IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v12y2019i21p4215-d283855.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimental Investigation of Displacer Seal Geometry Effects in Stirling Cycle Machines

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Sauer

    (TU Dortmund University, Lehrstuhl für Thermodynamik (BCI), Emil-Figge-Straße 70, 44227 Dortmund, Germany)

  • Hans-Detlev Kühl

    (TU Dortmund University, Lehrstuhl für Thermodynamik (BCI), Emil-Figge-Straße 70, 44227 Dortmund, Germany)

Abstract

This contribution deals with an experimental investigation of the optimization potential of Stirling engines and similar regenerative machines by an enhanced design of the cylinder liner and the seal. The latter is mounted at the bottom end of the gap surrounding pistons and displacers that separate cylinder volumes at different temperature levels. The thermal loss associated with this gap may amount to more than 10% of the heat input into these machines. Mostly, its design is reduced to an estimation of the optimum width by analytical models, which usually do not account for further relevant optimization parameters, such as a step in the cylinder wall. However, a recently developed, enhanced analytical model predicts that this loss may be significantly reduced by such a step. In this work, this design was realized and investigated experimentally according to this prediction by modification of the cylinder liner and the seal of an extensively tested laboratory-scale machine. The results confirm that such a design actually reduces the thermal loss substantially, presumably by reducing the cyclic mass flows through the open end of the gap. Additionally, it even improves the net power output due to a reduced volumetric displacement by the piston or displacer, resulting in smaller flow losses and thermal regenerator losses, whereas the pressure amplitude remains virtually unchanged, contrary to initial expectations. This has led to the remarkable conclusion that the design of most Stirling engines is possibly suboptimal in this respect and may be improved a posteriori by a minor modification; i.e., a reduction of the effective displacer seal diameter.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Sauer & Hans-Detlev Kühl, 2019. "Experimental Investigation of Displacer Seal Geometry Effects in Stirling Cycle Machines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-14, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:21:p:4215-:d:283855
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/21/4215/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/21/4215/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jose Egas & Don M. Clucas, 2018. "Stirling Engine Configuration Selection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-22, March.
    2. Chieh-Li Chen & Chia-En Ho & Her-Terng Yau, 2012. "Performance Analysis and Optimization of a Solar Powered Stirling Engine with Heat Transfer Considerations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(9), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Mabrouk, M.T. & Kheiri, A. & Feidt, M., 2015. "Effect of leakage losses on the performance of a β type Stirling engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 111-117.
    4. Salvatore Ranieri & Gilberto A. O. Prado & Brendan D. MacDonald, 2018. "Efficiency Reduction in Stirling Engines Resulting from Sinusoidal Motion," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-14, October.
    5. Carlos Ulloa & José Luis Míguez & Jacobo Porteiro & Pablo Eguía & Antón Cacabelos, 2013. "Development of a Transient Model of a Stirling-Based CHP System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(7), pages 1-19, June.
    6. 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.
    7. Songgang Qiu & Laura Solomon & Garrett Rinker, 2017. "Development of an Integrated Thermal Energy Storage and Free-Piston Stirling Generator for a Concentrating Solar Power System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Massimo Marino & Lorenza Misuri & Andrea Carati & Doriano Brogioli, 2014. "Proof-of-Concept of a Zinc-Silver Battery for the Extraction of Energy from a Concentration Difference," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-20, June.
    2. Yeongmin Kim & Wongee Chun & Kuan Chen, 2017. "Thermal-Flow Analysis of a Simple LTD (Low-Temperature-Differential) Heat Engine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Carmela Perozziello & Lavinia Grosu & Bianca Maria Vaglieco, 2021. "Free-Piston Stirling Engine Technologies and Models: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-22, October.
    4. Qiu, Hao & Wang, Kai & Yu, Peifeng & Ni, Mingjiang & Xiao, Gang, 2021. "A third-order numerical model and transient characterization of a β-type Stirling engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    5. Mojtaba Alborzi & Faramarz Sarhaddi & Fatemeh Sobhnamayan, 2019. "Optimization of the thermal lag Stirling engine performance," Energy & Environment, , vol. 30(1), pages 156-175, February.
    6. Gianluca Valenti & Aldo Bischi & Stefano Campanari & Paolo Silva & Antonino Ravidà & Ennio Macchi, 2021. "Experimental and Numerical Study of a Microcogeneration Stirling Unit under On–Off Cycling Operation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-14, February.
    7. 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.
    8. Jacek Kropiwnicki & Mariusz Furmanek & Andrzej Rogala, 2021. "Modular Approach for Modelling Warming up Process in Water Installations with Flow-Regulating Elements," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-17, July.
    9. Zare, Sh. & Tavakolpour-Saleh, A.R., 2016. "Frequency-based design of a free piston Stirling engine using genetic algorithm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 466-480.
    10. Rahmati, A. & Varedi-Koulaei, S.M. & Ahmadi, M.H. & Ahmadi, H., 2022. "Dynamic synthesis of the alpha-type stirling engine based on reducing the output velocity fluctuations using Metaheuristic algorithms," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).
    11. Marcin Wołowicz & Piotr Kolasiński & Krzysztof Badyda, 2021. "Modern Small and Microcogeneration Systems—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-47, February.
    12. Georg Scharinger-Urschitz & Heimo Walter & Markus Haider, 2019. "Heat Transfer in Latent High-Temperature Thermal Energy Storage Systems—Experimental Investigation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-19, April.
    13. Carlos Ulloa & José Luis Míguez & Jacobo Porteiro & Pablo Eguía & Antón Cacabelos, 2013. "Development of a Transient Model of a Stirling-Based CHP System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(7), pages 1-19, June.
    14. Jacek Kropiwnicki & Mariusz Furmanek, 2020. "A Theoretical and Experimental Study of Moderate Temperature Alfa Type Stirling Engines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-21, April.
    15. Qi, Yingxia & Meng, Xiangqi & Mu, Defu & Sun, Yangliu & Zhang, Hua, 2016. "Study on mechanism and factors affecting the gas leakage through clearance seal at nano-level by molecular dynamics method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 252-259.
    16. Zhu, Shunmin & Yu, Guoyao & Liang, Kun & Dai, Wei & Luo, Ercang, 2021. "A review of Stirling-engine-based combined heat and power technology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    17. Chin-Hsiang Cheng & Yi-Han Tan, 2020. "Numerical Optimization of a Four-Cylinder Double-Acting Stirling Engine Based on Non-Ideal Adiabatic Thermodynamic Model and SCGM Method," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, April.
    18. João Paulo N. Torres & Carlos A. F. Fernandes & João Gomes & Bonfiglio Luc & Giovinazzo Carine & Olle Olsson & P. J. Costa Branco, 2018. "Effect of Reflector Geometry in the Annual Received Radiation of Low Concentration Photovoltaic Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, July.
    19. Qiu, Songgang & Gao, Yuan & Rinker, Garrett & Yanaga, Koji, 2019. "Development of an advanced free-piston Stirling engine for micro combined heating and power application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 987-1000.
    20. Takeuchi, Makoto & Suzuki, Shinji & Abe, Yutaka, 2021. "Development of a low-temperature-difference indirect-heating kinematic Stirling engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).

    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:12:y:2019:i:21:p:4215-:d:283855. 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.