Finite time thermodynamic analysis of small alpha-type Stirling engine in non-ideal polytropic conditions for recovery of LNG cryogenic exergy

Zbigniew Buliński, Ireneusz Szczygieł, Tomasz Krysiński, Wojciech Stanek, Lucyna Czarnowska, Paweł Gładysz and Adam Kabaj

Energy, 2017, vol. 141, issue C, 2559-2571

Abstract: In the paper, a second order thermodynamic analysis of a small scale alpha-type Stirling engine is presented. The developed mathematical model is based on the Finite Time Thermodynamics (FFT) approach and it is derived from the differential time dependent equations of energy and mass conservation. The engine model consists of three spaces: compression, expansion and regenerator. In contrast to available models, the model presented in this paper assumes polytropic processes in the compression and expansion spaces, which corresponds to the non-ideal heat transfer in these spaces. The results, obtained using the developed second order model, were compared with the results obtained using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of the same engine. A very good agreement between the second order model and the CFD model was achieved. Finally, the developed model was applied to analyse potential to recover cryogenic exergy of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The paper presents the results of the dimensional upscaling of the engine and the influence of the average working pressure. It was revealed that increasing the size of the engine or the average working pressure moves the engine to practically unachievable working conditions.

Keywords: Mathematical modelling; Alpha-type Stirling engine; Second order analysis; Engine performance; Liquefied natural gas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036054421731695X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:141:y:2017:i:c:p:2559-2571

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.10.026

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().