe is turned into lathe
and finishing with grinding. The cylinder has a length of 10 cm and diameter of 4.3cm.
the stroke length of 2.5cm and bore diameter of 4cm.

Fig 4.4: Cylinder

4.1.4 Piston and Connecting Rod

Piston is also made of aluminum to keep the weight light as much as possible. The
piston has two grooves for compression rings and Has a Bore diameter of 4cm. The
connecting rod is made of aluminum bar.
 Fig 4.5: Piston and Connecting Rod

4.1.5 Flywheel

The flywheel is made of aluminum. It has a diameter of 11.5 cm. center of the
flywheel Is consists of a bearing and assembled with the frame by a nut and bolt.

Fig4.6: Flywheel

4.1.6 Cooling Fin (Copper Tube)

We use a copper tube and bend it spiral over the cylinder. The copper tube will be
filled with cold water.

Fig 4.7: cooling tube(copper)

4.1.7 Parabolic Solar Concentrator

We used (1” ×1”) finely cut mirror as a reflective element. A parabolic shape
structure is built with mild steel sheet of 2 mm thickness. Then the mirrors are fitted on
the upper surface of the parabolic structure with the help of glue.

Fig 4.8: solar concentrator

4.1.8 Stand for Solar Concentrator

The stand is used to hold the parabolic reflector in a desired position. The stand is
made of mild steel angles (L shape angle) A Tripod design is constructed for the stand to
support and balance the reflector.
 Fig 4.9: Solar Concentrator

4.2 Experimental Setup

4.2.1 Assembly of The Engine

The assembly of the final engine consists of pulse tube with a regenerative
material inside in the hot side, A nozzle which connects the hot side with the cold side.
The cold side consists of a cylinder and a copper tube wrapped over the cylinder for
cooling, inside of the cylinder a piston is placed and a connecting rod that connects the
piston with the flywheel
 Fig 4.10: Assembly of The Engine

4.2.2 Assembly of The Solar Concentrator

We used (1” ×1”) finely cut mirror as a reflective element. A parabolic shape
structure is built with mild steel sheet of 2 mm thickness. Then the mirrors are fitted on
the upper surface of the parabolic structure with the help of glue.
 Fig 4.11: Assembly of The Solar Concentrator

4.2.3 Complete Assembly of The Experimental Project

Fig 4.12: Complete Assembly

4.3 Experimental Result
4.3.1 Calculations

Energy efficiency of the engine is determined by:

(1) the properties of the working fluid;
(2) the ratio of the diameters of the displacer or piston;
(3) the ratio of the temperatures of the heater and cooler;
(4) the efficiency of the heat regenerator

Required Formula’s:
 Experimental value
Bore diameter, D=4cm
Stroke length, L=2.5cm
Maximum possible stroke=2cm
Cross sectional area of piston=25cm2
QI = 1193j [heat added in the cycle from solar concentrator]
Tmax= 500k
Tmin= 373k
Selecting working fluid as [AIR] Parameters,
R = 0.287 KJ/kgK
Cp= 1.005 KJ/kgK
Cv= 0.718 KJ/kgK
Gamma = 1.4

 Thermal Efficiency:
T max −T min
Ƞth= ×100 %
T min

Ƞth = thermal efficiency

500−373
Ƞth= × 100 %
373
Ƞth =34%
 Work Done:

Work Done = QI x ƞth

Where QI = heat added in the cycle
Ƞth = thermal efficiency
Work Done = QI x ƞth
=1193×0.34
= 405.62 js
= 405.62 watt

 Ideal Volume Ratio:

Volume ratio, VR= (1+∆T/1100)

VR=0.64

 Total Displacement of the engine:

total displacement= swept volume+ clearance volume

total displacement= (25+15) cc

=40cc

2
volume= π × D × L ×n
4
here, D= Bore diameter

L= stoke length including clearance and swept length

n= number of cylinders

2
volume= π × 4 ×3.2 ×1
4
=40.21 cc
 Swept Volume:

2
Swept Volume V = π × D × L
S 4
2
V = π × 4 ×2
S 4
V = 25cc
S

Clearance Volume:

2
Clearance volume V = π × D × h
c 4

h= distance between TDC (top dead center) to the head of the cylinder

2
V = π × 4 ×1.5
c 4
V
c = 15cc

Stroke To Bore Ratio: L

 D
L= stoke length

=2 D= Bore diameter
4
=0.5

Vt
Compression Ratio:
 r=
Vc

V =V +V
t c s

here,

V = total volume of engine

t

V = clearance volume of engine

c

V = swept volume of engine

s
 r =Vt
Vc

r = 40
15
r = 2.66

 Expansion Space Volume:

Expansion space volume is calculated using Power output and Beale Number.

P =B * p * f * V
0 n e

B = Beale number usually between 0.003-0.007

n

p= pressure in bar

f= operating frequency in Hz

V = P /B *p*f
e 0 n

 Ideal volume ratio

Ideal volume ratio= VR= 𝑉 +𝑉 / 𝑉

c e c

V = 𝑉 / 𝑉 −1
c e r

VR= 0.64

 Inertia of Flywheel:

The moment of inertia I of the flywheel is approximated as:

I= 0.5*m*(r 2−r 2)
i o

Where,

m= mass of the flywheel.

𝑟 = inner radius
i
 𝑟 = outer radius
o

 Solar Power Input:

Assuming there will be constant amount of heat received by the parabolic reflector.

Amount of energy received per sec is given by-

j= solar constant (w/

m ) × Area (m2) × time
2

j= 1353× π ×
(1.06) ×1
2
4
j=1193.98 joules

 Calculation Of Actual Mass in the System

For atmospheric air
Q¿=M act × CV × T max −T min
3
1193= M act × 0.718× 10 (500−373)

M act = 0.013083 kg/sec

 Calculation of Volume:
From ideal gas equation pv=nrt
Here
Patm × V comp=M act × R × T atm

1.01325×V comp =0.013083×0.287×103 ×300

V comp =1111.73m3 / sec

 Calculation For Initial Pressure

Pi × V comp=M act × R ×T atm

Pi × 1111.73¿0.013083×0.287×103 ×310

Pi ¿1.04706 bar
 ∴initial pressure Pi = 1.04706 bar

Isentropic gas equation between p, t

K
P 1 T 1 K−1
=
P2 T 2
1.399
1.04706 373 1.399−1
=
P2 500
P2=2.925 ¯¿

Final pressure, P2 = 2.925

4.3.3 Calculated Value

Table 5: List of Calculated Value

PARAMETER VALUE

Bore diameter, D 4 cm

Stroke length, L 2.5 cm

Total displacement, v 40 cc

Swept volume, V 25cc

s

Clearance volume, V 15cc

c

Stroke to Bore ratio, L 0.5

D
Compression ratio, r 2.66

Ideal volume ratio, V 0.64

r

Thermal efficiency, 34%

Ƞth
Work done 405.62watt

solar concentrator diameter Ds 1.06m

solar power input, Q 1193 watt

in

actual mass in the system, M act 0.013083 kg/sec

 volume, V comp 1.04706 bar

initial pressure Pi 1.04706 bar

Final pressure, P2 2.925 bar

4.3.4 Table and Graph

4.3.4.1 Thermal Efficiency Vs Hot Temperature

Table 6: Thermal Efficiency Vs Hot Temperature

HOT TEMPERATURE THERMAL EFFICIENCY

400 0.14
500 0.31
600 0.42
700 0.51
800 0.57
1000 0.65

THERMAL EFFICIENCY VS HOT TEMPER-

ATURE
0.7

0.6
THERMAL EFFICIENCY

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

HOT TEMPERATURE (K)

Fig 4.13: Graph of Thermal efficiency vs Hot temperature

4.3.4.2 Thermal Efficiency Vs Cold Temperature

Table 7: Thermal Efficiency Vs Cold Temperature

COLD TEMPERATURE THERMAL EFFICIENCY

200 0.75
400 0.5
500 0.37
600 0.25
700 0.12
800 0

THERMAL EFFICIENCY VS COLD TEMPER-

ATURE
0.8
0.7
THERMAL EFFICIENCY

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

COLD TEMPERATURE (K)

Fig 4.14: Graph of Thermal efficiency vs Cold temperature

4.3.4.3 Net Work Vs Hot Temperature

Table 8: Net Work Vs Hot Temperature

 Hot Temperature Net Work
400 400
500 370.14
600 501.48
700 608.94
800 680.58
1000 776.1

NET WORK VS HOT TEMPERATURE

900
800
700
NET WORK (JOULE)

600
500
400
300
200
100
0
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

HOT TEMPERATURE (K)

Fig 4.15: Graph of Net work vs Hot temperature

4.3.4.4 Net Work Vs Cold Temperature

Table 9: Net Work Vs Cold Temperature

COLD TEMPERATURE NET WORK

200 895.5
400 597
500 441.78
600 298.78
700 143.28
800 0
 NET WORK VS COLD TEMPERATURE
1000

900

800

700
NET WORK (JOULE)

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
COLD TEMPERATURE (K)

Fig 4.16: Graph of Net work vs Cold Temperature

 CHAPTER 5

MOTIVATION
This chapter will discuss the motivation behind this research into Stirling engines for
thermal energy conversion. Additional context on renewable energy and energy storage
will be covered, and then discuss potential benefits of this research on the field.

5.1 Background

Coming back to the environmental concerns, it is unmistakable the world is looking

for solutions. These have emerged in many forms. Renewable energy resources, improved
insulation and building methods, combined heat and power generation, etc. And
industries are not the only ones to commit themselves. The interest of the public in new
and better technology results in passive housing, micro-CHP for residential use, etc. One
of the broader concepts is a super decentralized system of renewable power generation.
This means a serious shift of the energy generation paradigm, but the idea is gaining
public support. A recent publication affirms that thirty-one (US) states could meet all
their electric energy demand relying on nearby renewable energy sources.
But climate issues tend to overshadow other severe problems. Still today, around thirty
percent of the world population has no access to electricity. Often accompanied by a lack
of fresh water, these problems create an enduring state of poverty for as many as 2 billion
people. Closing the gap of technological development has become too difficult for most
of these countries.

5.2 Potential of the Thermal Lag Engine

Clearly, the Stirling engine technology is still in its infancy. However, great potential
has often been cited. Stirling technology can be implemented when it comes to heat
exchangers, sealing solutions and optimization of the engine: pressurization of the engine,
the use of different working fluids, improved heat exchangers, new materials, etc. In
addition, the Stirling engine has a few advantages, such as the extreme mechanical
simplicity and the absence of moving parts in the hot space. Very high temperature
resistant materials like ceramics can be used with crude tolerances. This is not the case for
Stirling engines, where moving parts demand low tolerances and high surface finishes
that cannot be easily attained for these materials. The expected lower cycle efficiency
compared to a Stirling cycle engine can thus be alleviated by operating at higher
temperatures. This results in a higher thermal efficiency. The relatively unrestricted flow
of the Stirling engine also enables higher operating speeds. The piston in a Stirling engine
does not require high temperature sealing methods, as the piston sits in the cooled
cylinder.
This allows the use of simple rubber seals, such as Tailer’s annular rolling seal.
Stirling engine could be used in solar applications. Photovoltaic cells are expensive
primarily due to the cost of highly purified silicon. This is not the case for a Stirling
engine as they can be made with common materials such as steel and rubber.
Inherent to external heat engines is that they can run on any kind of fuel. Combustion is
continuous, so they run quietly and smoothly with high control of emissions.
Another important aspect to be taken into account is cost effectiveness. This is
represented
by the symbolic cost for hydrocarbon energy generation: 1$/W. An optimized Stirling
engine has the potential to achieve this goal because of its low initial and maintenance
cost.
The prospects mentioned above, reveal several applications for the Stirling engine. If all
the advantages are fully exploited, it could be part of a hybrid power generation system
that captures solar heat by day and runs quietly on any kind of fuel by night. Furthermore,
the need for low-cost site-built engines running on local resources in non-industrialized
regions can be met. Coal, wood, agricultural or solar powered Stirling engine could
enable remote or impoverished communities worldwide to generate electricity or drive
modest applications.
The problems and developments cited uncover vast opportunities for low-tech machines
like the Stirling engine to become a sustainable engine for the future.
 CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

6.1 Future Work

To continue this research, there are both technical and commercial areas in which
future work would be fruitful. In the technical domain, the Stirling engine prototype built
could be improved in a number of ways. The startup process was difficult as was
described previously, and could be improved simply be changing the neutral resting
position of the pistons. The displacer piston design presented repeated mechanical
problems, and could be greatly im-proved with more mechanical engineering attention, in
particular with respect to alignment, bearings, and tolerances. The experimental
prototype also took liberties with the method of pressurization, enclosing the engine in an
external pressure chamber, which simplified the de-sign, but is likely cost-prohibitive.
Further engineering to integrate the pressure containment into the engine itself would be
necessary to develop a viable commercial model. In the commercial space, further
research is needed into the specific market applications that would be most suited for
initial deployment. While the potential addressable market for the technology is large,
much of that market is not commercially accessible until the systems further along the
cost curve. Identifying the most promising early markets would be offkey strategic value.
In addition, reducing the cost of certain components in the prototype design, such as the
copper mesh material, would greatly improve the commercial viability of the system.

6.2 Final Words

The Stirling engine described in this dissertation points toward the potential for a
distributed system that can efficiently and reliably generate renewable electricity
combined with heat. The application space for Stirling systems is large, from residential
generation in a modern grid setting to microgrids in areas lacking a reliable grid. The
combined benefits of electricity generation, energy storage, and heat energy are an
attractive combination. The potential for this technology to play a role in decarbonizing
humanity’s energy portfolio is compelling. The primary goal of this dissertation is to
demonstrate the potential for a Stirling engines system as a clean energy technology and
to prove a design methodology that can be used for continued development of such a
system. To that end, the design process was proven out in experimental tests as a way to
design and optimize a Stirling engine system. The prototype built and tested delivered
for the purposes of experimental validation of the design process, and challenges and
lessons from this iteration can guide a path forward for future development.
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