Journal of Power and

Energy

Systems

Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008
1198
The Experimental Study of Atmospheric
Stirling Engines Using Pin-Fin Arrays'
Heat Exchangers*
Seita ISSHIKI**, Hidekazu SATO***, Shoji KONNO****
Hiroaki SHIRAISHI****, Naotsugu ISSHIKI*****, Iwane FUJII******
and Hiroyuki MIZUI*******
**Fukushima National College of Technology
30 Nagao, Iwaki, 970-8034, Japan
E-mail:isshiki@fukushima-nct.ac.jp
***Graduate School of Symbiotic Systems Science and Technology, Fukushima University
1 Kanayagawa, Fukushima, 960-1296, Japan
****Alps Electric Co., ltd.
1-7 Yukigaya-otsuka-cho, Ota-ku, Tokyo, 145-8501, JAPAN
*****Tokyo Institute of Technology, Prof. of Emeritus
2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, JAPAN
******Meiji University, Prof. of Emeritus
1-1 Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-8301, JAPAN
*******Advanced Course in Mechanical and Electrical System Engineering,
Fukushima National College of Technology
30 Nagao, Iwaki, 970-8034, Japan

Abstract
This paper reports experimental results on two kinds of atmospheric Stirling
engines that were designed and manufactured using a pin-fin array heat exchanger
for the heater and cooler (abbreviated to "pin-fin Stirling engine" hereafter). The
first one is a large type pin-fin Stirling engine with a 1.7-liter displacement
volume and power piston volume. The heater consists of an aluminum circular disk
with a diameter of 270mm and with large-scale pin-fin arrays carved into the
surface. The maximum output reached 91W at a temperature difference of 330K,
which is 36% of the scheduled value and 68% of the Kolin's cubic power law. The
maximum thermal efficiency was estimated 4.2%. The second engine is an type
pin-fin Stirling engine. Glass syringes were used for the piston-cylinder system and
the Ross-yoke mechanism was used for the crank mechanism. By changing
temperature difference, the characteristic of output torque in the large range was
measured with a precision torque detector.
Key words: Stirling Engine, Pin-Fin Heat Exchanger, Layered-Plate Type
Regenerator, Energy Conversion, Thermal Efficiency

1. Introduction
The amount of biomass resources discharged in Japan is 20 million kiloliters in oil
equivalent values per year. If all biomass resources can be used effectively, oil imports can
be reduced by about 10%. A system which utilizes Stirling engines to obtain kinetic power
from biomass resources is considered to be the most suitable method. The authors have
clearly shown that, in theory
(1)
, a pin-fin Stirling engine, which uses fewer parts and cost
less, can match the performance of a conventional Stirling engine. Therefore, in the present
study, two kinds of pin-fin Stirling engines having the following features were designed and
*Received 15 Apr., 2008 (No. 08-0308)
[DOI: 10.1299/jpes.2.1198]


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Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008
P
i
t
c
h
W
i
d
t
h
H
e
i
g
h
t
Fig.1 Projected view of pin-fin array
manufactured, and several experiments were carried out on them. Figure 1 shows a
projected view of the pin-fin arrays. By carving many rows of grooves in both the
lengthwise and crosswise directions of a circular disk, pin-fin arrays whose cross section is
square as shown in Fig.1 can be made.
The features of a type large pin-fin Stirling engine are as follows: The friction
between pistons and a cylinder can become very small by using a highly precise honing
pipe with very accurate roundness and cylindrical tolerance. Pistons are manufactured to
have moderate running fit tolerance with the honing pipe. Sufficiently large swept volumes
of the displacer piston and the power piston reduces the effect of gas leakage. The cylinder's
bore length and stroke length are 150 and 100mm, respectively. The pin-fin heat exchanger
with a total surface area of 0.61
2
was used. An 270mm-diameter aluminum alloy
circular disk with large-scale pin-fin arrays, 20mm
high and 2mm wide with 4 mm pitch, are carved into
the surface area.
The features of an type pin-fin Stirling engine
are as follows: In order to reduce friction and gas
leakage between the cylinder and piston, glass syringes
are utilized for the cylinder and piston systems. The
Ross-yoke mechanism was used for the driving
mechanism. A moderate size engine was built so that
improvements could be made easily.

2. The experimental apparatus
2.1 type large pin-fin Stirling engine
The cross-sectional view of the engine that was designed and manufactured is shown
in Fig.2. The engine is 300mm in diameter and 850mm in height. The lower side of the
engine is the heat energy conversion section and the upper side is the kinetic motion
mechanism section. Table 1 shows the main specifications of the engine. The displacement
volume and the power piston volume are both 1.7 liters, which is about the same size as a
cylinder in the diesel engine of large truck. The heat energy conversion section consists of a
cylinder, a power piston, a displacer piston, a pin-fin heater, a pin-fin cooler and the
engine's outer pipe. The cylinder was manufactured by a highly precise honing process and
has an average surface roughness of 0.4 , an inner diameter of 150mm, with a dimension
tolerance of H8, and a length of 460mm. The power piston and the displacer piston were
manufactured with a precise lathe. The fit allowance used between the cylinder and pistons
were moderate running fit allowance. A cylindrical displacer hat, manufactured using a
precise thin welding process, of 1mm thick, stainless steel plate was attached to the
displacer piston. The pin-fin heater has square-base pin-fin arrays with 2 mm sides and 20
mm height carved into it. Sixteen electric cartridge heaters with a capacity of 240 W each
were installed in the pin-fin heater in the radial direction with the circumferentially equal
pitch. A backup electric heater is attached underneath the thermal insulating plate, which in
turn is attached just underneath the pin-fin heater. By applying electricity to the cartridge
heaters installed in the backup heater, the temperature difference between the upper face and
lower face was controlled to stay within 5K. Using this method, the quantity of the electric
heating to the pin-fin heater can be regarded as the equivalent to the net input heat quantity
into the engine. The kinetic motion mechanism section consisted of 2 linear sliders and gear
mechanisms, which guide the motion of the power piston and displacer piston in accurate
linear motions upward and downward. By attaching a linear bearing to the center line of the
power piston, the motion of the displacer rod became very smooth. Also, flywheels were
attached to both sides of the main shaft. The photograph of the type large pin-fin Stirling


Journal of Power and
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Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008
300mm
Main shaft
Bearing holder
Linear slider
"L" shape plate
Linear slider's rail
Displacer rod
Main frame
Power piston
Base plate
Cooling water
Pin-fin cooler
Outer flange
Displacer piston
Displacer hat
Cylinder
Regenerator
Outer pipe
Snap ring
Pin-fin heater
Backup heater
Cover ring
Cover ring
Insulator
Cartridge heater
engine is shown in Fig. 3.



























Fig. 2 Cross-sectional veiw of type large pin-fin Stirling engine



















Fig. 3 Photograph of type large pin-fin Stirling engine


Table 1 The specifications of type Stirling
engine
Items Symbols Values
Bore diameter
Stroke
Displacement volume
Power piston volume
Dead space ratio
Wire-mesh case
Layered-plate case
Source temperature

Sink temperature

Pin-fin arrays:
Overall diameter
Height
Width
Pitch
d
0
[mm]
l
s
[mm]
V
0
[cm
3
]
V
e
[cm
3
]
a


T
Hw
[K]
T
Cw
[K]

[mm]
[mm]
[mm]
[mm]
150
100
1767
1762

0.896
0.913
660
300

270
20
2
4


Journal of Power and
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Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008
1.55
8

2
5
0

Stainless plate
(t=0.1)
Stainless wire
(0.55)
Brass small
washers
(OD=2,
ID=0.8,
t=0.35)
F
l
o
w

d
i
r
e
c
t
i
o
n
Table 2 Comparison of total surface area
between two regenerators
Total surface
area
Layered-plate type
regenerator
1.39 m
2

Wire-mesh type
regenerator
0.69 m
2


2.2 Regenerators of type large pin-fin Stirling engine
Two kinds of regenerators were used for the type large pin-fin Stirling engine. The
first one is a usual wire-mesh type. #5 Stainless wire mesh with a wire diameter of 0.80mm
was wound 4 times around the cylinder and the same #5 stainless wire-mesh annular 3 disks
were inserted into the gaps between the engine's outer flange and cover ring. All the
wire-mesh was stacked parallel to the flow
(2)
. Thus all flow outside the cylinder can be
regarded as the regenerator's flow and the simple dead space was reduced as far as possible.
The second one is a layered-plate type regenerator
(3)
, shown in Fig.4. As is shown in
Fig.4, the regenerator consists of stainless steel plates (82500.1mm) with small brass
washers (20.80.35mm) inserted between each one. Stainless steel wires (0.55mm) is
threaded through them all. The total number of stainless plates is 347. The layered-plates
were wound around the cylinder as shown in Fig.5. Figure 6 shows a magnified view of
them. As is shown in Table 2, the total surface area of a layered-plate type regenerator
became 2.0 times larger than the usual wire-mesh type regenerator.




















Fig.4 Image of the layered-plate type regenerator Fig.5 Complete view of the
layered-plate type regenerator













Fig.6 Magnified view of the layered-plate type regenerator



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Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008
Cooling water
Pin-fin cooler
Cylinder cap
Cylinder liner
Outer flange
Cartridge heater
Pin-fin heater
Cylinder cap
Cylinder liner
Outer flange
Cold temperature side
Base plate
Glass piston
Glass cylinder
Cylinder holder
Piston holder
Piston holder
Glass cylinder
Cylinder holder
Glass piston Regenerator
Crank lever
Crank rod
"T" shape crank
Flywheel
High temperature side
108
Plug
2.3 type pin-fin Stirling engine
The cross-sectional view of the designed and manufactured engine is shown in Fig.7.
The engine is 260mm(W)410mm(H)230mm(D). This is a suitable size for handling
and making improvements to the engine. In Fig.7, the left side is the cooling section and the
right side is the heating section. Both sides are a similar structure. 8 cartridge heaters were
inserted in the radius direction to the circumference position of the circular disk. This disk
was used as an electric heat source for the pin-fin heater shown in the top right in Fig.7. In
order to avoid heat expansion, a glass cylinder was situated under the engine's base plate. A
cylinder liner and a cylinder cap were installed around the glass piston to provide an annular
channel from the heater to the regenerator with a 0.5 mm radial gap inside the outer flange.
The inner diameter of the cylinder liner is 1 mm larger than glass piston diameter.
In Fig.7, when the heating side piston moves downward as the flywheel rotates in a
counter clockwise direction, the working air from the regenerator goes up through the gaps
between the heating side of the engine's outer flange and the cylinder liner. Then the
working air passes up through gaps between the engine's outer flange and cylinder cap.
Finally the working air contracts in the heater's disk through its pin-fin arrays into the hot
cylinder through the center orifice of the cylinder's cap. Here, the working air cannot escape
outside of the pin-fin arrays as the heater's caps are attached to the tips of the pin-fin. In the
case that the heating side piston moves upwards, the flow pattern of working air becomes
simply the reverse.
Also the flow of working air in the cooling side is similar to that of the heating side.
The regenerator consists of #10 stainless wire-mesh sheets wound inside the aluminum
pipe, which has a length of 60mm, an inner diameter of 17mm and an outer diameter of
20mm. By putting ball bearings into all movable parts of the Ross-yoke mechanism, friction
of the kinetic motion mechanism section is reduced as much as possible. Table 3 shows the
specifications of the engine. Figure 8 shows the photograph of the type pin-fin Stirling
engine.























Fig.7 Cross-sectional veiw of type Fig.8 Photograph of type
pin-fin Stirling engine pin-fin Stirling engine


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Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008















2.4 Torque measurement method
The output shaft torque was measured by the torque detectors, SS-050 for type
stirling engine and SS-005 for type Stirling engine with the torque converter meter,
TS-2700, all manufactured by Ono Sokki Co., Ltd. Load torque was absorbed by the DC
generator. The load torque absorbed with DC generator is controlled by a resistor and an
adjustable load apparatus which uses a power transistor.

2.5 Temperature measurement method
(1) Temperature measurement method of type large pin-fin Stirling engine
The electromotive force of thermocouples installed in the backup heater's upward
position and the pin-fin heater's downward position, the position where they are facing
together between the thermal insulating plates, was measured with the pen recorder and by
the data recorder GR-3500, manufactured by Keyence Co. Ltd. Japan. These 4 pairs of
temperature differences of thermocouples were controlled to stay within 5K by adjusting
the electricity applied to the cartridge heaters installed in the pin-fin heater and in the
backup heater. The signals of 16 thermocouples were measured automatically by the data
recorder GR-3500 in sampling intervals of 30 seconds. The temperature of the pin-fin heater
was increased from 200 to 366 in increments of 33K. The engine's shaft torques and
engine speeds were measured during 10 minutes while the temperatures are maintained
nearly constant as for the indication of the pen recorder to be constant.
(2) Temperature measurement method of type pin-fin Stirling engine
Four thermocouples (type K) were inserted into deep narrow holes which had been
bored into the pin-fin heater and cooler. By measuring the electromotive force of these
thermocouples via ice-cold junction, the temperatures of the pin-fin heater and cooler were
obtained to an accuracy of 0.7K. Temperature changes were recorded by the pen recorder.

3. The experimental results
3.1 The experimental results of type large pin-fin Stirling engine
Figure 9 shows the relation between the engine speed and the shaft power in the case
of the wire-mesh type regenerator. P
m
and T
C
indicate atmospheric pressure and pin-fin
cooler's base plate's average temperature, respectively. The parameter, T in Fig.8 indicates
the temperature difference between the pin-fin heater and the pin-fin cooler. Time averaged
values of 4 thermocouples installed in each pin-fin heat exchanger, during the torque
measurement, were used as the representative temperature of the each pin-fin heat
exchanger. From Fig.8, it is clear that the engine speed and the shaft power increases as T
Table 3 The specifications of type Stirling engine
Items Symbols Value
Bore diameter

Stroke

Single piston's swept volume

Effective power piston's swept volume

Dead space ratio
Source temperature

Sink temperature

Regenerator matrix
Wire diameter
Pin-fin Array:
Overall diameter
Height, Width, Pitch
d
0

l
s



V
P

a
T
Hw

T
Cw


d
w




[mm]
[mm]
[cm
3
]

[cm
3
]

[K]
[K]

[mm]

[mm]
[mm]

42.2
40
56
78.3
1.4
660
300

0.30

84
10, 2, 4



Journal of Power and
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Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008
0
20
40
60
80
100
200 300 400 500 600
S
h
a
f
t

p
o
w
e
r
Engine speed
(

)
(rpm)
T =360K
T =324K
T =290K
T =256K
T =229K
T =195K
increases. Furthermore, the engine stopped when the engine speed fell under about 250 rpm
because of the lack of the flywheel inertia moment and the large amount of air leakage from
the circumference of the power piston. Figure 10 shows the relation between the engine
speed and shaft power in the case of the layered-plate type regenerator. The shaft power is
clearly increased compared to the wire-mesh regenerator. The measurement uncertainties of
engine speed, shaft power, and T in Figs.9 and 10 were estimated to be about 6rpm, 1W
and 3K, respectively.
Figure 11 shows the relation between T and the maximum shaft power. From Fig.11, the
shaft power in the case of the layered-plate type regenerator is clearly improved compared to the
wire-mesh type regenerator. This reason is considered that the flow resistance of the flow
passing through the layered-plate is proportional to the velocity as the flow becomes laminar
flow while the flow resistance of the flow passing across the wire-mesh is nearly proportional to
the square of the velocity as the flow becomes middle region of laminar flow and turbulent flow.
Also considering the total surface area of the layered-plate type regenerator is about two times
larger than the wire-mesh type regenerator as shown in Table 2, fluid dynamic and heat transfer
property of the layered-plate type regenerator becomes superior to that of the wire-mesh type
regenerator. It is also clear that the relation between T and the maximum shaft power becomes
an equation of the first degree in which the maximum power increases by fixed values as T
increases. The measured maximum shaft power became 91W, which is 36 of the scheduled
value of 250W, and is 68% of Kolin's cubic power law
(4)
of 134W.
The maximum thermal efficiency became 4.20.1% at an engine speed of 351rpm
with T=330K, which is obtained by dividing the shaft power of 79.43 W with the electric
heat inputs of 1876 W. As the thermal conductivity, thickness and diameter of the insulator
were 0.45 W/(mK), 6 mm and 300 mm, respectively, the measurement uncertainty of heat
input caused by the temperature difference between the upper face and the lower face of the
insulator became 27 W. The measurement uncertainty of the shaft power was 1W. Thus the
relative uncertainty of thermal efficiency can be calculated by the following equation.


019 . 0
43 . 79
1
1876
27
5 . 0
2 2
=
(
(

|
.
|

\
|
+ |
.
|

\
| (1)



















Fig.9 Relation between engine speed and shaft power
(#5 wire-mesh type regenerator case)
p
m
=101.1kPa
T
c
=298K


Journal of Power and
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Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008
0
20
40
60
80
100
200 300 400 500 600
S
h
a
f
t

p
o
w
e
r
Engine speed
(

)
(rpm)
=330K
=297K
=265K
=234K
=204K
=180K
0
20
40
60
80
100
100 200 300 400
M
a
x
i
m
u
m

s
h
a
f
t

p
o
w
e
r

(
W
)
()




















Fig.10 Relation between engine speed and shaft power
(Layered-plate type regenerator case)





















Fig.11 Relation between T and maximum shaft power


3.2 The experimental results of type pin-fin Stirling engine
Figure 12 shows the relation between the engine speed and the shaft torque. It is clear
that the shaft torque decreases as the engine speed increases. Figure 13 shows the relation
between the engine speed and the shaft power. It is clear that the shaft power increases as
T increases. Figure 14 shows the relation between T and maximum shaft power. It is
clear that the maximum shaft power is a linear function of T, as in the case of the type
Layered-plate type
regenerator case
#5 wire-mesh
type regenerator
case
p
m
=101.5kPa
T
c
=305K


Journal of Power and
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Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 200 400 600 800 1000
S
h
a
f
t

t
o
r
q
u
e
Engine speed
(
m
N

m
)
(rpm)
T =354K
T =321K
T =288K
T =255K
T =222K
T =190K
T =156K
0
1
2
3
4
0 200 400 600 800 1000
S
h
a
f
t

p
o
w
e
r
Engine speed
(
W
)
(rpm)
T =354K
T =321K
T =288K
T =255K
T =222K
T =190K
T =156K
large-size pin-fin Stirling engine. The maximum shaft power obtained is 3.4W at T=354K,
which is 47% of 7.3W by Kolin's cubic power law and is 17% of the scheduled value of
20W.






















Fig.12 Relation between engine speed and shaft torque
























Fig.13 Relation between engine speed and shaft power
p
m
=101.7kPa
T
c
=284K
p
m
=101.7kPa
T
c
=284K


Journal of Power and
Energy Systems

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Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008
0
1
2
3
4
100 200 300 400
M
a
x
i
m
u
m

s
h
a
f
t

p
o
w
e
r

(
W
)
()
Best fitting line excluding
the first point




















Fig.14 Relation between T and maximum shaft power

4. Conclusions
In order to measure the performance of pin-fin Stirling engines, a type large pin-fin
Stirling engine and an type pin-fin Stirling engine were designed and manufactured.
According to experiments, the following conclusions were obtained.
(1) The maximum shaft power of the type large pin-fin Stirling engine and an type
pin-fin Stirling engine were 36% and 17% of scheduled values, while the maximum shaft
power of the type large pin-fin Stirling engine reached about 2/3 of Kolin's cubic power
law.
(2) The shaft power of the type large pin-fin Stirling engine with the case of the
layered-plate type regenerator is clearly improved compared to the case of the usual
wire-mesh type regenerator.
(3) In the case of the heater is a circular disk at pin-fin Stirling engine, it is easy to apply the
heater to a solar collector.

Acknowledgments
The present study was carried out by receiving the support of Grant-in-Aid for
Scientific Research in category C with the project number of 18560814 as the project title
of "Study of Stirling engine using pin-fin heat exchangers" from Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science in the academic year from 2006 to 2007. The authors are thankful to
the support.

Appendix
Kolin's cubic power law used in this paper is written as the following equation:


(2)
5
3 *
max
10 2

=
gas P
T V p
P


Journal of Power and
Energy Systems

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Vol. 2, No. 5, 2008
where P
max
is maximum shaft power [W], p
*
is operating mean pressure [atm], V
P
is power
piston's swept volume [liter], T
gas
is temperature difference between heating side and
cooling side of working gas [K]. As T
gas
was measured 2/3 of T in the case of Stirling
engine which uses multiple rectangular fin gas passage as a heater and cooler
(5)
, it is
considered that the ratio ofT
gas
to T improves a little bit in the case of pin-fin Stirling
engine, T
gas
was assumed as 3/4 of T in the present calculation. Thus the heating-side
temperature of working gas was estimated as lower than the temperature of pin-fin heater
by T/8 and the cooling-side of working gas was estimated as higher than the temperature
of pin-fin cooler by T/8.

References
(1) Isshiki, S., Kamei. S., Takahashi, A. and Isshiki, N., Study of Stirling Engine Having Heat
Exchangers Consisting of Pin-Fin Arrays, Transactions of the Japan Society of Mechanical
Engineers, Series B, Vol.71, No.701, (2005), pp.260-267. (in Japanese)
(2) Magara, Y., Hamaguchi, K. and Yamashita, I., Effects of stacking Method on Heat Transfer
Characteristics in Stacked Wire Gauze, proceedings of the 4th Symposium on Stirling
Cycle, pp.43-46., (2000), (in Japanese)
(3) Doami, K., Shinoki, M., Akamatu, K. and Ozawa, M., Mass and Heat Transfer
Characteristics of Layered-Plates Type Regenerator, proceedings of the 4th Symposium on
Stirling Cycle, pp.165-168., (2000), (in Japanese)
(4) Kolin, I., Thermodynamic Theory for Stirling Cycle Machine Designs, proceedings of the
7th International Conference on Stirling Cycle Machines (ICSC'95), (1995), pp.1-6.
(5) Isshiki, S., Isshiki, N., Igawa, Y., Studies on Stirling Engine with Pendulum-type displacer,
Transactions of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Series B, Vol.61, No.592,
(1995), pp.4504-4510. (in Japanese)