Perspectives in Science (2016) 7, 341—346

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journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/pisc

The Stirling engine mechanism

optimization夽
Jiří Podešva ∗, Zdeněk Poruba

VSB-Technical Univerzity of Ostrava, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, 17. listopadu 15, Ostrava,
Czech Republic

Received 6 November 2015; accepted 23 November 2015

Available online 12 December 2015

KEYWORDS Summary A special type of the gas engine with external combustion is called Stirling engine.
Combustion; The mechanism has two pistons with two volumes inside. The pistons are connected together
Gas engine; through cooler, regenerator and warmer. The engine effectivity depends on the piston move-
Effectivity; ment behaviour. The usual sinusoidal time curve leads to low effectiveness. The quick movement
Kinematic solution; from lower to upper position with a certain delay in both top and bottom dead centres is more
Driving mechanism effective. The paper deals with three types of mechanisms, analyzing the piston movement,
and their behavior. Special emphasize is taken to the piston movement regime.
© 2015 Published by Elsevier GmbH. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Introduction The ideal cycle of the Stirling engine is shown in Fig. 2.

The special type of the gas engine with external combustion
is called Stirling engine. The kinematic driving mechanism of
the engine consists of two pistons (working and transferring)
with two volumes (compressive and expansive) inside, con-
nected together through cooler, regenerator and warmer.
The design of the engine can have three forms (see Fig. 1,
where 1 is expansive volume, 2 is compressive volume, 3 is
warmer, 4 is regenerator and 5 is cooler).
夽 This article is part of a special issue entitled ‘‘Proceedings of
the 1st Czech-China Scientific Conference 2015’’.
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: jiri.podesva@vsb.cz (J. Podešva),
zdenek.poruba@vsb.cz (Z. Poruba).
The cycle has 4 phases (Míka, 2004).
1. Point 1 to point 2 in Fig. 2. The working piston is in the
lower position; compressive volume is large and cold. The
transferring piston is in the higher position, expansive
volume is near zero. The working piston moves upward,
the compressive volume decreases but due to cooling the
gas keeps its low temperature.
2. Point 2 to point 3 in Fig. 2. The working piston is in the
higher position; compressive volume is small and cold.
The transferring piston moves downward and presses the
gas from compressive volume through warmer to expan-
sive volume. The total volume keeps the temperature
and pressure increase.
3. Point 3 to point 4 in Fig. 2. The transferring piston is
in the lower position; the compressive volume is near
zero. The working piston moves downward drawing the

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pisc.2015.11.052
2213-0209/© 2015 Published by Elsevier GmbH. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
342 J. Podešva, Z. Poruba

transferr
working

Path of piston
0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Figure 1 Three forms of the Stirling engine. Angel

Figure 3 The path of the working and transferring piston.

gas from expansive volume through warmer to increasing
compressive volume. Due to warming the gas keeps its the p—V diagram (see Fig. 4) in the beginning of the expan-
high temperature. sion phase and subsequently higher torsion moment. The
4. Point 4 to point 1 in Fig. 2. The working piston is in the piston path depends on the gear mechanism, realizing the
lower position. The transferring piston moves upward piston motion.
pressing the rest of the gas from expansive volume
through cooler to the compressive volume. The total vol-
Solution with the crank mechanism
ume keeps, due to cooling, the temperature decreases.
The scheme of the crank mechanism is shown in Fig. 5.
The motions of both pistons are similar; the working pis-
The piston path—crank rotation relationship (Vinogradov,
ton is late in the phase. The efficiency of the engine is higher
2000; Huston, 2002) is:
if the transferring piston moves from one position to another 
more quickly and then stays in the position for a certain time
y = r · cos  + b2 − r 2 · sin2  (1)
(see Fig. 3, solid curve). This leads to the higher pressure in

Figure 2 The ideal cycle of the Stirling engine.

The Stirling engine mechanism optimization 343

14000
e
12000
Clasic crang transferring
10000 Janeta piston
Pressure kP

8000

6000 working
piston
4000
z
2000

0
350 400 450 500 550 600 z b
Volume 3 ] γ y

Figure 4 The comparison of the p—V curve for sinusoidal and x

non-sinusoidal transferring piston path. r

b
y
φ Figure 7 Mechanism with banked plate, kinematic scheme.

r The mechanism with banked plate

The scheme is shown in Fig. 7.

The motion of the banked plate is determined by two
rotations. Rotation about vertical axis (the rotational angle
Figure 5 The crank mechanism. ) and rotation about slanting bearing axis (the rotational
angle ).
Transformation of the unit vector due to rotation about
The corresponding curve is shown in Fig. 6. The piston
vertical axis z is (see Brát, 1981; Brát et al., 1987):
path has a good course only for extremely short connecting
rod (solid curve in the figure). This causes design problems. ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎧ ⎫
cos  −sin  0 cos ˛ 0 sin ˛ ⎨1⎬
⎣ sin  cos  ⎦
0 · ⎣ 0 1 0 ⎦ · 0
The Janeta design of the piston gear ⎩ ⎭
0 0 1 −sin ˛ 0 cos ˛ 0
mechanism ⎧ ⎫
⎨ cos  · cos ˛ ⎬
There are several types of the piston gear mechanism. In the = sin  · cos ˛ (2)
paper the three types of the mechanism, coming from the ⎩ ⎭
−sin 
firm of Mr. Janeta, Orlova, Czech Republic, will be evaluated
with respect to the transferring piston path. where ˛ is constant slope angle of the banked plate,  is
rotational angle about vertical axis z.
r Transformation of the unit vector due to rotation about
slanting bearing axis is (Brát, 1981; Brát et al., 1987):
y-b
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎧ ⎫
b = 2·r cos ˛ 0 sin ˛ cos −sin 0 ⎨1⎬
⎣ 0 1 0 ⎦ ⎣
· sin cos ⎦
0 . 0
0º 90º 180º 270º 360º 450º 540º 630º 720º ⎩ ⎭
−sin ˛ 0 cos ˛ 0 0 2 0
φ ⎧ ⎫
⎨ cos · cos ˛ ⎬
-r b = 1.05·r = sin (3)
⎩ ⎭
−cos · sin ˛
Figure 6 The piston path—crank rotation curve.
344 J. Podešva, Z. Poruba

100
α = 60º
z
α = 15º
working
0º 90º 180º 270º 360º 450º 540º 630º 720º piston
transferring
piston
φ
-100
b = 2·r
Figure 8 The piston lift path. bt bw
zt
φt
where is rotational angle about slanting bearing axis. The zw
condition, that both transformations must lead to the same rt
vertical plane y—z, gives the formula: rw
δ
sin  · cos ˛ sin
= (4) correct crank position
cos  · cos ˛ cos · cos ˛ φw
and subsequently:
tan = tan  · cos ˛ (5)
The z-coordinate of the unit vector gives the angle of the
Figure 10 Mechanism with Hook’s joint, kinematic scheme.
crank arm  (see scheme in Fig. 7):
sin  = −sin ˛ · cos (6)
between. The working piston crank rotates steadily while
Then for the crank mechanism is:
the transferring piston crank behind the Hook’s joint rotates
r · cos  + b · sin ı = e (7) non-steadily (Vinogradov, 2000; Huston, 2002).
The relationship between the angle w (working piston
where r is the arm length, b is the connecting rod length, 
crank) and t (transferring piston crank) is:
is the arm angle and ı is the slope angle of the rod. Finally
the piston lift path is:
tan w = tan t · cos ı (9)
z = r · sin  + b · cos ı (8)
The mechanism allows changing the parameters ˛ (the If the transferring piston crank foreruns the working pis-
plate angle) and b (the rod length) in large range. ton crank by the phase angle (usually = 90◦ ) then the
The curve shape is slightly influenced by the plate angle transferring piston crank rotational angle is:
˛, but the angle has direct influence to the piston lift ampli-
tan w
tude (compare solid curve for ˛ = 60◦ and dashed curve for t = arctan + (10)
˛ = 15◦ in Fig. 8). The rod length b slightly varies the curve cos ı
shape (see Fig. 9). The mechanism is easy to realize but the
Both working piston and transferring piston lift path are:
possibilities to modify the lift curve are limited.

zw = rw · cos w + bw2 − rw2 · sin2 w
The mechanism with the Hook’s joint (11)
zt = rt · cos t + bt2 − rt2 · sin2 t
The design consists of the two crank mechanisms (for
working and transferring piston) with the Hook’s joint where r is the crank arm length, b is the connecting rod
length.
While the working piston lift path (simple crank mecha-
100 b = 2·r nism, dashed curve in Fig. 11) is near sinusoidal (depending
z on the crank arm length to connecting rod length ratio), the
b = 0,3·r
transferring piston lift path (behind the Hook’s joint, solid
curve in Fig. 11) is near rectangular.
0º 90º 180º 270º 360º 450º 540º 630º 720º It is very important to arrange both crank mechanisms in
the right position to the cradles of the Hook’s joint (as shown
in Fig. 10). If the position will be opposite, then the trans-
ferring piston lift path will not satisfying (see solid curve in
-100 Fig. 12).
α = 60º It is clear that the transferring piston moves from one
position to the opposite with higher speed than the working
Figure 9 The lift path. piston. The ratio between these speeds is determined by the
The Stirling engine mechanism optimization 345

correct crank position the simple crank mechanism 180

100
B extended 5 mm
y-b
[mm]
50 x
0º 90º 180º 270º 360º 450º 540º 630º 720º
160
-50 φw

-100
the crank mechanism behind the Hook’s joint B shortened 5 mm
140
Figure 11 The piston path—crank rotation curve.

incorrect crank position the simple crank mechanism the basic curve
100
y-b 120
[mm]
50 0º 90º 180º 270º 360º

0º 90º 180º 270º 360º 450º 540º 630º 720º

φw
-50 φw Figure 15 The piston path—angle curve.
-100
the crank mechanism behind the Hook’s joint
The solution of the four-joint mechanism is determined
Figure 12 The piston path—crank rotation curve. by two equations (Vinogradov, 2000; Huston, 2002):

2 rt · cos t − e · sin ϑ + rw · cos w = B

(13)
ω rt · sin t + e · cos ϑ − rw · sin w = H
DR = t
ωw 1 where rw is the length of the working piston crank, e is the
length of the connecting rod, rt is the length of the transfer-
ring piston lever arm, w is the angle of the working piston
crank to the horizontal direction, ϑ is the angle of the con-
0º 90º 180º 270º 360º necting rod to the vertical direction, t is the angle of the
φw transferring piston lever arm to the horizontal direction.
Finally B and H is horizontal and vertical distance between
Figure 13 The drive ratio. the working piston crank joint and transferring piston lever
joint.
Then
drive ratio of the Hook’s joint — the first derivative of the
t = t + − 90◦ (14)
t —w relationship.

dt cos ı where t is the angle of the transferring piston crank to the
DR = = (12) vertical direction, is the angle between the transferring
dw cos w + sin2 w · cos2 ı
2
piston crank and lever arm. For the transferring piston crank
The drive ratio expresses the ratio between the angular mechanism is:
velocity of the transferring piston crank and the working rt · cos t + b · sin ı = H (15)
piston crank. The DR—w curve is in Fig. 13.

180
The four-joints mechanism rt extended 10 mm
x
The kinematic scheme is shown in Fig. 14.
160

rt shortened 10 mm

140

the basic curve

120
0º 90º 180º 270º 360º
φw
Figure 14 The four-joint mechanism, kinematic scheme. Figure 16 The piston path—angle curve.
346
where b is the connecting rod length and ı is the angle of
the connecting rod to the horizontal direction. Finally:
x = b · cos ı − rt · sin t (16)
is the transferring piston path.
The mechanism has many ‘‘tuning parameters’’, but the
reached piston lift path curve is not satisfying. Fig. 15
expresses the sensitivity to the change of the B distance;
Fig. 16 expresses the sensitivity to the change of the rt
length.
Any kind of parameter changing does not lead to reach
the requested shape of the transferring piston lift path.
Conclusion
The Stirling engine is the interesting alternative way to com-
mercialize the waste heat. One of the ways to increase the
effectiveness is to find the optimal mechanism to gear the
engine pistons and optimize its parameters (dimensions).
The first question, to find the mechanism, is rather
intuitive. The success depends on the designer’s idea, inspi-
ration. The second question, to optimize the parameters, is
analytical work. It can be done if the designer has a needed
knowledge in mechanics.
Evaluating four mechanisms the mechanism with the
Hook’s joint seems to be very satisfying. It is simple, easy
J. Podešva, Z. Poruba
to design and realize and it leads to the good shape of the
transferring piston path.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgment
The paper was prepared with support of the faculty project
SP2015/98.
References
Brát, V., 1981. Maticové metody. Academia, Praha, Czech Republic.
Brát, V., Rosenberg, J., Jáč, V., 1987. Kinematika. SNTL, Praha,
Czech Republic.
Huston, H.J.R.L., 2002. Dynamics of Mechanical Systems. CRC Press,
London.
Míka, J., 2004. Kogenerace s pístovými motory s vnitřním a vnějším
spalováním. Habilitační práce. VŠB — Technical University of
Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech republik.
Vinogradov, O., 2000. Fundamentals of Kinematics and Dynamics of
Machines and Mechanisms. CRC Press, London.