• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.10
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• pp.985-993
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• 2015

Free-piston Stirling engines (FPSEs) have attracted much attention in the renewable energy field as a key device in the conversion from thermal to mechanical energy, and in the recycling of waste energy. Traditional Stirling engines consist of two pistons that are connected by a mechanical link, while FPSEs are formed as a vibration system by connecting each piston to a spring without a physical link. To ensure the correct design and control of operations, this requires elaborate dynamic-performance predictions. In this paper, we present the performance-prediction methodology using a linear and nonlinear dynamic analytical model considering the external load of FPSEs. We perform linear analyses to predict the operating point of the engine using the root locus technique. Using nonlinear analysis, we also predict the amplitude of pistons by performing numerical integration considering both the linear and nonlinear damping terms of the external load. We utilize the predicted dynamic behavior to predict the engine performance. In addition, we compare the experiment results and existing model predictions for RE-1000 to verify the reliability of the analytical model.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.118-124
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• 2010

In order to develop commercial model of 10kW dish-Stirling solar thermal power system, modification for the exiting facility was taken for a year as a Leading Project in KIER. During the project, solar tracking system, control and monitoring system and high durability reflector were developed and long term operation were performed. The solar tracking system was tested for four months to investigate the degree of precision and adapted to the control system for an actual operation from October in 2009. The sun tracking accuracy of ${\pm}4$ mrad using modified control system was obtained and the system operated successfully during the experimental period. The monitoring system displays engine pressure, electric generation amounts, generator RPM, receiver temperatures, and etc. from Stirling engine and weather data of Direct Normal Irradiation, Horizontal Global Insolation, wind speed & direction, and atmosphere temperature from weather station. According to the operating results in a clear sky day, electric power of 6,890 W was generated at the DNI value of 850 W/$m^2$ and the averaged solar-to-electricity efficiency during a whole day reached to 18.99%. From the overall operating results, linear power generation trend could be observed with increasing DNI value. The solar-to-electricity efficiency achieved to 19% around the DNI value of 700 W/$m^2$ and increased to 20% when the DNI value goes up to 900 W/$m^2$.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.88-94
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• 2011

The availability of the thermal energy has been deeply recognized recently to encourage the cascade usage of thermal energy from combustion. Within the framework, a 1 kW class Stirling engine based cogeneration system has been proposed for a unit of a distributed energy system. The capacity has been designed to be adequate for the domestic usage, which requires high compactness as well as low emission and noise. To develop a highly efficient system with satisfying these requirements, a premixed slot type short flame burner has been proposed and a series of numerical simulation has been performed to establish a design tool for the combustion chamber. The thermal radiation model has been found to highly affect the computational results and a proper resolution to analyze the heat transfer characteristics of the high temperature heat exchanger. Finally, the combustion characteristics of the premixed flame with the metal fiber type burner has been studied.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.787-794
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• 1992

To predict performances of Stirling Engines, a second-order analysis method has been developed. The present method which is based on the approximate analytical solution to the Ideal Adiabatic Model includes major loss mechanisms due to finite heat transfer and flow friction. Comparison of calculated results with previously reported study for a specific engine shows reasonable agreements and a possibility of being used for basic designs. Also, predicted performances with repect to engine speeds are consistent with experimental data in trend. To improve the prediction capability of this method, it is needed that not only additional losses should be taken into account, but also fundamental characteristics of oscillating flow and heat transfer should be better understood.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.172-178
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• 1990

To predict the qualitative performance characteristics of Stirling Engines, an analytical approach to the Ideal Adiabatic Model set up by Urieli et al. has been treated. First, volume variations of both the expansion and the compression cylinders are approximated to piecewise linear function of the crank angle, which make it possible to specify the mass flow direction of each cylinder a priori to solve a set of basic equation. In consequences, an engine cycle can be considered as a combination of 4-type fundamental process. For each process, pressure is obtained as a solution of the algebraic equation. Application of the cyclic steady condition to the whole cycle completes the analysis. Further investigations result in analytical expressions for cyclic heat and work in terms of dependent variables determined from the pressure. The results are expected useful in establishing the preliminary design conditions of Stirling Engines.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.04b
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• pp.199-204
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• 2000

A low temperature differential model stirling engine is manufactured, and its operation characteristics are measured and analyzed by SIMPLE analysis model, in which heat transfer processes are simply considered. The heat transfer coefficients between working fluid and heat sources in the analysis are estimated by comparing the P-V diagrams by experiment and by analysis. This result may be very useful for further design and manufacture of model Stilting engines as well as real engines because it provides a comparatively correct predictions of the operation conditions and power output. It will be also conveniently used as an educational material for mechanical engineering students because it can be a nice example of optimal design process to decide the phase angle and compression ratio of engine design with a simple but realistic simulation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.248-257
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• 2016

Recently, researches on the free-piston Stirling engines(FPSEs) are actively investigated. FPSEs have merits in its light weight, simple structure, and little need for maintenance, thus becoming a promising solution for the power conversion of renewable energy and waste heat recycle. This paper presents the methodology that estimates damping coefficients using analytical models of linear and nonlinear dynamics for FPSEs, and validates the methodology by comparing with existing experimental results. The analysis model predicts an operable range of linear damping coefficients forming limit cycles by using the root locus, and time responses obtained by numerical integration determines nonlinear damping coefficients. The model predictions are compared with experimental results of the well-known FPSE B-10B. We also investigate the damping characteristics regarding heater temperatures and power piston motions.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.571-575
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• 2006

To improve economic of solar power generation, stirling engine is required continuous operation and the receiver has to be provided with an additional combustion system. The hybrid receiver with a specially adapted combustion system is possible to 24 hr/day operation by solar and gas-fired. The inner cavity and external wall serve as absorber surfaces using collected irradiation and heat transfer surfaces for the gas heat flow, respectively. The hybrid receiver was designed and fabricated for the dish/stirling system. The analytical method for pridicting natural convective heat loss from receiver is used. The Koenig and Marvin model is used to estimate convection heat loss and heat transfer coefficiency.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.668-671
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• 2007

A numerical study was conducted on a simplified model of a high-temperature solar receiver which incorporates liquid-metal heat pipe. The objective of this paper is to compare the isothermal characteristics of the heat pipe receiver with the conventional receiver utilizing convection of molten salt as heat carrier. The solar receiver was assumed to be subject to a concentration ratio between 50 and 1,000 to supply high-temperature heat to a stirling engine for electric power generation. For simplicity of the analysis, a cylindrical geometry was assumed and typical dimensions were used based on available literature. The heat pipe had a shape of double-walled cavity and the working fluid was a sodium. The analysis was performed assuming that the radiation heat flux on the inner walls of the receiver was uniform, since the focus of this study was laid on the comparison of the conventional type and heat pipe type receiver. The results showed that the heat pipe type exhibited superior performance when the operating temperature becomes higher. In addition, to explore the advantage of the heat pipe receiver, the channel shape and dimensions should be adjusted to increase the heat transfer area between the wall and the heat trnasfer medium.