Abstract
A rotary displacer, Stirling engine-driven, oscillatory liquid piston-compression air conditioning unit is analyzed, designed, and conceptually proved by experiments on its cooling capability and performance efficiency. The engine itself aims to work compatibly with a conventional solar water heater as its power source, with a rotary displacer to manipulate its operation frequency. A U-shaped, oscillatory liquid piston, with the cylinder chamber vented to low pressure, aims to both reduce the sealing friction and serve as the refrigerant. During the experiments, the engine is fed with an electrically heated hot bath whose temperature profile is determined according to a field test of solar thermal collectors in summer conditions. Experimental results show that the coefficient of performance (COP) of the oscillatory liquid piston air conditioning unit would be in the range of 1.3 to 1.5.
Highlights
Solar heating of buildings is the main reason for high electricity consumption for air conditioning in tropical and subtropical regions, making solar cooling an especially attractive idea for application in these areas
In addition to the conventional solid mechanical configuration, there is a special category of the free piston Stirling engine, which is sometimes referred as the fluidyne [2], utilizing a pure liquid to serve as its piston
We suggest that the whole system should be composed of three parts: the heat source, the Stirling engine, and the air conditioning unit
Summary
Solar heating of buildings is the main reason for high electricity consumption for air conditioning in tropical and subtropical regions, making solar cooling an especially attractive idea for application in these areas. In some Stirling engines, the connection between the piston and displacer may not be a solid crank, but rather connected by some springs or even the working gas within This design is often referred as a free piston Stirling engine. In addition to the conventional solid mechanical configuration, there is a special category of the free piston Stirling engine, which is sometimes referred as the fluidyne [2], utilizing a pure liquid to serve as its piston. The optimization of the second-order quasi-steady model of the gamma-type free piston Stirling engine is performed through a genetic algorithm to maximize performance in terms of power output, and considering the design parameters of components such as piston and displacer damper, geometry of heat exchangers, and regenerator porosity [11]. A heat pump applied in the liquid desiccant system shown in this research is an adequate solution for the relatively high regeneration energy consumption observed in this system [13]
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