Si J N DEVELOPING COUNTRIES UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION BY William T. Beale April 1986TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page Number List of Figures Summary... Historical Background. Biomass Heated Hot Air Engine... Solar Cells 8s Competition to Solar Stirlings. Free Piston Stirling Engines... Solar Concentrators. ‘Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Powered Stirling Engines... Present State of Development. Design, Mater fals and Fabrication. Recommendations for Action... Teble| Figure} Photographs ~ Figures 2-9 References‘SUMMARY At the present time there are no solar powered Stirling engines ready for use in developing countries, or even in the developed industrial countries. Within the next four years however, some work in progress may resull in the availability of high performance, expensive systems. The technical possibility exists, though, for a more rapid development of prectical and relatively inexpensive solar powered Stirling machines capable of producing several kilowatts of mechanical power at a purchase cost of less than $1000/ kW. An existing example of @ kind of solar Stirling, ane using biomass as fual, is the simple hot air engine now being manufactured in India in a 4kW size at @ purchase price of $2000. This engine is cost-Justified in relation to a diesel engine and {ts fuel after 100 hours of operation In regions with high diesel fuel cost. Directly soler heated Stirlings could be brought into existence in the same way as was the biomess Stirling, by @ moderately funded development program targeled toward @ simple, prectical and economic machine with @ properly chasen end use, The most likely such end use would be water pumping, for which efther simple hot alr crank engines or sealed free piston engines ere well ‘suited and have potential for cost effectiveness relative to diesel engines in areas of bright sunlight where diesel fuel is expensive. The existing large programs In the U.S. aimed at the development of Stirling engines for space power and for automotive propulsion are unlikely to result in systems useful to agriculturally based societies, since these US Government funded programs have as their terget exceptionally high performance, without which they cannot compete with other sources of energy already available in the developed world.HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The Stirling engine was tnvented in 1816 by @ Scottish clergyman, Robert Stirling, who claimed that its use of air rather than steam es 8 working fluid would allow safer operation as well as higher efficiency . In this claim he wes right, but the engine he built and put to use es a water Puriper tn coal mines hed en unfortunate tendancy to burn out, since ft wes made of cast iron and hed no effective temperature control for its haater head. Despite the presence of this and many other flaws, the Stirling engine remained in commercial production until the early part of this century , usually for water pumping and other relatively undemanding uses. It proved to be reliable, quiet, easily operated by untrained people, and relatively efficient. One of Its chief virtues wes its ability to utilize effectively any burnable fuel, such as wood, coal, straw, sgrfeultural waste and other readily avalleble and cheap combustibles. The method of operetion and general layout of the early Stirling engine fs shown in figure 1, and {ts accompanying text. Besically , the Stirling cycle machine is one in which o gas, such as air, Is alternately shifted between @ hot space end 8 cold space, and the consequent rise and fall of bressure 1s used to drive @ working piston in and out of a cylinder in such 8 way as to do work on ‘he outside load. All that is necessary for this engine to work 1s @ source of heat to keep the hot Spece at its temperature, and @ cooling source to maintain the lower temperature of the cool space. The Stirling engine is a classic heat engine in the thermodynamic. sense, and is subject to the Timits imposed by the laws of thermodynamics, which dictate that its efficiency is determined by {he ratio of the highest temperature to the lowest temprature reached by the working gas during the cycle of operation. In practics, the Stirling suffers the usual degradation of its theoretical Performance (rom the influence of the realities of Ife, friction, heat leakege, bearing drags and leaks, end so forth. In additfon, tts consequent thermal efficiency is no better, and is often worse, than that of equivalent sized internal combustion engines. Its chief practical advantoge is its =tability to use affectively any source of heal, including solar, rough biomes, Isotopic, and others which are unsuftable for use fn internal combustion machines. The Stirling was @ successful machine during the 19th. century, but fell into disuse early tn this century with the advent of cheap and reliable electric motors and small internal combustion engines , which were much less expensive and more compact per unit of power. ‘At the end of the second world war, the Philips company of Holland revived the Stirling engine with {he eid of modern materials and analytical methods, greatly improving it in power, efficiency end Compsctness. However, most of this work was done with the aim of satisfying the exceptionally ‘demanding requirements of automotive use, and the resulting machine wes complex and demanding in its manufacturing requirements. Also, in order to achieve the very high power /weight ratio required for autos, the Stirling engine was made to use high pressure hydrogen es @ working gas ‘nsteed of air, This concept introduced en almost insuperable problem of containment of this exceptionally mobile gas . The automotive Stirling consumed almost all of the development money expended on Stirling work since the end of the war. As. result, very little wes done to develop modern versions of the early hot air engines which had once served so well in applications of the kind which might be attractive in simple agricultural based societies. However, there were some efforts to meke such @ modern Stirling engine, In 1980, the U.S. ‘Agency for International Development funded the design , fabrication and test of © simple hot air engine intended to be manufectured in developing countries. This engine was in fact completed, ‘and several were made and are presently under test fn Bangladesh, Another version, somewhat more advanced, fs being manufactured in India. This engine is 8 low pressure, eir charged, 4 kW -3+shaft power machine made to operate on rice husk es fuel, but also capable of operation with peanut shells, coconut husks, bagasse, or the like. Ils overall efficiency, defined as shaft power, divided by the energy content of the fuel used per unit time 1s about 10%. This percentage 1s not much different from that of similarly powered petrol engines using much less avaflable fuel. (fig 2, ref. 1) ‘Another form of Stirling engine, the free piston , was conceived in the early 1960's, in an attempt {0 avoid the exceptionally difficult shefl seal problem of the high pressure light 93s crank drive Stirling. It turned out, rather fortuitously, that this type of Stirling engine was very simple to make, and in many applications, was supertor in cost and performance to the older crank drive types. The free piston Stirling became the ‘design of choice’ for @ number of more exotic applications of Stirling engines : the artificial heart, the space power plant, and the extremely long-life electric power generator. It also gave promise for use a6 a very simple, cheap ond easily operated small power plant for such uses as solar woler pumping , electricity generation, and biomass utilization in developing countries. But, since there were no funds avallable for Gevelopment, this promise was not realized in practice. ( refs. 2,3,4,5) (figs.3,4,5) The essential feature of the free piston Stirling machine fs {ts leck of eny sort of crank or linkage. Instead, {ts required motions are effected by the harmonious Interaction of the masses and spring effects . These, combined with thermodynamic forces, cooperate to create a self actuating thermal oscillator capable of delivering power to an outside load. While all of this may seem at first to- be a frogile and unlikely bslance of coincidences, it in fact constitutes @ very stable ond lively entity. For those accustomed to linkage driven mechanisms this design is puzzling but {t is nevertheless as efficient, powerful end effective as conventional designs, and hes 8 number of unique virtues of Its own. Its most important feature ts {ts capability of combining hermetic sealing with an ability to produce mechanical power at the same time, _AL present , mid1986, the Stirling engine exists in laboretortes es.0 development challenge for those attempting to make extremely long Iife, high effictency machines for spoce power, eulomotive applications, and for domestic heat pumps ond cogenerators. For use outside of the lab, only one case exists of @ Stirling being used for @ practical application; the low pressure air engine being made In India and Bangladesh. The remainder of this paper will deal with and describe the existing and prospective designs which give promise es practical solar or biomass powered machines. Their characteristics and casts are noted. BIOMASS HEATED HOT AIR ENGINE This machine originated with the USAID program to develop @ rice husk powered, low pressure air engine with materials and fabrication requirements suitable for developing nations. It ts big and slow , but is simple to construct, has low maintenance requirements, and fs also very simple 10 operate. However , ft does require some altention from the operator in feeding fuel and removing shes. (fig. 6) ‘The development of this engine has reached the point of demonstration in field situations, with 6 few, on the order of 50, having been made to date. The Iffe expected, at present, ts ebout 2000 hours before the bearings and piston seals must be replaced, however, these are cheap and readily removed, so the down time for this work fs only a few hours. The engine with its simple cyclone burner has a fuel efficiency of about 10%, which means thet in the case of rice husk fuel, ebout 11-12 kg per hour of husk ts needed to produce 4kW of shaft power. It fs expected that with simple improvements to the burner, involving the fitting of & recuperator to preheat the incoming combustion air with the burner exhaust, @ significant improvement in fuel efficiency will be echieved, reducing the fuel rate to perhaps 6 kg/hr.The use of biomass fuel does imply that a fair amount of attention must be paid to the fuel feeding process to avoid Jamming, bulldup of soot, ash and the like. This attention varies, of course , with the fuel used, and can be reduced by pre-processing the fuel. For example, by grinding it up into uniform small particles suitable for automatic feeding, or drying ft before combustion by use of the exhaust gases. « Since most biomass burns relatively cleanly, such @ machine produces an exhaust which is not es Corrosive as that from coal. The exhaust gas heat may be readily utilized for purposes such as drying crops, or heating green houses or living spaces. This low pressure hol gas crank drive machine may also use other sources of heal, such as biogas, Peat, coal, wood, or even solar energy, in which case 1t would require.as does any Stirling machine operating on solar energy, © concentrating collector to allow @ sufficiently high temperature to operate at reasonable efficiency. But since this engine is relatively big and heavy, 1t would also require a stationary position, with any sun tracking being done by the optical elements, without engine movement. Such arrangements are possibleand ere probably ‘advantageous even for the very much lighter free piston solar machines. As with any solar Stirling, the hot air crank machine requires @ concentrator and absorber sufficiently big enough to give the thermal energy needed to operate the machine. In this case, since the hot air engine itself, without consideration of the burner inefficiency, has a conversion efficiency of about 20 percent, then for a shaft power of 4kW, five times that much power in the form of heat must be delivered to the heater head, or 20 kW of thermal energy flow, To achieve this power ond effictency, the heater head must be held at o temperature of between 600 and 700 €. Thus, the solar application requires high quality concentrators and absorbers , which always ‘edd considerably to the cost of the system, as well es {0 its complexity, since the concentrator Ge:must be accurately aimed at the sun at all times, by either an automatic tracker, or by cunstant ‘attention by @ human operator. ‘As a rough rule of thumb, for good solar collectors, with good absorbers, bright sunlight can be gathered at a rate of sbout 700 walts per square meter of concentrator surface area normal to the sun's rays. So for the engine discussed above, 9 concentrator of about 30 square meters is needed. This would be a circle of about 6 meters in diameter, which 1s obviously quite big tn relation to the size of the engine. And in addition, there fs the space taken up by the concentrator, mount ond tracker. A typical cost presently envisioned for high quality solar concentrators using pressure formed aluminized plastic film, is about $40/sq, meter, so a concentrator to operate this machine ‘would cost at least $1000, A tracker and mount would add $400 to this cost, making the final cost of @ solar heater for this machine roughly $1500. At present, the engine costs about $2000 delivered from Madras, India. So the total cost of the solar engine would be $4500 for a power of 4kW, or roughly $1 100/kw. This 1s expensive tn relation to the present diesel engine cost of ‘about $800 for the same power, or only $200 /kW. In some inaccessable parts of the developing wor Id, the cost of diesel fuel ts about $1/liter, and a 4KW diesal engine burns ebout 1.2 Iiters per hour, Thus the diesal requires $1200 of fuel for each 1000 hours of operation. The difference in cost between the solar Stirling and the diesel is ‘about $3700, so ft would take over three thousand hours of operation:before the sum of purchase price and fuel cost of the diesel would be equal to the purchase price of the solar Stirling. This may justify even the very high cost of the solar Stirling engine in regions where diesel fuel ts very expensive, and where sunlight is bright snd continuous. It is an obvious requirement here that the Stirling engine last longer than the required three thousand hours, or the requirement of equal total cost would not be reached before the solar machine needed to be replaced,This ts a much simplified economic analysis, since {t does not consider repair and tending costs, or the cost of capital. However, 1t glves @ rough estimate of the economic practicality of the as-yet nonextstant solar Stirling engine system before more realistic costs based on experience are evallable. At this point. it is necessary to remark that the direct use of solar energy for heating Stirling engines is ususlly not preferable to the use of any kind of locally available biomass, such os ‘agricultural waste, or dried weeds, gress, tree clippings or any other combustible. The advantages of using this concentrated and storable form of solar energy include the avoidance of the cost of the Concentrator and its mount and tracker, es well as the convenience of operation of the engine al any time, day or night, rain or shine. The penalty is, of course, the use of @ fuel which fs often needed for other purposes. But It should nol be forgotten that the hot exhaust geses of the biomass burner ‘also allow cooking, water heating end other uses which are often direst replacements for the uses to which the biomass Is usually put. Also, the biomass utilizing Stirling gives the incentive to plant fuel woods, which can confer additional beneficial effects through enrichment of soft, production of cattle feed, and shade. The operation time required to match the diesel cost is much shorter with the biomass powered Stirling than it is with the solar Stirling. For the case studied ebove, © biomass 4kW Stirling purchased in Madres costs $2000. When used where the diesel fuel cost 1s $1.2 per hour of operation, and the diesel engine costs $800, then the Stirling using waste biomass without a cost assessed, would match the diesel costs in one thousand hours of operation, and beyond that operating time, the biomass Stirling would be less expensive than the diesel. It is also estimated that the maintenance costs of the Stirling would be less than those of the diesel because of its simplicity and absence of need for such things as lubrication ofl, fuel filters end other required services to the diesel.SOLAR CELLS AS COMPETITION TO SOLAR STIRLINGS. In comperison to this exemple of the use of 8 Stirling engine for energy production from either direct or stored solar energy, 11 is necessary to consider the solar cell as an alternative choice. The solar cell has the well known advantages of extreme simplicity, and long life, The one great disadvantage of the solar cell is of course, price. At present, commercial prices are ebout 7/peak watt, or $7000/peak kW, which is only delivered during times when the sun fs brightest ond the cell is almed directly at it. Thus, in order to do the same work as the biomass powered Stirling, 0 farmer would have to pay $ 28,000 for solar cells, and even then, he would not be able to rely on them except during hours of bright sunlight. If he elects to use a battery bank to store the solar cell electric energy, then the cost s made even higher by the purchase price of the batteries. In addition to their cost, solar cells have an additional disadvantage in that they deliver only low voltage direct current, which must be transformed into other forms of energy for many uses. For exemple, If the intended use is to pump water, then the direct current electricity must be used to drive an electric motor, which in turn drives @ pump. The combined efficiency of the motor and pump are seldom more than about 60%, which means that even more solar cells per useful kW are required, and the cast increases proportionally. In comparison, the simple hot afr engine can easily be connected to any sort of pump, since the Stirling produces mechanical, not electric power. ‘The above example leads to 2 conclusion which will be found to be valid for the other Stirling engine types to be described below. The Stirling derives {ts promise from {ts ability to use any source of heat, and to turn 1t directly Into an immediately useful form of power . Further, if solar energy is to be used, then ft Is advantageous to consider first if 1t can be made to produce biomass, and if not, then the direct solar heating conveys more edvantage from {ts conversion by Stirling engine than by solar cells, An obvious counter example exists in those cases where theenergy 1s needed for radios, or other low power eloctronte uses. For such cases, the solar coll ts without competetton, FREE PISTON STIRLING ENGINES. The free piston Stirling has become the favor ite of US researchers, since {t combines excellent thermal performance with great mechanical simplicity, and, as a resull of {ts hermetic sealing, can use high pressure light gases without fear that they will leak oul. This feature makes the free piston engine very powerful for its weight and size, and thus less expensive than the low pressure air engines for equivalent power, These very strong virtues are counter balanced by the lack of en obvious power output method, The {ree piston in Its classic form does not turn 9 crank, and must resort to such unusual power (ransfer mechanisms as linear alternators which , when directly attached to the oscillating piston Of the engine, generate electric power by moving a magnet by a stationary wire coll. Other ways to Geliver power from a sealed free piston engine include the so-called free cylinder technique, in which the entire pressure enclosure of the engine 1s allowed to move in reaction to the oscillating Anternal piston, and the power Is teken from this moving cylinder by 8 pump or other external mechanism. Other ways to deliver useful effect include the duplex ‘Stirling cooler combination, in which the power from the heat engine is transfered directly to @ similar machine in the same Pressure enclosure operating as 6 heat pump, so that the combination results in 8 machine which receives high temperature heal at one end and produces cold at the other, Such @ machine can be mode 1o be 0 very effective heat driven freezer for use for storage of biological mater als such as - serums, (fig. 7) The free piston Stirling is under intense development es 8 space power Plant, and also as @ Gomestic heat driven heat pump, but , as with the crank Stirling, it has received almost no allention as @ source of power for developing countries. I has, however, been recently recognized -10-by the U.S. Department of Energy and by NASM 6s 0 prime candidate for use 8s a solar generator, in large fields of many individual engine-concentrating dish units. The work on these solar machines ts just beginning and 1s not yet to the point where they are availeble for purchase ond use. Small private companies end individuals fn the U.S. have pursued this some goal for many years with technical success but without the finances to bring them to production. Typical of the work of the individuals and small companies is shown in figs. 3,4, ond in references 2,3,4. As early as 1971, a complete operating soler powered water pump utilizing @ free piston Stirling engine was demonstrated. It used @ Fresnel lens, @ free cylinder version of the free piston engine, and drove @ piston pump directly from the oscillation of the engine cylinder. Loler versions included a free piston engine with linear alternator, driven by a foil membrane concentrator, which tracked the sun with an electronic sun seeker ond small electric drive motor, SOLAR CONCENTRATORS The concentrator is one of the more expensive components of any solar system because of the need for high surface reflectivity and smoothness, es well as structural rigidity ond lightweight. It must also be mounted on a stand which atlaws i to follow the sun with high accuracy. The leading candidates for this demanding role are stretched foil or thin metal membranes, formed either by @ partial vacuum or by stress from stretching, (fig. 8). At present the performance of such membrane collectors is quite good, with concentrator efficiency of about 85%, end their life ts projected to be on the order of 20 years. Their cost is about $40 /square meter, or about $200/kW of electric power delivered, exclusive of mount end tracker. Trecking systems ere very highly developed, thanks to modern microelectronics. Inexpensive. servo mechanisms guided by these electronic controls can be reliably expected to treck the sun essentially without error except for that associated with wind deflections, ile =The entire optical system; concentrator, receiver and tracker, can be expected to perform with high efficiency, on the order of 70%, end with good rellabtitty. It may be necessary to clean the Surfoces occasionally, but even without cleaning, the new surfaces can be expocted to por form reasonably well. ‘ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOLAR POWERED STIRLING ENGINES The most attractive character tstic promised by solar Stirling engines fs, of course, their absence of fuel cost. But to balance this, it must be pointed out that the cost of the concentrator and tracker can often be very high, and to this must be adiad the cost of maintenance and the vulnerability to wind damage, In addition, there are circumstances wherein the solar system is not attractive merely because the local fuel costs are very low, Al present, considering the oost of the optical 6nd tracking system, ft would be unusual to find a circumstance wherein the solar machine would have economic attraction over the same engine heated by biomass, especially where the engine is Used for irrigation, which would imply the availability of agricultural waste to burn. 19PRESENT STATE OF DEVELOPMENT ‘The art of Stirling engine design 1s well developed, although at present confided to a very fow groups of engineers, most of which have bean working on the eutomotive application, although & few have emphasized the more practical {ree piston ver ely. The existing hardware ts for the most pert in development laboratories in the US, Japan, and Sweden bul afew engines, Ito 3 kW free piston types, and @ few automotive samples, have been sold for experimental purposes . ‘An exception ts the 4k\¥ low speed, air charged biomes Stirling, SO of which have been sold for field trial purposes in India, with the prospect for a much lorger number in the near future. There are no solar powered Stirling engines in use today except for the 25 kW United Stirling engine experiment in California, which has the current world record of over 30% conversion efficiency, solar to electric power. This United Stirling engine ts @ modification of the eutomotive engine which has been worked on by United Stirling and others for ebout 20 years. This engine 1s not in production, and is not available for purchase. It uses the same high pressure halium charge as the outomotive engine, end has the same problems with shaft seals, Teakege of which requires that {be frequently recharged. There ere some indications that there will be a private effort to develop megawatt errays of solar ‘Stirling engine-dish combinations in southern California in the near future. The target system is rumored to be 2SkW free piston ~linear alternator combinations with an eleven meter diameter ‘lass surface dish concentrator, with a peak conversion efficiency of over 302. Casts of such a system are estimated to be at least $1S00/kW,, and more likely over $3000/KW. NASA Is at present asking Industry for 8 proposal to design 8 25 kW free piston solar Stirling system intended for fabrication within three years, and it is expected that possibly two such -13-grants will be made, so that there will be 0 choice of designs from which to go forward toward laboratory tests. In these designs, the stress will be on high performance, energy storage, and Very long life, all of which militete against low initial cost, so ft 1s unlikely that the resulting Gesigns will be suitable for use in less developed nations. The long term goals for this program are given in Table |. The technology exists, however, to make effective, lower cost Stirling systems comprised of simple free piston engine-alternators, pressure formed foll concentrators, and electronic trackers, which could have cost on the order of $ G00/kW peak. This may be economic in some circumstances, and is much less than the present cost of soler cell electricity of about $7000/kW. These cost estimates are based on experience with an existing 3kW Free Piston Stirling Engine, which in its present form is being developed for use as @ diesel fuelled generator set, and is intended for production as an air charged, por table unit for use with the U.S. army and for general civilian applications. (fig. 9) The same engine and elternator, when charged with helium and hermetically sealed to avoid loss of gas, could produce over S kW of electric power when heated by solar energy toa uniform 750C heater head temperature, which can be done with pressure formed foil concentrators made of @ fluorocarbon protected aluminized vinyl film which costs $7.60/square meter , and has a life of at least several years in bright sunlight. a wide;DESIGNS , MATERIALS AND FABRICATION The types of Stirling engine which are of interest for use tn developing countr tes could be made of quite ordinary mater tals, such es cast iron, cast aluminum, sheet stoel, sheet stainless stesl, and ‘the usual materials of which electric motors are made. The fabrication and joining methods ere also very common and employed routinely in the fabrication of other machines already in use in Such countries, There are a few special materials, such as high strength magnets, ofl free bearings and possibly sodium filled heat pipes which would have to be purchased out of country, but these are readily available if foreign currency can be used, and in any case, they need not Constitute a high fraction of the system cost. The biomass engine sponsored by U.S. AID in Bangladesh was successfully fabricated in shops In the Vicinity of Dhaka, and could easily be repaired by many local shops. The production facilities heeded are no more than those required to make conventional internal combustion engines. The designs themselves are very simple, being less complex than @ standard diesel engine, and more readily repatred with ¢ little technical training. There does not seem lo be eny impediment to their use from difficulty of understanding of operation or techniques of fabrication, maintenance or repair. The above statements do not hold for the Stirling engines being designed for the U.S. automotive program, space power plant or ground besed solar electric power. All of these machines ere very complex and their fabrication will tex even the most sophisticated manufecturers. It is essumed that the solar or biomess heated Stirling engines which would have most appeal and economic validity would be those which have low life-cycle costs relative to diesel engines, with bresk-even times something lke 2000 hours or less, and other advantages. in dally out-of-pocket -15-costs, maintenance, tending, and ruggedness. These chorocloristics ere available tn both free piston and crank drive configurations, and it would be an early task of @ design team to weigh the relative merits of the configurations for each use and decide on the most promising before commiting effort to prototype development. In this process It would be essentfal that those famfliar with the realtties of each use, including things like the level of training of the workers, ‘and the evallability of equipment for repair, be involved in the early decisions on design datail, ‘At this time, with only aneodotal evidence available, fl fs estimated that the most attractive uses for biomasss or solar heated Stirling engines would be, irrigation and other water pumping uses general purpose mechanical power , as used for grain processing and the Hike electr ictty generation in areas where diesel {uel and/or maintenance fs very expensive I seems highly unlikely that Stirlings could compete with Internal combustion engines for use in transportation, with the possible exception of small river boats. * H16-RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION. The biomass Stirling engine has already progressed towerd fleld trials ond commerctaltzation, which should quickly bring in resulis concerning its economic and technical merits. This process of commercialization could be assisted by publication of studies of the merits of the biomass ‘Stirling end {ts eppropriate uses, as well as publications of guidelines to governments of developing couritries on the use of incentives to more rapidly spread this new technology. The directly solar heated Stirling will probably need assistance from funding organizations in order to reach a form suitable for use in developing countries, since the planned U.S. solar Stirling development program fs targeted for much larger ond more complex technology than is reasonable for most developing country use. A program to bring about such a practical solar Stirling development could be structured as was the biomass Stirling program: 1) initial economic study to guide the development program 2) systems concept study to define the most economic end practical system 3) design , fabr ication and test and modification of defined system 4) manufacture of field trial units 5) field trails, measurement of performance and economics in several typical situations 6) publication of results and release of design for private industry use The above procedure proved successful with the biomass Stirling. In this case, the funding egency wes the U.S. AID, the contractor for the initial design was Sunpower Inc., and the local group which mace the first trial units wes the Kumidini Trust of Naranganj, Bangladesh, with the help of the ‘Asia Foundation of San Francisco. --17-The developmenit process in the case of the biomass engine, was greatly accelerated by the decision Of several of the design engineers ot Sunpower to attempt their own private venture before the Bongledesh trtals were complote, They sel up @ company tn Medras, India, which begen the Production of an Improved version of the Bangladesh engine. This engine is now avatloble for Purchase. (ref. 6). The original Bangladesh program also continues, with 8 considerably |mproved engine scheduled for tests and demonstration to polentiel manufecturers in mid 1966. It is to be expected that the project cost of a Solar Stirling engine would be considerably greater than that for the biomass engine, since the system tself 1s much more complex and the technology isnot es mature. There fs also @ considerably greater technical risk involved, and the economics ‘are not at first glance nearly as favorable for the solar Stirling as they are for the biomass fueled system. It is probable that the Solar Stirling probably will not have as wide an application as does the biomass engine, so the I1kelthood of an entry of a private group early in the development 1s lower, ‘A very rough estimate, based on exper tence with simflar development programs in the past, is: for the initial economics and system study, $150, 000; for the design, fabrication and test of the first prototype, $350,000; for the fobr ication of 10 field trial units, $ $00,000. Field trials ‘and studies ere estimated to require about 2 million dollars for ten engines at ten different sites, This cest could, of course, be reduced by reducing the number of sites ‘and engines. The benefits of @ successful development of a commercially viable Soler Stirling machine would Include an increase in the lend area made available for human use, as well as a decrease in the per " capite use of fossil fuels and their associated burden on the environment. -18-TABLE 1 U.S. GOVERNMENT SOLAR STIRLING LONG TERM GOALS Annual Efficiency Cost ($) (8) Dish 78 130/M2 Receiver 90 70/2 Engine/Alternator 40 300/kWe Balance of Plant 20/2 System 28 1200/kWe Operation and Maintenance losm2/Year Energy Cost 0.05/kWh, TABLE 1v 20) ) 2b) 3a) 3b) 4a) ) ) 4b) i) 5b) 50) 6) 78) 7b; 8) 9) LIST OF FIGURES Stirling Engine Method of Operation US. AID Funded Rice Husk Fired Stirling Engine for Bangladesh Rice Husk Fired Engine Schematic of Free Oylinder Water Pump Stirling Engine Free Cylinder Engine In Operation Free-Piston ~ Linear Alternator Schematic 1kW Free-Piston - Linear Alternator Solar Powered Free Piston ~ Linear Alternator with Fresnal Lens Solar Free Piston with Dish Concentrator Automotive Stirling with Solar Concentrator Rios Husk Fired Stirling Engine Pumping Water Duplex Stirling Heat Pump Schematic Duplex Stirling Heat Pump Operating Pressure Formed Plastic Fotl Concentrator SKW Free Piston Stirling in Test CallHEATER CHEAT IN) REGENERATOR COOLER —_—, (HEAT OUT) COLD SPACE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS; 1) DISPLACER DRIVEN DOWN, GAS GOES THRU COOLER, REGEN, HEATER , INTO HOT SPACE. PRESSURE GOES UP. 2) PISTON GOES DOWN, DRIVEN BY HIGH PRESSURE GAS 3) DISPLACER DRIVEN UP BY CRANK, GAS GOES FROM HOT TO COLD SPACE THRU HEATER, REGEN. AND COOLER. PRESSURE DROPS. 4) PISTON DRIVEN UP BY CRANK, COMPRESSES GAS IN COLD SPACE. S) CYCLE THEN REPEATS. EACH CYCLE PRODUCES WORK ON CRANK SHAFT, AND TAKES HEAT FROM HEAT SOURCE, AND. DELIVERS LOW TEMPERATURE HEAT TO COOLING SOURCE. FIGURE 1usope|8ueg Joy ourug Buss posty YSNH 27Y papung IY ‘SM (2Z aig ‘suayly x ANIONS ae dials ASAH Ala Hoss7iva Add SHSINVH22H (atyvasano? % Ol :ANAAaddS SxS0H Baty wad iv 1 SD CONIDRIOM wy ag rauasSsud ZH Ol tdadads MAG teaMod2b) Rice Husk—Fired EngineFree Cylinder Stirling Engine Water Pump Solid Fuel or Solar Power "> Fix-Focus Concentrator Fuel-Gos-o Boga Schematic of Free-Cylinder Water Pump Stirling Engine 3a)3b) Free-Cylinder Engine in Operationheater regenerator coole bounce space hot space Linder |_ ~——displacer | gas spring |_—displacer rod |__cold space |_ —— Piston alternator 4a) Free-Piston - Linear Alternator Schematic4b) IkW Free-Piston / Linear Alternator5a) Solar-Powered Free—Piston / Linear Alternator With Fresnal Lens5b) Solar Free—Piston with Dish ConcentratorJoxeugueou0D se10g YIIM BulvI3S sAlgzowosny Cos 1ua9U0D jequii6 o1u1Ua90%K8 yim 1d39U09 wreemvionel © 314 312uDNOD * nouvannos—"} «| == a newnes Nononyasnor Auouans G39NvIWE + NOIS3aT3MAION vas: ontinow Nt suniuday Wa1SAS 13NX9C © ALIAvO oa ABN emn66L © ssous mazar + youvwana9 Nortonaa auonaana TvUsAO.cg 2S pedly—ysnH 91H m v a = »STIRLING HEAT PUMP STIRLING HEAT ENGINE Heater Regenerator Cooler Warm Heat Exchanger Regenerator Chiller 7a) Duplex Stirling Heat Pump Schematic Expansion Space . Displacer Compression Space Power Piston Compression Space Displacer Expansion Space7b) Duplex Stirling Heat Pump |J0}BUZUB9UOD [104 W3SBiq pewsoy—ainssesg (8Wao 3seL ul Sura 03Std—-88 MY S CEREFERENCES 1) Wood, ¥.6.,Chi ‘egnot, B.J., Penswick, L.B., "Design of a Low Pressure Air Engine for Third ‘World Use", Paper QPOS1082 presented at the 17th Annual IECEC proceedings Los Angeles 1982. 2) | Beale, William T., "Stirling Engines for Developing Countrtes", Supplement to text printed In NAS book Ener ir Bi evelopment. Reprinted 1980. 3) Beale, William T., "Free Piston Stirling Engine~ Sone Model Test and Simulations”, the original paper on free=| Piston Stirling engines. Paper 690230 presented SAE International Automotive Engineering Congress, Detroll, Michigan 1969, 4) Beale, W.T., Wood, v.G., Cheonot, B.v., "Stirling Enoines for Developing Countries". Paper 809399 American Institute of Aeronautics end Astronautics, 1960. Peper presented al the ISth Annual IECEC Proceedings, August 1980. S) Berchowitz,D.M., "Stirling Engines in Developing Countries”. A paper presenled al the Canfer ence on Small Engines & Their Fuels, University of Reading, Sept. 26 & 27, 1984, in sesociation with the Institute of Energy. 6) Stirling Technolgy, Inc. Brochure. Th 12 ST-S and Total Ener gy Indzpe: Factory Street, Athens, Ohio 45701. Ke, 1986. 9 General Background References Eneray for Rural Develonment; Renewable Resources and Alternative Technologies for Developing Countries, National Acsdsmy Press, Weshington, D.C. 1981 Berchowitz, D.M., Uriell, I., Stirling Oycle Enging Analysis Adain Hilger LUd., Tectino House, Redcliffe Way, Bristol BS! 6NX 1984, Walker, G., Senft, v.R., Eres Piston Stirling Engines Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo 1985. Walker, 6., Stirling Engines. , Oxford University Press 1980. Leslure Noles in Engineer ing. Springer