Performance Analysis and Optimization of a Solar Powered Stirling Engine with Heat Transfer Considerations

Chen, Chieh Li; Ho, Chia En; Yau, Her‐Terng

doi:10.3390/en5093573

Cited by 50 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Thermoelectric conversion is usually performed by means of heat engines, e.g., Stirling motors [36,37] or organic Rankine cycle [38] turbines, or by means of solid-state modules based on the Seebeck effect [39][40][41]. However, the thermoelectric energy production from low-and medium-temperature sources is an active research field, in which innovative solutions are studied (see, for example [42]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proof-of-Concept of a Zinc-Silver Battery for the Extraction of Energy from a Concentration Difference

et al. 2014

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The conversion of heat into current can be obtained by a process with two stages. In the first one, the heat is used for distilling a solution and obtaining two flows with different concentrations. In the second stage, the two flows are sent to an electrochemical cell that produces current by consuming the concentration difference. In this paper, we propose such an electrochemical cell, working with water solutions of zinc chloride. The cell contains two electrodes, made respectively of zinc and silver covered by silver chloride. The operation of the cell is analogous to that of the capacitive mixing and of the "mixing entropy battery": the electrodes are charged while dipped in the concentrated solution and discharged when dipped in the diluted solution. The cyclic operation allows us to extract a surplus of energy, at the expense of the free energy of the concentration difference. We evaluate the feasibility of such a cell for practical applications and find that a power up to 2 W per m 2 of the surface of the electrodes can be achieved.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proof-of-Concept of a Zinc-Silver Battery for the Extraction of Energy from a Concentration Difference

et al. 2014

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“…There have been significant efforts to develop SEs activated by solar energy [1,3] or any other type of renewable energy, such as biomass [4] and biodiesel. SE work independently of the heat source because the internal gas runs within a thermodynamic cycle as long as the temperature difference between the hot and cold sources is maintained.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a Transient Model of a Stirling-Based CHP System

Ulloa¹,

Mı́guez

Porteiro

et al. 2013

Energies

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Although the Stirling engine was invented in 1816, this heat engine still continues to be investigated due to the variety of energy sources that can be used to power it (e.g., solar energy, fossil fuels, biomass, and geothermal energy). To study the performance of these machines, it is necessary to develop and simulate models under different operating conditions. In this paper, we present a one-dimensional dynamic model based on components from Trnsys: principally, a lumped mass and a heat exchanger. The resulting model is calibrated using GenOpt. Furthermore, the obtained model can be used to simulate the machine both under steady-state operation and during a transient response. The results provided by the simulations are compared with data measured in a Stirling engine that has been subjected to different operating conditions. This comparison shows good agreement, indicating that the model is an appropriate method for transient thermal simulations. This new proposed model requires few configuration parameters and is therefore easily adaptable to a wide range of commercial models of Stirling engines. A detailed analysis of the system results reveals that the power is directly related to the difference of temperatures between the hot and cold sources during the transient and steady-state processes.

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“…For example, Carlsen by using two variables power and thermal efficiency that was obtained from a mathematical model increased the efficiency of Stirling engine up to 23% [8]. Chen used genetic algorithms to optimize a solar Stirling engine and the results of the optimization were implemented on the engine [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%