An investigation of a Ɣ-type MTD Stirling engine prototype

Abstract

Although thermal efficiency of moderate temperature differential (MTD) Stirling engines is higher than low temperature (LTD) engines, the complexity of design of MTD engines has led to the lack of research in this field. In this work, a prototype of Ɣ-type moderate-temperature differential Stirling engine was manufactured, evaluated and structurally optimised. A mathematical evaluation was carried out based on a finite-dimension thermodynamics approach. The swept volume ratio was optimised based on the temperature difference of 450 .𝐶 0 . A computer program was thus written to simulate the Stirling engine performance under the assumed working conditions. Based on the mentioned temperature difference, the swept volume ratio of the engine was found to be 3. The engine dimensions were then adjusted to fulfil the computed swept volume ratio. The bore and stroke for power piston were chosen as 60 mm and 40 mm, respectively. For the displacer, they were selected as 90 mm and 60 mm, respectively based on the chosen swept volume ratio.