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A Low Temperature Differential Stirling A LOW TEMPERATURE DIFFERENTIAL STIRLING ENGINE FOR POWER GENERATION A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Engineering in the University of Canterbury by Caleb C. Lloyd University of Canterbury 2009 “Technical research and development process requires a full engagement of the complete person. In other words somebody must work exclusively night and day to solve ceaselessly arising new problems, caused by numerous technical details.” - Ivo Kolin, Professor of Thermodynamics, University of Zagreb Acknowledgements A special thanks to all workshop staff, in particular David Healy, who put up with me and my large project taking up all of their valuable space. This also includes Seth Jones and Gordon Baikie who were a huge help in putting the engine together. A big thanks to my supervisor Paul Gaynor who oversaw every aspect of the project and was a constant source of ideas and support. Also thanks to Annie McEwin for ensuring all the purchases made for this project were paid for on time. And finally to Carly for giving me support and bringing me lunches when I was too busy to feed myself. ii Preface This project forms part of a larger research effort being conducted at the University of Canterbury concentrating on Stirling engines. The research is focused primarily around using low-temperature differential Stirling engines in the field of power generation and considers key factors relating to scalability to large-scale generation and the commercial viability of such engines. Several publications have been created as a result of this research program. Of those publications, the work in this thesis is directly involved with the following: Lloyd, C. (2008) “Renewable Energy to Power Forward”, Presented at the EEA APEX 08 Southern Summit 2008, Christchurch, 3-4 April. Gaynor, P., Webb, R., and Lloyd, C. (2008) "Low Temperature Differential Stirling Engine-Based Power Generation", in Proceedings of the 1st IEEE International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies 2008, Singapore,24 -27 November. Gaynor, P., Webb, R., Lloyd, C., and Bodger, P. (2008) "A Low Temperature Differential Stirling Engine-Based Power Generation Research Programme", in Proceedings of the 2nd IASTED Power and Energy Systems Conference 2008, Botswana, Africa, September 8-10. Gaynor, P., Webb, R., and Lloyd, C. (2009) "Low Enthalpy Heat Stirling Engine Based Electric Power Generation: A Research Design", Accepted by IEEE International Conference on Clean Electrical Power 2009, Capri, Italy, 9 - 11 June. Gaynor, P., Webb, R., and Lloyd, C. (2010) "Power Generation using Low Temperature Differential Stirling Engine Technology", Accepted by World Geothermal Congress 2010, Bali, Indonesia, 25 - 29 April. i Abstract There are many sources of free energy available in the form of heat that is often simply wasted for want of an effective way to convert it into useful energy such as electricity. The aim of this research project is to design and build a low temperature differential Stirling engine capable of generating electric power from heat sources such as waste hot water or geothermal springs. The engine that has been developed is a research prototype model of a new type of design featuring a rotating displacer which is actuated by a pair of stepper motors. The rotating displacer design enables the use of readily available and comparatively cheap and robust steam pipe as the housing for the engine, and it also avoids problems associated with sealing and heat exchange that would be present in a large engine of a more traditional configuration. Owing to the fact that this engine is a research prototype, it has the ability to have some of its critical operating parameters such as phase angle and stroke length adjusted to investigate the effects on performance. When the next phase of development takes place most of these parameters will be fixed at the optimum values which will make manufacture cheaper and easier. Unfortunately, construction of the prototype engine has not been completed at the time of writing so no power producing results have been achieved; however thorough results are presented on the operation of the control system for the stepper motors which actuate the displacer. Additionally, after a thorough history and background of Stirling engines was researched, the understanding gained of how these engines work has enabled a design process to take place which has hopefully led to a successful design. Analysis of various aspects of the engine have been carried out and results look promising for the engine to produce around 500 Watts of electrical power output whilst running on hot water up to around 90°C. ii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................ II NOMENCLATURE ............................................................................................................................................. V LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................... VII LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................................ VIII INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1 – HISTORY ................................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 THE STIRLING BROTHERS ................................................................................................................................ 8 1.2 TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES .......................................................................................................................... 10 1.3 THE PHILIPS CONTRIBUTION .......................................................................................................................... 12 1.4 MODERN ADVANCES .................................................................................................................................... 14 1.5 CURRENT COMMERCIAL STIRLING ENGINE VENTURES ........................................................................................ 17 1.5.1 STM Corporation .......................................................................................................................... 17 1.5.2 WhisperGen™ ............................................................................................................................... 17 1.5.3 Sunpower ...................................................................................................................................... 18 1.5.4 Infinia ............................................................................................................................................ 18 1.5.5 SES ................................................................................................................................................. 18 CHAPTER 2 – STIRLING ENGINE BACKGROUND ................................................................................ 19 2.1 STIRLING ENGINE COMPONENTS .................................................................................................................... 19 2.1.1 Heat exchangers ........................................................................................................................... 20 2.1.2 Displacer ....................................................................................................................................... 26 2.1.3 Power piston ................................................................................................................................. 26 2.1.4 Regenerator .................................................................................................................................. 26 2.1.5 Other features .............................................................................................................................. 30 2.2 ENGINE TYPES AND CLASSIFICATIONS .............................................................................................................. 32 2.2.1 Alpha (α) Configuration ................................................................................................................ 33 2.2.2 Beta (β) Configuration .................................................................................................................. 34 2.2.3 Gamma (γ) Configuration ............................................................................................................ 34 2.2.4 Free Piston Configuration ............................................................................................................. 35 2.2.5 Low Temperature Differential (LTD) Engines .................................................................................... 36 2.3 THEORY OF OPERATION ................................................................................................................................ 38 2.3.1 Basics ............................................................................................................................................ 38 2.3.2 The Stirling Cycle ........................................................................................................................... 39 2.3.3 Losses ...........................................................................................................................................
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