Phases I-C, I-D and I-E Development of Kinematic Stirling/Rankine Commercial Gas-Fired Heat Pump System. Final Report January 1986-September 1988

摘要

The Kinematic Stirling/Rankine gas heat pump concept is based on the application of a Stirling engine that has been under development for over a decade. The engine has been converted to natural gas and is characterized with many thousand hours of operating experience. The goal of the project is to develop a commercial size Stirling engine-driven gas heat pump with a cooling capacity of 10-tons, a COP (heating) of 1.8 and a COP (cooling) of 1.1. The project is a multi-phase development with commercialization planned for 1990. In these phases, an HVAC systems manufacturer (York International) has been working with SPS to develop a prototype gas heat pump system. To date, two generations of prototype GHP systems have been built and tested and have demonstrated significant operating cost savings over the conventional electric heat pump. Data is presented for environmental laboratory testing of both prototype gas heat pumps as well as durability, reliability, performance and emission testing of the V160 Stirling engine. A number of design and manufacturing process changes were made to the engine to reduce costs and improve endurance and shaft efficiency and are described.