Stirling engine Applications

Combined heat and power applications

The principal use of Stirling engines today is as an economical source of electrical power often utilising a heat source from an industrial process. WhisperGen, a New Zealand firm with offices in Christchurch, has developed an "AC Micro Combined Heat and Power" stirling cycle engine. These microCHP units are gas-fired central heating boilers which sell power back into the electricity grid. WhisperGen announced in 2004 that they were producing 80,000 units for the residential market in the United Kingdom. A 20 unit trial in Germany started in 2006.


Solar power generation

Placed at the focus of a parabolic mirror a Stirling engine can convert solar energy to electricity with an efficiency better than photovoltaic cells. On August 11, 2005, Southern California Edison announced an agreement to purchase solar powered Stirling engines from Stirling Energy Systems[7] over a twenty year period and in quantity (20,000 units) sufficient to generate 500 megawatts of electricity. These systems, on a 4,500 acre (19 km²) solar farm, will use mirrors to direct and concentrate sunlight onto the engines which will in turn drive generators.


Stirling cryocoolers

Any Stirling engine will also work in reverse as a heat pump: i.e. when a motion is applied to the shaft, a temperature difference appears between the reservoirs. One of their modern uses is in refrigeration and cryogenics.

The essential mechanical components of a Stirling cryocooler are identical to a Stirling engine. The turning of the shaft will compress the working gas causing its temperature to rise. This heat will then be dissipated by pushing the gas against a heat exchanger. Heat would then flow from the gas into this heat exchanger which would probably be cooled by passing a flow of air or other fluid over its exterior. The further turning of the shaft will then expand the working gas. Since it had just been cooled the expansion will reduce its temperature even further. The now very cold gas will be pushed against the other heat exchanger and heat would flow from it into the gas. The external side of this heat exchanger would be inside a thermally insulated compartment such as a refrigerator. This cycle would be repeated once for each turn of the shaft. Heat is in effect pumped out of this compartment, through the working gas of the cryocooler and dumped into the environment. The temperature inside the compartment will drop because its insulation prevents ambient heat from coming in to replace that pumped out.

As with the Stirling engine, efficiency is improved by passing the gas through a “Regenerator” which buffers the flow of heat between the hot and cold ends of the gas chamber.

The first Stirling-cycle cryocooler was developed at Philips in the 1950s and commercialized in such places as liquid nitrogen production plants. The Philips Cryogenics business evolved until it was split off in 1990 to form the Stirling Cryogenics & Refrigeration BV, Stirling The Netherlands. This company is still active in the development and manufacturing Stirling cryocoolers and cryogenic cooling systems.

A wide variety of smaller size Stirling cryocoolers are commercially available for tasks such as the cooling of sensors.

Thermoacoustic refrigeration uses a Stirling cycle in a working gas which is created by high amplitude sound waves.


Heat pump

A Stirling heat pump is very similar to a Stirling cryocooler, the main difference being that it usually operates at room-temperature and its principal application to date is to pump heat from the outside of a building to the inside, thus cheaply heating it.

As with any other Stirling device, heat flows from the expansion space to the compression space; however, in contrast to the Stirling engine, the expansion space is at a lower temperature than the compression space, so instead of producing work, an input of mechanical work is required by the system (in order to satisfy the second law of thermodynamics). When the mechanical work for the heat-pump is provided by a second Stirling engine, then the overall system is called a "heat-driven, heat-pump".

The expansion-side of the heat-pump is thermally coupled to the heat-source, which is often the external environment. The compression side of the Stirling device is placed in the environment to be heated, for example a building, and heat is "pumped" into it. Typically there will be thermal insulation between the two sides so there will be a temperature rise inside the insulated space.

Heat-pumps are by far the most energy-efficient types of heating systems. Stirling heat-pumps also often have a higher coefficient of performance than conventional heat-pumps. To date, these systems have seen limited commercial use; however, use is expected to increase along with market demand for energy conservation, and adoption will likely be accelerated by technological refinements.


Marine engines

Kockums, the Swedish shipbuilder, had built at least 10 commercially successful Stirling powered submarines during the 1980s. As of 2005 they have started to carry compressed oxygen with them. (No endurance stated.)


Nuclear power

There is a potential for nuclear-powered Stirling engines in electric power generation plants. Replacing the steam turbines of nuclear power plants with Stirling engines might simplify the plant, yield greater efficiency, and reduce the radioactive by-products. A number of breeder reactor designs use liquid sodium as coolant. If the heat is to be employed in a steam plant, a water/sodium heat exchanger is required, which raises some concern as sodium reacts violently with water. A Stirling engine obviates the need for water anywhere in the cycle.

United States government labs have developed a modern Stirling engine design known as the Stirling Radioisotope Generator for use in space exploration. It is designed to generate electricity for deep space probes on missions lasting decades. The engine uses a single displacer to reduce moving parts and uses high energy acoustics to transfer energy. The heat source is a dry solid nuclear fuel slug and the cold source is space itself.


Aircraft engines

They hold theoretical promise as aircraft engines. They are quieter, less polluting, gain efficiency with altitude (internal combustion piston engines lose efficiency), are more reliable due to fewer parts and the absence of an ignition system, produce much less vibration (airframes last longer) and safer, less explosive fuels may be used. (see below "Argument on why the Stirling engine can be applied in aviation" or "Why Aviation Needs the Stirling Engine" by Darryl Phillips, a 4-part series in the March 1993 to March 1994 issues of Stirling Machine World)


Geothermal energy

Some believe that the ability of the Stirling engine to convert geothermal energy to electricity and then to hydrogen may well hold the key to replacement of fossil fuels in a future hydrogen economy.


Low temperature difference engines

A low temperature difference (Low Delta T) Stirling engine will run on any low temperature differential, for example the difference between the palm of a hand and room-temperature. Usually they are designed in a gamma configuration, for simplicity, and without a regenerator. They are typically unpressurized, running at near-atmospheric pressure. The power produced is less than one watt, and they are intended for demonstration purposes only. As of 2006, this is the only type of Stirling that is widely sold at affordable prices.