Thermodynamic analysis of Stirling engine systems : Applications for combined heat and power

Abstract: Increasing energy demands and environmental problems require innovative systems for electrical and thermal energy production. In this scenario, the development of small scale energy systems has become an interesting alternative to the conventional large scale centralized plants. Among these alternatives, small scale combined heat and power (CHP) plants based on Stirling Engines (SE) have attracted the interest among research and industry due to the potential advantages that offers. These include low maintenance, low noise during operation, a theoretically high electrical efficiency, and principally the fuel flexibility that the system offers. However, actual engine performances present very low electrical efficiencies and consequently few successful prototypes reached commercial maturity at elevated costs.Considering this situation, this thesis presents a numerical thermodynamic study for micro scale CHP-SE systems. The study is divided in two parts: The first part covers the engine analysis; and the second part studies the thermodynamic performance of the overall CHP-SE system. For the engine analysis a detailed thermodynamic model suitable for the simulation of different engine configurations was developed. The model capability to predict the engine performance was validated with experimental data obtained from two different engines: The GPU-3 Stirling engine studied by Lewis Research Centre; and the Genoa engine studied on the experimental rig built at the Energy Department at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). The second part of the research complemented the study with the analysis of the overall CHP-SE system. This included numerical simulations of the different CHP components and the sensitivity analysis for selected design parameters.The complete study permitted to assess the different operational and design configurations for the engine and the CHP components. These improvements could be implemented for test field evaluations and thus foster the development of more efficient SE-CHP systems. In addition, the detailed thermodynamic-design methodology for the SE-CHP systems was established and the numerical tool for the design assessment was developed.