Skyline Institute of Engineering & Technology

Department of Mechanical Engineering Topic

SOLAR POWERED STIRLING ENGINE

Team Members
Abhishek Kumar (Group leader) (0815340006) ME 4thyr AlokRanjan Singh (0815340013) ME 4th yr. Ankur Chaurasia (0815340020) ME 4th yr. AshutoshKumar (0815340027) ME 4th yr. Himanshu Rai(0815340041) ME 4th yr. Email id [email protected] Mobile number 08860249872

Submitted to Mr. Deepak Yadav

SKYLINE INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING &TECHNOLOGY GREATER NOIDA, GBTU

INTRODUCTION:
A Stirling engine creates work from heat energy using the expansion and contraction of a fixed quantity of gas. The expanding gas moves a piston, which in turn generates mechanical work which may be harvested by rotating a crankshaft or employing inducting coils to generate current. One of the benefits of the Stirling engine is that it can create work from practically any heat source. The heat source in the case of our project will be solar radiation, which will be collected and concentrated using a sun-tracking parabolic mirrored dish. The Stirling engine employs a closed regenerative cycle using a gaseous working fluid (see Figure 1). Essentially, a fixed mass of gas is expanded using a heat source, which displaces a piston (the power piston). The gas is then moved into a heat exchanger using a second piston (the displacement piston) where it cools and contracts. It is then moved by the displacement piston back to the heat source, where the cycle begins again.

Figure 1: Ideal Pressure-volume and temperature-entropy Stirling cycle diagrams

Process from 1-4

1.

Process (1-2) Isothermal Compression. The compression space is intercooled, so Process (2-3) Constant-Volume (known as isovolumetric or isochoric) heat-

the gas undergoes near-isothermal compression.

2.

addition. The compressed air flows back through the regenerator and picks-up heat on the way to the heated expansion space.
3.

Process (3-4) Isothermal Expansion. The expansion-space is heated externally, and Process (4-5) Constant-Volume (known as isovolumetric or isochoric) heat-

the gas undergoes near-isothermal expansion.

4.

removal. The gas is passed through the regenerator, thus cooling the gas, and transferring heat to the regenerator for use in the next cycle.

STIRLING ENGINE MANUFACTURING PROCESS:

Then an extensive analysis may be conducted using the well-established Schmidt model for Stirling cycle analysis. The important engine dimensions can be derived from this model and optimized using advanced thermodynamic analysis. This basic design process of our engine is detailed in the following.

Mechanical configurations of the Stirling engine:

Various machine components have been combined to provide the Stirling cycle. The cycle provides a constant-volume process during the transfer of working fluid between the hot and cold space of the engine, and provides a constant-temperature heating and cooling process during compression and expansion. The compression and expansion processes of the cycle generally take place in a cylinder (called power cylinder) with a piston (called power piston). A displacer piston (simply called displacer) shuttles the working fluid back and forth through the heater, regenerator, and cooler at constant volume. As shown in Fig. 1, a displacer that moves to the cold space, displaces the working fluid from the cold space causing it to flow to the hot space and vice versa. Three different configurations, namely the alpha-, beta-, and gamma-configurations, are commonly used. Each configuration has the same thermodynamic cycle but has different mechanical design characteristics. In the alpha-configuration a displacer is not used. Two pistons, called the hot and cold pistons, are used on either side of the heater, regenerator, and cooler. These pistons move uniformly in the same direction to provide constant-volume heating or cooling processes of the working fluid. When all the working fluid has been transferred into one cylinder, one piston will be fixed and the other piston moves to expand or compress the working fluid. The expansion work is done by the hot piston while the compression work is done by the cold piston.

Research work: Alpha Stirling:

Alpha type Stirling engine. There are two cylinders. The expansion cylinder (red) is maintained at a high temperature while the compression cylinder (blue) is cooled. The passage between the two cylinders contains the regenerator.An alpha Stirling contains two power pistons in separate cylinders, one hot and one cold. The hot cylinder is situated inside the high temperature heat exchanger and the cold cylinder is situated inside the low temperature heat exchanger. This type of engine has a high power-to-volume ratio but has technical problems due to the usually high temperature of the hot piston and the durability of its seals. In practice, this piston usually carries a large insulating head to move the seals away from the hot zone at the expense of some additional dead space.

TABLE: 1

1. Most of the working gas is in contact with the hot cylinder walls, it has been heated and 2. The gas is now at its maximum volume. The expansion has pushed the hot piston to the hot cylinder piston begins to move most of the bottom of its travel in the cylinder. The gas into the cold cylinder, where it cools and the expansion continues in the cold cylinder, which pressure drops. is 90 behind the hot piston in its cycle, extracting more work from the hot gas.

3. Almost all the gas is now in the cold 4. The gas reaches its minimum volume, and it cylinder and cooling continues. The cold will now expand in the hot cylinder where it piston, powered by flywheel momentum (or will be heated once more, driving the hot piston other piston pairs on the same shaft) in its power stroke. compresses the remaining part of the gas.

Design:
The Stirling Cycle engine is similar to a steam engine. Both have pistons and cylinders, and both are external combustion engines as the fuel burning takes place outside the engine. The first major difference between the two engines is that the Stirling Cycle engine uses a gas (air, hydrogen, or helium, usually) instead of water and steam as the working fluid, the fluid that moves the piston and creates work. Another important difference is that the Stirling Cycle engine has two cylinders, or spaces, one for working fluid expansion and one for working fluid compression while a steam

engine

has

only

one

cylinder.

FIGURE 2 :DESIGN TO BE FOLLOWED

Explanation of the parts of figure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 FLYWHEEL CONNECTING ROD WORKING CYLINDER WORKING PISTON SOLAR REFLECTOR DISPLACER PISTON DISPLACER CYLINDER HOUSING LEG

Time scale for completion of project

WORK/TIME Research Design Market visit Fabrication Assembly ABHISHEK ALOK ANKUR HIMANSHU ALL OF THE MEMBER ABHISHEK ASHUTOSH HIMANSHU ALL OF THE MEMBER 1-2 weak ABHISHEK ALOK ANKUR 2-3 weak 3 weak 2 weak

ALL OF THE MEMBER

Testing & modification

Estimated Cost analysis of project-

S.NO. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 GRAND TOTAL

PARTS DISPLACER CYLINDER DISPLACER PISTON POWER CYLINDER POWER PISTON CONNECTING ROD CRANK FLYWHEEL HOUSING LEG SOLAR REFLECTOR OTHERS

APROX COST (Rs.) 300 300 300 300 400 400 500 500 1000 1000 5000.00Rs.

This was the estimated total value of our project, the actual value may vary between 4000 to 6000 .This variation is due to ruined of several test tubes and wastage of money in crank and cam alignment.

Conclusion:
This new design of a low-cost concept model of the Stirling engine is an example of the alphastyle engine. It operates with a low heat source applied to the engine, we use water on the top plate of the engine as a cooling feature. The main benefit of the engine is that it is a low cost design with materials that can be obtained from local suppliers (most from retail hardware stores) for a minimal cost, and by items that can be found in most households. Another great feature to this design is that there is little room for assembly errors. This design operates in an effective and reliable manner. All of the components have been arranged in order to manoeuvre with a steady stream of motion. The cylinder piston rods and tubes provide the perfect variance for little friction. The regenerator that is placed inside the chamber allows the hot and cold air to flow freely from the top to the bottom of the chamber. The Stirling engine model operates with little complications. However, further adjustments and tests are recommended to achieve more efficiency and increased engine performance. The most critical of these adjustments is the re-evaluation of the fly- wheel weights to allow the wheel to turn with a more consistent motion.

References:

1.

Prof. (Dr.) S.C. Gupta.

2. M.L.Mathur.
3.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org

4. Tech thermal energy cooperation; home page. History of Stirling engine,

5. 6.

www.thermalengines.com/tech.html, Wikipedia free encyclopaedia. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/stirlin-engine Solar navigator; history of Stirling www.solarnavigator.net/stirling_engine, Stirling Energy Systems, http://www.stirlingenergy.com/default.aspe, Stirling engine Stirling home engine, page. engine.

7.

8.

9.

Pure energy systems, Stirling engine. www.pewiski.com/index.plp/stilringengine,

Stirling engine block diagram