Nature and prospects of renewable energy source, equipped with a Stirling engine E.Ratz1, I. Ganev2, Tz. Petrova2, I.

Naydenova2,
1 2

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Technical University - Sofia, Bulgaria

College of Energy and Electronics at Technical University - Sofia, Bulgaria

In this work, an overview of the Stirling engine is provided, describing the technology and its applicability in the field of the renewable energy sources. Presented are the components, comprising the end -to -end solution from the solar concentrator to the grid. The purpose is to develop a model of this engine, analytic description of the existing processes in the model and to study parameters, which influence the output power. Considering the reduction of fossil fuels, the pollution of the environment and the climate change, society turned to the renewable energy sources. The mankind explores new opportunities for utilization of energy sources which are practically inexhaustible - wind, geothermal energy, solar energy and others. The aim is to improve the characteristics of the construction and operation of the installations, preventing any harmful effects on the environment. These requirements are largely satisfied by Stirling engine driven by the solar energy. Today, the Stirling engine has become the focus of a renewed interest. In 1816 Robert Stirling patented machine which produces driving force through heating air. Later, in 1845 such machine is produced. It worked only 3 years after that it is shutdown because of continuously damage of the heating device (at that time there were no heat-resistant steels). Heating part of the cylinder was not able to resist simultaneous action of the high temperature and the periodically changing internal pressure. After that the interest is shifted to the internal combustion engine. The main components of renewable energy source using solar energy and operating with Stirling engine are:

Solar Energy

Parabolic Power Dish

Stirling Engine

Synchronous Generator

Active Rectifier

Inverter

LC-Filter

Grid

Figure 1: The main components of an installation with a Stirling engine Parabolic power dish. In case the gas is heated by solar energy, a system for catching and concentrating this energy should be used. The Stirling generator extracts heat from the heat-resistant concentrator and keeps it up to 650oC. Otherwise, the temperature in it would raise to 2000oC [1].

Figure 2: The power dish by Infinia [1]

The surface of the mirrors should be kept clean for maximum efficiency. How often they need to be cleaned depends on the wind, the amount of dirt in the environment, and the location of the dish. According to the calculations of Infinia the power dish converts 24% of all the incoming sunlight into electricity, which makes it highly efficient [1]. At the same time the equipment of Sandia National Laboratories showed a record 31,25% of light energy, fallen on the plate is converted into electricity [2]. The shade cast on the dish from another dish or object degrades the output by the fraction of the dish that it covers. On the other hand, the photovoltaics can be greatly affected by a little bit of shade. For example, if shade covers 5% of the Power-Dish mirrors, power output drops by 5%. But if shade covers 5% of a photovoltaic cell, it can lead to a drop in the power output by 40% or more [1].

Linear Synchronous Generator is a linear synchronous electricity machine, which contain permanent magnets. It normally works in generator mode. The frequency is around 50 or 60Hz. Active Rectifier with high power factor. Electricity generated by the synchronous generator has a relatively constant frequency, but the voltage varies widely and increases with increasing heat input to the Stirling engine. The resulting alternating current is converted to direct current with a certain amplitude value of the constant tension. Rectification process is managed so that the generator operates with high power factor. This means sinusoidal current in phase with the voltage of the generator. Inverter converts direct current power to alternating current power and passes the power through an LC-Filter in the grid. Inverters are controlled so that it passes only active power to the grid. LC- Filter is for filtering higher harmonics of the current. The Stirling machine is engine with external combustion. The mechanical configurations of Stirling engines are generally divided into three groups known as the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma arrangements. Figure 3 shows a beta type Stirling engine. It contains two connected cylinders (3) with different cross-section and two pistons. The smaller one is power piston (2) which the expanding gas pushes out. The bigger one called displacer piston (1) does the following: displaces the working gas at constant volume, and shuttles it between the expansion and the compression spaces through series of cooling and heating procedures. The displacer piston does not touch the walls of the cylinder. Its purpose is to oust gas quantity equal to its volume in the opposite direction of its movement. The gas passes through this gap. The piston should be voluminous and light. It should also be a good heat insulator because it plays the role of barrier between the cold and the hot part of the machine. The heating gas expands and pushes out the power piston. The gas enters into the right cylinder, where it cools down and compresses its volume, and so the power piston moves to the opposite direction. To move the displacer, and to vary the pressure forces on the piston, in order to extract work from the engine, the displacer should be linked to the motion of the power piston. The link can be either kinematically (Figure 3) or dynamically (Figure 4). The free-piston Stirling engines provide a dynamic as opposed to kinematic link [4]. The Stirling cycle is intended for use with gaseous working fluid [7, 10]. The pressure in the machine is much higher than atmospheric pressure (the mean pressure starts from 1MPa [7] up to 10MPa [7, 8]). This is as a result of the following requirements: for given power the machine has to have an acceptable size and the working fluid should have effective internal 2

and external heat exchange. For this reasons the working fluid must have low viscosity, as a matter of high-level heat conductivity and heat capacity less dependent on the pressure. These requirements are best satisfied by hydrogen or helium [9].

3 4 1 5

1- Displacer piston 2- Power piston 3- Connected cylinders 4- Expansion space 5- Compression space

Figure 3: Kinematically linked of the pistons of the Stirling engine [3]

Figure 4: Dynamically linked of a free-piston Stirling engine [5]

The idealised Stirling cycle consists of four thermodynamic processes acting on the working fluid: 1. Isothermal expansion - the expansion-space and associated heat exchanger are maintained at a constant high temperature, and the gas undergoes near-isothermal expansion absorbing heat from the hot source. 2. Isochoric heat-removal - the gas is passed through the regenerator, where it cools transferring heat to the regenerator for use in the next cycle. 3. Isothermal compression - the compression space and associated heat exchanger are maintained at a constant low temperature in such way that the gas undergoes near-isothermal compression rejecting heat to the cold sink. 4. Isochoric heat-addition - the gas passes back through the regenerator where it recovers much of the heat transferred in 2, heating up on its way to the expansion space.

Figure 5: A pressure/volume graph of the idealized Stirling cycle

Conclusions The discussed renewable energy source with a Stirling engine has many advantages: 1. Solar energy is an inexhaustible source of energy .The sun is free and is an unlimited source capable of supplying large amounts of energy to our planet; 2. Robust and simple design - no restrictions on the time of operation, extremely low maintenance; 3. Quiet operation; 4. No environment pollution - the working fluid is helium, which is an inert gas; 5. The amount of water supply needed to produce electricity is significantly reduced in comparison to the conventional thermal power plants; 6. It offers low specific mass, compact structure for example: for 5 kWe the engine height is 560 mm and the maximum diameter 330 mm [6]; 7. The free - piston Stirling engine is non-friction machine. It requires no lubrication. 3

Future tasks and perspectives The survey indicates that the Stirling engine powered by solar energy, has a place as a renewable energy source. It is a complex hybrid structure, combining thermal, mechanical, electrical and electronic systems. Therefore, modeling such system is of great interest. References: [1] Stephen J. Mraz, Infinia uses Stirling cycle for solar power and air conditioning, published in http://machinedesign.com/article/infinia-uses-stirling-cycle-for-solar-power-and-airconditioning-0811, 2011 [2] Sandia National Laboratories, published in http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/537732/?sc=swhn [3] http://beinsa.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111:2010-04-12-1226-45&catid=2:2009-01-09-15-13-32&Itemid=4%29 [4] Jos A. Riofrio, Khalid Al-Dakkan, Mark E. Hofacker, and Eric J. Barth, Control-Based Design of Free-Piston Stirling Engines, American Control Conference, Washington, USA, 2008 [5] Sunpower Inc., http://www.sunpower.com/services/technology/stirling.php [6] Peter A. Chapman, Nicholas A. Vitale, Thomas J. Walter, 5-kWe Free-Piston Stirling Engine Convertor, published in http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20080012733_2008011106.pdf [7] William R. Martini, Stirling Engine Design Manual, Washington, 1983 [8] Koichi Hirata, Masakuni Kawada, Discussion of Marine Stirling Engine Systems, The 7th International Symposium on Marine Engineering, Tokyo, 2005 [9] Bancha Kongtragool , Somchai Wongwises, A review of solar-powered Stirling engines and low temperature differential Stirling engines, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2003 [10] H.Snyman, T. M. Harms, J. M. Strauss, Design analysis methods for Stirling engines, Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, August 2008