IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v253y2019ic4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stirling engine regenerators: How to attain over 95% regenerator effectiveness with sub-regenerators and thermal mass ratios

Author

Listed:
  • Nielsen, Anders S.
  • York, Brayden T.
  • MacDonald, Brendan D.

Abstract

A combined theoretical and experimental approach is used to determine how to achieve a desired value for the Stirling engine regenerator effectiveness. A discrete one-dimensional heat transfer model is developed to determine which parameters influence the effectiveness of Stirling engine regenerators and quantify how they influence it. The regenerator thermal mass ratio and number of sub-regenerators were found to be the two parameters that influence the regenerator effectiveness, and the use of multiple sub-regenerators is shown to produce a linear temperature distribution within a regenerator, which enables the effectiveness to be increased above 50%. It is shown that increasing the regenerator thermal mass ratio and number of sub-regenerators results in an increase in regenerator effectiveness and a corresponding increase in the Stirling engine efficiency. A minimum of 19 sub-regenerators are required to attain a regenerator effectiveness of 95%. Experiments validated the heat transfer model, and demonstrated that stacking sub-regenerators, such as wire meshes, provides sufficient thermal resistance to generate a temperature distribution throughout the regenerator. This is the first study to determine how Stirling engine designers can attain a desired value for the regenerator effectiveness and/or a desired value for the Stirling engine efficiency by selecting appropriate values of regenerator thermal mass ratio and number of sub-regenerators.

Suggested Citation

  • Nielsen, Anders S. & York, Brayden T. & MacDonald, Brendan D., 2019. "Stirling engine regenerators: How to attain over 95% regenerator effectiveness with sub-regenerators and thermal mass ratios," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:253:y:2019:i:c:4
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113557
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261919312310
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113557?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kongtragool, Bancha & Wongwises, Somchai, 2006. "Thermodynamic analysis of a Stirling engine including dead volumes of hot space, cold space and regenerator," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 345-359.
    2. Rui F. Costa & Brendan D. MacDonald, 2018. "Comparison of the Net Work Output between Stirling and Ericsson Cycles," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, March.
    3. Li, Zhigang & Haramura, Yoshihiko & Kato, Yohei & Tang, Dawei, 2014. "Analysis of a high performance model Stirling engine with compact porous-sheets heat exchangers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 31-43.
    4. Erbay, L.Berrin & Yavuz, Hasbi, 1997. "Analysis of the stirling heat engine at maximum power conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 645-650.
    5. Kaushik, S.C & Kumar, S, 2000. "Finite time thermodynamic analysis of endoreversible Stirling heat engine with regenerative losses," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(10), pages 989-1003.
    6. Costa, Sol-Carolina & Tutar, Mustafa & Barreno, Igor & Esnaola, Jon-Ander & Barrutia, Haritz & García, David & González, Miguel-Angel & Prieto, Jesús-Ignacio, 2014. "Experimental and numerical flow investigation of Stirling engine regenerator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 800-812.
    7. Araoz, Joseph A. & Salomon, Marianne & Alejo, Lucio & Fransson, Torsten H., 2015. "Numerical simulation for the design analysis of kinematic Stirling engines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 633-650.
    8. Wang, Kai & Sanders, Seth R. & Dubey, Swapnil & Choo, Fook Hoong & Duan, Fei, 2016. "Stirling cycle engines for recovering low and moderate temperature heat: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 89-108.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Al-Nimr, Moh'd & Khashan, Saud A. & Al-Oqla, Hashem, 2023. "Novel techniques to enhance the performance of Stirling engines integrated with solar systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 894-906.
    2. Yajuan Wang & Jun’an Zhang & Zhiwei Lu & Bo Liu & Hao Dong, 2023. "Analysis of Fluid-Solid Coupling Radial Heat Transfer Characteristics in a Normal Hexagonal Bundle Regenerator under Oscillating Flow," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-27, September.
    3. Yu, Minjie & Xu, Lei & Cui, Haichuan & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2024. "Characteristics and potential of a novel inclined-flow stirling regenerator constructed by sinusoidal corrugated channels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    4. Al-Nimr, Moh'd & Khashan, Saud & Al-Oqla, Hashem, 2023. "A novel hybrid pyroelectric-Stirling engine power generation system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    5. Kumaravelu, Thavamalar & Saadon, Syamimi & Abu Talib, Abd Rahim, 2022. "Heat transfer enhancement of a Stirling engine by using fins attachment in an energy recovery system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PA).
    6. Shi, Peng & Wang, Lin-Shu & Schwartz, Paul & Hofbauer, Peter, 2020. "State-wide comparative analysis of the cost saving potential of Vuilleumier heat pumps in residential houses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    7. Zare, Shahryar & Tavakolpour-saleh, A.R. & Aghahosseini, A. & Sangdani, M.H. & Mirshekari, Reza, 2021. "Design and optimization of Stirling engines using soft computing methods: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    8. Chen, Pengfan & Zhong, Geyu & Niu, Yafeng & Liu, Yingwen, 2022. "Performance optimization of a free piston stirling engine using multi-section regenerators based on the response surface methodology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    9. Yajuan Wang & Jun’an Zhang & Zhiwei Lu & Jiayu Liu & Bo Liu & Hao Dong, 2022. "Analytical Solution of Heat Transfer Performance of Grid Regenerator in Inverse Stirling Cycle," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-25, September.
    10. Rutczyk, Bartłomiej & Szczygieł, Ireneusz & Kabaj, Adam, 2020. "Evaluation of an α type stirling engine regenerator using a new differential model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cheng, Chin-Hsiang & Yang, Hang-Suin, 2011. "Analytical model for predicting the effect of operating speed on shaft power output of Stirling engines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 5899-5908.
    2. Ferreira, Ana C. & Nunes, Manuel L. & Teixeira, José C.F. & Martins, Luís A.S.B. & Teixeira, Senhorinha F.C.F., 2016. "Thermodynamic and economic optimization of a solar-powered Stirling engine for micro-cogeneration purposes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1-17.
    3. Schneider, T. & Müller, D. & Karl, J., 2020. "A review of thermochemical biomass conversion combined with Stirling engines for the small-scale cogeneration of heat and power," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    4. Miguel Torres García & Elisa Carvajal Trujillo & José Antonio Vélez Godiño & David Sánchez Martínez, 2018. "Thermodynamic Model for Performance Analysis of a Stirling Engine Prototype," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-25, October.
    5. Cheng, Chin-Hsiang & Yang, Hang-Suin, 2013. "Theoretical model for predicting thermodynamic behavior of thermal-lag Stirling engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 218-228.
    6. Ahmadi, Mohammad H. & Ahmadi, Mohammad-Ali & Pourfayaz, Fathollah, 2017. "Thermal models for analysis of performance of Stirling engine: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 168-184.
    7. Marion, Michaël & Louahlia, Hasna & Gualous, Hamid, 2016. "Performances of a CHP Stirling system fuelled with glycerol," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 182-191.
    8. Pablo Jimenez Zabalaga & Evelyn Cardozo & Luis A. Choque Campero & Joseph Adhemar Araoz Ramos, 2020. "Performance Analysis of a Stirling Engine Hybrid Power System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-38, February.
    9. Buliński, Zbigniew & Szczygieł, Ireneusz & Krysiński, Tomasz & Stanek, Wojciech & Czarnowska, Lucyna & Gładysz, Paweł & Kabaj, Adam, 2017. "Finite time thermodynamic analysis of small alpha-type Stirling engine in non-ideal polytropic conditions for recovery of LNG cryogenic exergy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 2559-2571.
    10. Ni, Mingjiang & Shi, Bingwei & Xiao, Gang & Peng, Hao & Sultan, Umair & Wang, Shurong & Luo, Zhongyang & Cen, Kefa, 2016. "Improved Simple Analytical Model and experimental study of a 100W β-type Stirling engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 768-787.
    11. Jose Egas & Don M. Clucas, 2018. "Stirling Engine Configuration Selection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-22, March.
    12. Lai, Xiaotian & Long, Rui & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2018. "Stirling engine powered reverse osmosis for brackish water desalination to utilize moderate temperature heat," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PA), pages 916-930.
    13. Bert, Juliette & Chrenko, Daniela & Sophy, Tonino & Le Moyne, Luis & Sirot, Frédéric, 2014. "Simulation, experimental validation and kinematic optimization of a Stirling engine using air and helium," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 701-712.
    14. Zhu, Shunmin & Yu, Guoyao & Ma, Ying & Cheng, Yangbin & Wang, Yalei & Yu, Shaofei & Wu, Zhanghua & Dai, Wei & Luo, Ercang, 2019. "A free-piston Stirling generator integrated with a parabolic trough collector for thermal-to-electric conversion of solar energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 1248-1258.
    15. Tlili, I. & Vakkar, Ali, 2020. "Thermodynamic analysis and optimization of solar thermal engine: Performance enhancement," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 540(C).
    16. Masoumi, A.P. & Tavakolpour-Saleh, A.R., 2020. "Experimental assessment of damping and heat transfer coefficients in an active free piston Stirling engine using genetic algorithm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    17. Peter Durcansky & Radovan Nosek & Jozef Jandacka, 2020. "Use of Stirling Engine for Waste Heat Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-15, August.
    18. Timoumi, Youssef & Tlili, Iskander & Ben Nasrallah, Sassi, 2008. "Design and performance optimization of GPU-3 Stirling engines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1100-1114.
    19. Ahmadi, Mohammad H. & Ahmadi, Mohammad Ali & Pourfayaz, Fathollah & Hosseinzade, Hadi & Acıkkalp, Emin & Tlili, Iskander & Feidt, Michel, 2016. "Designing a powered combined Otto and Stirling cycle power plant through multi-objective optimization approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 585-595.
    20. Thombare, D.G. & Verma, S.K., 2008. "Technological development in the Stirling cycle engines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 1-38, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:253:y:2019:i:c:4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.