Master Prepared June 16, 1980
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FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT ON LOW PRESSURE HIGH SPEED STIRLING AIR ENGINE D.O.E. GRANT NO. DE-FG02-79R510142 BY M. ANDREW ROSS PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR 37 W. BROAD ST. #630 COLUMBUS, OHIO 43215 MASTER PREPARED JUNE 16, 1980 ~----------DI S CLAIMER-----------, This book was prepared as an account of work sponsored ~~:,a9,:~:: ~~e~~;~~~m~~:~e::.c::~=~ Neither the United Stat~ ~vernment no~nv,:~l1 Habititv or responsibility lor the accuracv. warran\V, e"'press or tmplted, or assu. pparatus product or process disclosed, or 10 1 completeness, or usefulness 01 a~y , orm~t!O~. ~wned ri~hts.. Refe~ence herein to any specific represent~ that its use v.ould not ·~fnnge ~~V:'::me. trademark, manufacturer, or Otherwise, doeS commeroal product. process, or serv•ce by mendation or favoring by the United not necessarily constitute or imply hs ~d.:r~ment,n~e:~ions of au;hors expressed herein do not States Government or any agency thereof. vtews a thereof necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency . OF THIS DOCUM'.NT IS UNL~ DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency Thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. DISCLAIMER Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document. v. ; N 0 T I C E This material was prepared with the ~upport o~ the U.S. Department of Energy, Grant No. DE-FG02-:79R510142. However,_ .any opinions,. findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those·of the author and do not nec~ssarily reflect th~ views of the D.6.E; Neither the United States nor its agent, the United States Department of Energy, nor any Federal employees, nor any of their . contractors, subcontractors or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness,.or use fulness of any inf6rmation, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe pri~ately owned rights. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Part I. Introduction 1 Part II. Summary ~vork Done / of 3 Part III. Technical Report 5 A. Design 5 1. Power Head Assembly 5 2. Crankshaft Mechanism. 6 B. Construction 8· .. 1. Displacer Dome & ·Hot Cap 8 2. Displacer & Piston 9 3. Connecting Rods & Yokes 9 4. Crankshafts 9 5. Dis placer Cylinder & Power Cylinder 9 6. Regencru.tor Matrix 10 7. Propane Burner 10 8. Wood Stove Modification 10 9. Miscellaneous Other Components 11 c: Testing 11 Part IV. Conclusions 13 Part v. References 16 i. r i I ·; TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Chart 1 18 Chart 2 19. Chart 3 20 Chart 4 21 Chart 5 23 Photo·1 24 Photo 2 24 Photo 3 25. Photo 4 25 Drawing Sheet 1 26 Drawing Sheet 2 27 ii. 'I ·' PART I. INTRODUCTION The Stirling· engine was invented by scotsman. Robert Stirli~g in 1816. It is a piston-type heat engine in which pressure fluxuations acting on the piston are provided by alternately heating arid 6ooling air (or another "working" gas) in the engine's cylinder. The same air or other working gas is used.6ver and over, and the high temperc.:"':.ure heat is suppli,ed to the working gas from outside the cylinder. The engine may therefor~ run on any source of high temperature heat; including con centrated solar energy or.the·combustion of paper, stra.w, wood, coal~ kerosene, or other fuels, and this constitutes one of its major advantages over rnos.t other heat engines. Additional advantages include the potential for lon~ life, high reliability, low maintenance, high efficiericy, and quiet operation . Stirlin~ air engines were reiatively ~idely used· 70 to 100 years ago for vari¢us dome~tic chores, particularly pumping water, ·and they earned an: excellent·reputation for silent ~nd reliable opera~ion. They were n~vertheless very large and heavy for their power, and were made obselete by electric motors and gasoline engines. [References 1 and.2] .· · These engines were practically forgotten by 1938, when the Philips Cpmpany of Holland decided to develop the Stirling.into a modern high-speed engine. The Philips literature [References 3, 4, & 5] from this initial w6rk is ~ssential reading for anYone ~eriously interested in Stirling engines (for one actual test, see reference 16). By 1949 Phiiips had developed the Stirling air engine to an advanced state; but thereafter, for various reasons [Reference 2], interest:in the Stirling engine wanned, and when it revived several years later with the invention of the rhombic drive [Reference 6], it was and has remained devoted almost entirely to sophisticated high pressure hydrogen and helium Stirling engines, for such intended applications as automobiles, trucks, space powerplants, etc. These high technology Stirlings are very interesting, and in some ways very promising, but they have been plagued from the start with difficulties of adequately sealing the high pressure working gas for long periods of time. [Reference 7]. Recently, with the increased public.attention given to "appropriate" technology, there has been some revival of interest in air S.t.irlings ... [.. Re:f,er;ences 8 1 9; & 10] 1 but by far the bulk of ·t6~ inter~st~a~~ ~ori~~ in Stirling engines remains in high technology hydrogen and hel1um : ~-: ':) :. ' ···.} \. ; • '·~ • • ,•,, • -~ : I .' • .. ' • ·: ( ' : • ' • ,-. '; ,., .f: ... '\ ' • • ••' ' ' • ' •, ' (' ;- -~ _.., • '1 , .• , : • • ·-:, .... ·Today.: .over: .'4 0__ yea~s. _aft~.r. ,:t:he.-)·eVi. vaT of. modern . ..t"riterest in .the~Sti.'rlirig. eng_i_n$, there is. still no general p~rp<;>:;;e S,ti.,iling- available· at a.c·o_mpetitive 'price for 'doing. ·useful. work ... ,.,·. There a~e s'~veral sources, of. expen'7': sive ~es~ar9~.engiri~s, including_a very,inte~e~ting free. p_iston engine._ .[Reference _17], and ~~veral sources of desk -top modeJ. .. engi)1es,:[Reference ·.18]_, but little .. e:l~e .. This lack o.f hardwc?.re has greatly i.nh.ibi ted the development of a broad base of Stirling engine researc:h; ~d development. _Apart from the. early_· Phili.p~· arti<;::_les . [Ref~remces 3, 4, ·f< 5] anc:,i seve-ral other impo_rtant works.. , [such as .Reference '13 .& lAJ~ there is not everi much practical advise in the 'literattire.intended ~o guide one wishing to buiid a ~tirling ~ngine~. · . ; ., The.~ ap~\re··.·cur~·6i-y i~vl~-~, of stirii.qg. ~ngin_~_ history.. permits _the. project .which_ is the subject of this. paper to be, put in a proper perspe9-tive ....The pr,ojec;t was to design, construct, and- test a simple. 1ow ·pressure Stirling air._ engine capable!- of produci~g ].00 _wu.tt:J ( 1/8 hp .). of -mechani.·· cal power (See drawing 1 and 2 I attached) .1. T.qe majqr: purpqse of. :the proj ec.-t; Yf.i=I-S· _.t'() demonstrate t~at a relativ~ly simple~.multiftiel, low pressure ~but high speed)_ Stirling air ~ngirie .. of useful. power can be built with limited funds and resources,. :a·na ·can constitute appropriate:_ technology fo_r,.v.arious _applications; • l ' . ~ .• . ' f • • • 'The .. -pr_oject eri'cjipe can be co·nsid,ered to fall ~some:-:. \vhere between the si,mple atmospheric engi_nes.·of 70 years ago and the medi).lll1 press:ure (140 + psi) Philips air eng~nes of the l940',s·~ · · • • • ' I : • .' • •' ' • ' ' ' I • ' •' ' • i _· t • ' 't ~ • _• - • • : • ! ' ' , . ) .• ike. the--antiqu~- engirieE! 1 ·• _'tli.~- pr()ject: _erigi,pe hi=is a · re1atively la;~;"ge ,volume. of piston:_qisplacement, a simple c:ylindrica,J,_ (unfinned) . heater, and a low. press_ure.' le,vel; but like· t.h.'e_._Pll;ilips · eiigine·s. i.t_ ope~~i=lte~_·' at· rela:ti vely .. high sp~~-4, . employs_ inoderp' .materials,,_ ~nd is relatively light...,weign_t. · · -·· .. :- •' .··· 1. Th~s~ .. prawings. were d~awn full .p~ze.J -~o. q.s .to require no dimen~ioning. ··.They were .red-peed '33%. in si~e (2" = 3") to more readily fit-in ~his report. A scale (which did not reproduce very well) appears on drawing 1. -2- In fact~ the project engine may be seen as a step toward a new line of development .in Stirling engines; that is, light-weight air S.tirlings of extremely large bore/stroke ratios, with plain heaters.· This idea. is · developed further in Parts III arid IV of thrs report, and is perhaps one of the most useful ideas to come out of this project. In the following parts of this report it will be assumed the reader is reasonably· familiar with Stirling engine operation and terminology. If more background information is desired there are a number of excellent sources [References 12, 13, and 14]. PART II. SUMMARY OF WORK DONE Tne purpose of this project was to design, construct and test a simple, appropriate technology low pressure, high speed, wood-fired Stirling air engine of 100 watts output. The initial design was a concentric piston/displacer engine of 4.54 inch (11.53 Cfu.) LoLe e:utd 1.25 i.nch (3.175 em.) stroke, with a separate ciosshead to absorb connecting rod side forces, and levers to actuate the displacer.