Stirling engine design feasibility

Discussion on Stirling or "hot air" engines (all types)
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Christina
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:13 am

Stirling engine design feasibility

Post by Christina »

I am a final year Instrumentation and Control Engineering student in National Institute of Technology, India.
I am doing a project with 4 of my classmates. We plan to fabricate a stirling engine which works with solar energy.
We have a design in mind, where heating is done in both the sides.. The heating is by placing a parabolic solar concentrator which focuses the heat on both the sides. The cooling is done when the working gas is transported from one side to the other in tubes shown in the figure.The stirling engine is horizontal.
The movement is converted directly to electrical energy by placing a magnet in the moving rod and power windings in the cylinder.
The design and the cycle would work if equilibrium is achieved as a simple harmonic motion but we are not sure about it. If the piston attains stand still position the engine would not work..
most of the designs were vertical, we would like to do something horizontal.
I have attached the design. It would help us a lot if you could see it and comment.Your comments would help us greatly.
Thanking you
Christina
Attachments
this is our design
this is our design
stirlingdesign.JPG (48.61 KiB) Viewed 6984 times
Cartech
Posts: 97
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:26 pm
Location: Northern Nevada

Re: Stirling engine design feasibility

Post by Cartech »

I have lookded at your design diagrams and don't see how it could work. As I see it, you are making (designing) an "Alpha" type Stirling without a crankshaft and the tubing ports are trying to act as "phase". I have not seen or heard of a "free piston" alpha, so you might have something new here. I'm still trying to understand how you will be able to heat both ends and yet cool the gas (working fluid) between them. If that is the "cold" side, you expansion cycle will contract before it reaches the other side to "push" the opposite piston. Maybe if you make one side hot and one cold or rework it into a two cylinder / two displacer. "free piston" gamma type engine? Good luck with your idea. It does have a low friction and simple construction design.
Deferr
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:19 am
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Re: Stirling engine design feasibility

Post by Deferr »

I agree with the previous post that this engine design is not feasible as drawn; however, with a few modifications it may be possible to run a free piston ringbom stirling engine similarly. I have attached a depiction of such an engine. I hope this may help.

Image
lstdavid

Re: Stirling engine design feasibility

Post by lstdavid »

It can be a Stirling refrigerator, as http://www.logicsys.com.tw/refg1.htm
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