Abstract
In recent years, the interest in low-pollution and high-efficiency heat engines has been increasing due to the growing awareness of environmental protection, and power generation at relatively low temperatures, such as use of exhaust heat and sunlight, has been attracting attention. Compared with other heat engines, Stirling engine is very important because it can be driven by any heat source at low temperatures, such as exhaust heat, and it does not emit exhaust gas. In order to realize a more efficient Stirling engine, it is essential to design a heat exchange system that is suitable for each component. Performance measurement and analysis on a new mesh regenerator material at low temperature difference using a 2-piston alpha-type 3-kW Stirling engine, NS03T are carried out. Mesh sheets developed for high performance Stirling engines can be designed with CAD and CAM technologies by etching process. For this study, M5 and M7 mesh sheets which are thin sheets of stainless steel with square holes in a grid arrangement, are used. With nitrogen and helium as the working fluid, the engine performance is measured by changing the charge pressure, heating temperature, and engine speed to clarify the flow resistance and heat transfer characteristics of the M5 and M7.
Highlights
With an aid of heat-recovery mechanism between two isochoric processes of a Stirling cycle, the cycle efficiency, so-called indicated efficiency becomes higher and improves the total thermal efficiency
If a regenerator of a Stirling engine works ideally, required heat input supplied at a heater and/or an expansion cylinder of the engine and rejected heat at a cooler and/or a compression cylinder become minimum
We evaluated the newly developed M5 Mesh sheet and M7 Mesh sheet
Summary
With an aid of heat-recovery mechanism between two isochoric processes of a Stirling cycle, the cycle efficiency, so-called indicated efficiency becomes higher and improves the total thermal efficiency. The heat-recovery mechanism, so called regenerator, plays a very important role in Stirling cycle machines. It would be better to use a matrix material, which has the flexibility to design its geometry and dimensions, and good characteristics better than wire screens. We evaluated the newly developed M5 Mesh sheet and M7 Mesh sheet. Regenerator of the 3-kW Stirling engine, NS03T was equipped with mesh sheets as a matrix. 2. SPECIFICATIONS OF NS03T Table 1 shows the design parameters of the NS03T engine, which was one of the engines developed from 1982 to 1988 in Toshiba[1].
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