IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v11y2018i3p505-d133681.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Thermodynamic Performance of Heat Exchangers in a Free Piston Stirling Engine

Author

Listed:
  • Ayodeji Sowale

    (Offshore Renewable Energy Engineering Centre, School of Water, Energy and Environment, Whittle Building 52, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK)

  • Athanasios J. Kolios

    (Offshore Renewable Energy Engineering Centre, School of Water, Energy and Environment, Whittle Building 52, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK)

Abstract

There is an increasing request in energy recovery systems that are more efficient, environmentally friendly and economical. The free piston Stirling engine has been investigated due to its structural simplicity and high efficiency, coupled with its cogeneration ability. This study presents the numerical investigation of quasi-steady model of a gamma type free piston Stirling engine (FPSE), including the thermodynamic analysis of the heat exchangers. Advanced thermodynamic models are employed to derive the initial set of operational parameters of the FPSE due to the coupling of the piston’s (displacer and piston) dynamics and the working process. The proximity effect of the heater and cooler on the regenerator effectiveness in relation to the heat losses, output power, net work and thermal efficiency of the FPSE are also observed and presented in this study. It can be observed that at temperatures of 541.3 °C and 49.8 °C of the heater and cooler, respectively, with heater volume of 0.004 m 3 , regenerator volume of 0.003 m 3 and cooler volume of 0.005 m 3 , the FPSE produced an output performance of 996.7 W with a thermal efficiency of 23% at a frequency of 30 Hz. This approach can be employed to design effective high performance FPSE due to their complexity and also predict a satisfactory performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Ayodeji Sowale & Athanasios J. Kolios, 2018. "Thermodynamic Performance of Heat Exchangers in a Free Piston Stirling Engine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:3:p:505-:d:133681
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/3/505/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/3/505/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kim, Jaeheun & Bae, Choongsik & Kim, Gangchul, 2013. "Simulation on the effect of the combustion parameters on the piston dynamics and engine performance using the Wiebe function in a free piston engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 446-455.
    2. Jia, Boru & Smallbone, Andrew & Feng, Huihua & Tian, Guohong & Zuo, Zhengxing & Roskilly, A.P., 2016. "A fast response free-piston engine generator numerical model for control applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 321-329.
    3. Wu, Wei & Hu, Jibin & Yuan, Shihua, 2014. "Semi-analytical modelling of a hydraulic free-piston engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 75-84.
    4. Jia, Boru & Tian, Guohong & Feng, Huihua & Zuo, Zhengxing & Roskilly, A.P., 2015. "An experimental investigation into the starting process of free-piston engine generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 798-804.
    5. Yang, Qin & Luo, Ercang & Dai, Wei & Yu, Guoyao, 2012. "Thermoacoustic model of a modified free piston Stirling engine with a thermal buffer tube," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 266-270.
    6. Xiao, Jin & Li, Qingfeng & Huang, Zhen, 2010. "Motion characteristic of a free piston linear engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(4), pages 1288-1294, April.
    7. Formosa, Fabien & Fréchette, Luc G., 2013. "Scaling laws for free piston Stirling engine design: Benefits and challenges of miniaturization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 796-808.
    8. Mao, Jinlong & Zuo, Zhengxing & Li, Wen & Feng, Huihua, 2011. "Multi-dimensional scavenging analysis of a free-piston linear alternator based on numerical simulation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 1140-1152, April.
    9. Zhang, Chen & Li, Ke & Sun, Zongxuan, 2015. "Modeling of piston trajectory-based HCCI combustion enabled by a free piston engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 313-326.
    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. Ayodeji Sowale & Edward J. Anthony & Athanasios John Kolios, 2018. "Optimisation of a Quasi-Steady Model of a Free-Piston Stirling Engine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Tavakolpour-Saleh, A.R. & Zare, Shahryar, 2019. "An averaging-based Lyapunov technique to design thermal oscillators: A case study on free piston Stirling engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(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. Ayodeji Sowale & Edward J. Anthony & Athanasios John Kolios, 2018. "Optimisation of a Quasi-Steady Model of a Free-Piston Stirling Engine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Jia, Boru & Smallbone, Andrew & Feng, Huihua & Tian, Guohong & Zuo, Zhengxing & Roskilly, A.P., 2016. "A fast response free-piston engine generator numerical model for control applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 321-329.
    3. Peng Sun & Chi Zhang & Jinhua Chen & Fei Zhao & Youyong Liao & Guilin Yang & Chinyin Chen, 2016. "Decoupling Design and Verification of a Free-Piston Linear Generator," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-23, December.
    4. Hung, Nguyen Ba & Lim, Ocktaeck, 2016. "A review of free-piston linear engines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 78-97.
    5. Wang, Yaodong & Chen, Lin & Jia, Boru & Roskilly, Anthony Paul, 2017. "Experimental study of the operation characteristics of an air-driven free-piston linear expander," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 93-99.
    6. Fukang Ma & Shuanlu Zhang & Zhenfeng Zhao & Yifang Wang, 2021. "Research on the Operating Characteristics of Hydraulic Free-Piston Engines: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-23, June.
    7. Peng Sun & Chi Zhang & Jinhua Chen & Fei Zhao & Youyong Liao & Guilin Yang & Chinyin Chen, 2017. "Hybrid System Modeling and Full Cycle Operation Analysis of a Two-Stroke Free-Piston Linear Generator," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-23, February.
    8. Zhang, Zhiyuan & Feng, Huihua & Jia, Boru & Zuo, Zhengxing & Yan, Xiaodong & Smallbone, Andrew & Roskilly, Anthony Paul, 2022. "Identification and analysis on the variation sources of a dual-cylinder free piston engine generator and their influence on system operating characteristics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    9. Guo, Chendong & Zuo, Zhengxing & Feng, Huihua & Jia, Boru & Roskilly, Tony, 2020. "Review of recent advances of free-piston internal combustion engine linear generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    10. Jia, Boru & Mikalsen, Rikard & Smallbone, Andrew & Zuo, Zhengxing & Feng, Huihua & Roskilly, Anthony Paul, 2016. "Piston motion control of a free-piston engine generator: A new approach using cascade control," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1166-1175.
    11. Zhang, Yan & Yang, Binbin & Ji, Deliang & Hou, Xiaochen & Zhao, Bo & Zhang, Tiezhu, 2023. "Integrated simulation and performance analysis of Confined Piston Linear Generator (CPLG)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    12. Yuan, Chenheng & Feng, Huihua & He, Yituan & Xu, Jing, 2016. "Combustion characteristics analysis of a free-piston engine generator coupling with dynamic and scavenging," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 637-649.
    13. Jia, Boru & Zuo, Zhengxing & Feng, Huihua & Tian, Guohong & Smallbone, Andrew & Roskilly, A.P., 2016. "Effect of closed-loop controlled resonance based mechanism to start free piston engine generator: Simulation and test results," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 532-539.
    14. Yuxi Miao & Zhengxing Zuo & Huihua Feng & Chendong Guo & Yu Song & Boru Jia & Yuyao Guo, 2016. "Research on the Combustion Characteristics of a Free-Piston Gasoline Engine Linear Generator during the Stable Generating Process," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, August.
    15. Hu, J.Y. & Luo, E.C. & Dai, W. & Zhang, L.M., 2017. "Parameter sensitivity analysis of duplex Stirling coolers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 1039-1046.
    16. Yang, Fubin & Zhang, Hongguang & Hou, Xiaochen & Tian, Yaming & Xu, Yonghong, 2019. "Experimental study and artificial neural network based prediction of a free piston expander-linear generator for small scale organic Rankine cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 630-644.
    17. Zhang, Chen & Sun, Zongxuan, 2017. "Trajectory-based combustion control for renewable fuels in free piston engines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 72-83.
    18. Mao, Jinlong & Zuo, Zhengxing & Feng, Huihua, 2011. "Parameters coupling designation of diesel free-piston linear alternator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 4577-4589.
    19. Lim, Ocktaeck & Hung, Nguyen Ba & Oh, Seokyoung & Kim, Gangchul & Song, Hanho & Iida, Norimasa, 2015. "A study of operating parameters on the linear spark ignition engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 746-760.
    20. Jia, Boru & Tian, Guohong & Feng, Huihua & Zuo, Zhengxing & Roskilly, A.P., 2015. "An experimental investigation into the starting process of free-piston engine generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 798-804.

    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:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:3:p:505-:d:133681. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.