Free-Piston Stirling Engine Diaphragm-Coupled Heat-Actuated Heat Pump Component Technology Program: Phase 1C, Final Report

摘要

During Phase I of the Heat-Actuated Heat Pump Development Program, a Breadboard Heat Pump power module consisting of a free-piston Stirling engine (FPSE), a hydraulic transmission, and a linear-resonant refrigerant compressor was designed and fabricated. The essential ground rule of this development was the use of an existing Mechanical Technology Incorporated FPSE. During testing, this breadboard heat pump fell far short of its design capacity of 3.0 tons of cooling at 95 sup 0 F ambient conditions. In Phases IA and IB, excessive losses in the hydraulic transmission were identified as the cause of the shortfall in capacity and the hydraulically driven counterweight inside the transmission as the major cause of the high loss. The object of Phase IC of the program was to replace the internal counterweight with an external vibration absorber and to test the breadboard heat pump, shown over a broad range of ambient conditions from 0 to 95 sup 0 F. The work elements of the Phase IC program addressed the design, fabrication, and test of the external absorber, the development of a comprehensive test plan for the breadboard heat pump, and the steady-state testing of the heat pump to determine its performance in both the heating and cooling modes. The specific objectives of the testing were, first, to operate the heat pump over a range of ambient conditions from 0 to 95 sup 0 F; second, to establish the steady-state performance of the unit at each of these points; and third, to achieve a minimum cooling capacity of 2.5 tons at the 95 sup 0 F ambient conditions. The results are discussed in this report. (ERA citation 13:014875)