Thermal and Structural Analysis of Micro-Fabricated Involute Regenerators

Abstract

Long-life, high-efficiency power generators based on free-piston Stirling engines are an energy conversion solution for future space power generation and commercial applications. As part of the efforts to further improve Stirling engine efficiency and reliability, a micro-fabricated, involute regenerator structure is proposed by a Cleveland State University-led regenerator research team. This paper reports on thermal and structural analyses of the involute regenerator to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed regenerator. The results indicate that the involute regenerator has extremely high axial stiffness to sustain reasonable axial compression forces with negligible lateral deformation. The relatively low radial stiffness may impose some challenges to the appropriate installation of the in-volute regenerators.

Experimental and Numerical Study of the Stirling Engine Robust Foil Regenerator

“…Finally, the regenerator was installed into the actual converter. The test result showed that the converter has an electrical efficiency of 35.16 %.Qiu et al[125] conducted thermal and structural analysis of the involute foil regenerator.As reported by Qiu et al, the extra cautions are required to install the regenerator because of the lateral deformation that could happen due to the low radial stiffness of the regenerator. By improving the radial stiffness of the regenerator, the potential degradation of the engine performance is avoidable.…”