Performance Of A Back-to-back Free-displacer Disciplined-piston Stirling Engine Using Three Different Working Fluids And Comparisons With A Computer Model

摘要

This study concludes the work carried out over the past few years on an experimental back-to-back free displacer disciplined-piston gamma type Stirling engine. Comparisons with theoretical results obtained using software developed at the University of the Witwatersrand are made. Experiments were carried out using air, helium and argon as the working fluid. Trends were found to be similar for each working fluid. The computer generated curves predicted the trends fairly accurately. (The model used is discussed in more de- tail in an accompanying paper-Ref 5). This paper will only deal with the section pertaining to the back-to-back free-displacer disciplined piston Stirling engine dynamics and thermodynamics).