Determination of a Free-Piston Stirling Engine-Generator Operating Curve for Applications in Energy Extraction

Abstract

Renewable energy generation faces challenges in energy storage, particularly in providing sustained load management between periods of excess generation, peak demand, and intermittency. Clean and dependable energy storage methods exist, but the need for higher efficiency energy extraction motivates the search for sophisticated methods. One such method is a Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) system paired with a Stirling engine. This thesis investigated the power output of a particular Free-Piston Stirling Engine-Generator (FPSEG) for potential use in energy extraction from the aforementioned system to power an islanded microgrid. A full FPSEG testing apparatus was constructed and several heating conditions were tested to obtain an operating curve for the studied FPSEG. Additionally, a basic numerical model was developed for the FPSEG working fluid. Data from these experiments were evaluated to show potential coupling capabilities with a LAES system.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2022
Accession Number
AD1185068

Entities

People

  • Sarah M. Nguyen

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundary Layer
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Energy
  • Energy Production
  • Energy Storage
  • Environment
  • External Combustion Engines
  • Heat Energy
  • Heat Engines
  • Heat Transfer
  • Load Monitoring
  • Renewable Energy
  • Solar Energy
  • Stirling Cycles
  • Thermal Efficiency
  • Thermodynamic Processes
  • Thermodynamics
  • United States

Readers

  • Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design