Analogy between Stirling Engine and Petrol Engine

Stirling Engine Petrol Engine

Cycle Stirling Cycle Otto Cycle
Type External Combustion Internal Combustion Engine
Engine
Regenerator Required Not Required
Heat Exchangers Required Not Required
Type of Fuel Doesn’t Matter Only Petrol can be used
Vibrations Little or no vibrations More vibrations due to explosions during
combustion
Valves Not Required Required
Start Up Time Needs warm up time It can start instantaneously
Effect on Largely effected in No such influence
efficiency with Arid/Hot areas as it is
climatic difficult to maintain large
condition temperature difference in
hot and cold end
Pressurizing of Pressurized Fuel(He, N, During Compression Stroke, 100-200psi
Working Fuel Air) increases Efficiency
Efficiency 15-30% for small engines 25-50%(modern engines)
Ignition Not Required Required
Firing Order Not Required Required For Multiple Cylinder Engine
Configuration Alpha, Beta, Gamma V Type, Flat, Inline, Rotary
style
Power to weight Low High
ratio
Operation Style Four Cycle Four Stroke, Two Stroke
Power Delivery Constant power delivery Can be accelerated and decelerated
makes it difficult to be used
in automobiles
High-strength steel or a Cast iron and Aluminium alloy
Material used ceramic composite material
such as silicon carbide (SiC)
Maximum 25KW, Built by Ohio State 1,103 kW (Bugatti Veyron, W Type engine)
Power Recorded University
Till Date
Capability to Yes, Cryocoolers used in No
work in space applications
cryogenic
condition
Operating Hot side Temperature 300 25000C during combustion
Temperature °C. Cold-
side temperature is 25 °C.
Applications Variety of applications from Mostly limited to automobiles
space applications to
coolers
The amount of power an engine can produce is proportional to the cylinder pressure.
With a traditional Stirling this is usually less than 15 psi. It means a pretty big piston is
needed.

We could reduce this by pumping the system up to a higher pressure and by using a
light gas as the working fluid. We can therefore maintain helium at greater than
atmospheric pressure, which would mean we need high pressure seals to contain a gas
traditionally used for leak detection, because it is good at slipping thru the tiniest of
pinholes.

Internal Combustion Engine

Cylinder pressure- 40+ bar

Piston Area - 0.00193548 m2

Steam engine,

Cylinder pressure -10.13 bar

Piston Area-0.00774192m2

Stirling engine

Cylinder pressure -Less than 1 bar

Piston Area - 0.0774192m2

Displacer requires even more volume than the power piston

The chief advantage of internal combustion engines over external combustion engines is
the fact that they do not need a heat exchanger to transfer heat to the working fluid.
This GREATLY reduces the size, weight, and cost of an internal combustion engine of a
given power output (vs an external combustion engine). Because of this, internal
combustion engines are better suited for vehicle use and other situations where
physical size and weight are important.