Challenges in developing a solar powered stirling engine for domestic electricity generation

Abstract

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.This paper investigates the challenges in developing a solar powered Stirling engine for domestic electricity generation. All the system components, the parabolic troughs, heat transfer fluid and the Stirling engine are individually analysed. The analysis includes a market survey and performance assessments of such components. A mathematical analysis for the Stirling engine is carried out in order to understand the affect of varies parameters with the work output per cycle and the engine efficiency. Such parameters are the phase angle between pistons, the diameter ratio of the power and displacer piston, and change in temperature.