https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343596354_Use_of_Stirling_Engine_for_Waste_Heat_Recovery
Use of Stirling Engine for Waste Heat Recovery
August 2020Energies 13(16):4133
DOI:10.3390/en13164133
Authors:
Peter Durcansky
University of Žilina
Radovan Nosek
Jozef Jnadacka
University of Žilina
Download full-text PDF
Read full-text
Download citation
Copy link
Citations (5)
References (30)
Figures (2)
Abstract and Figures
Even though this discovery dates back to 1816, the greatest advancement in technology and understanding of Stirling-cycle devices has occurred in the last 50 years. Although their mass production is currently limited to special-purpose machines, its prospective use is in combination with renewable sources and indicates a potential for commercial purposes. The lack of commercial success, despite obvious advantages, is probably due to a lack of appropriate modeling techniques and theoretical predictions of what these devices can achieve. Nowadays the Stirling engine has found its use mainly in solar power plants, where it represents the only piston engine converting solar energy into mechanical and then electricity with relatively high efficiency. The Stirling engine also appears to be suitable for recovering waste heat, especially in heavy industry. The numerical model was adapted for the existing Cleanergy Stirling engine, to evaluate the possibilities of this one engine for waste heat recovery. This paper also deals with application options and individual parameters that affect the efficiency of this Stirling engine for waste heat recovery. The analysis showed that this kind of engine is capable of recovering and utilizing heat above 300 °C, which determines its possible use with solar energy.
List of Stirling engines.
…
Measured electric output with standard deviation.
…
Figures - available via license: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
THE LAZY ENVIRONMENTALIST
http://thelazyenvironmentalist.blogspot.com/2006/11/concentrating-solar-power-how-mirrors.html
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2006
Concentrating Solar Power: how mirrors can light up the world
Yesterday the Guardian published an article on my favourite energy solution. It’s called Concentrating Solar Power (CSP).
It’s a simple, potentially wide ranging and hugely effective solution to our energy needs - not just for the UK, but for the whole of Europe and beyond. Just three vital components are needed - lots of sunshine, lots of space and lots of mirrors, which are arranged so that they focus the sunlight into a small area.
This is how it works: the sun hits the mirrors, which then concentrate the sunlight to create heat. Ever done that ladies survival trick of using a compact-mirror to light a fire? Well, it’s a similar principle, except rather than lighting twigs the heat created can be used to generate electricity by raising steam and driving a Stirling turbine, just like a conventional power station.
The electricity can then be transmitted via very efficient high-voltage direct-current cables (‘HVDC’) throughout Europe, the Middle East, North Africa. Some of these HVDC transmission lines are in place already but more would be needed in the proposed new system. The heat from a CSP plant can be stored so that electricity generation may continue through the night and on cloudy days.
There are numerous advantages to this solution:
1. CSP works. There are CSP plants operating successfully in California, Arizona, Spain, the Nevada desert and Southern Australia.
2. It’s a carbon-free, nuclear-free solution
3. CSP has huge potential in terms of scale. Every year it pours down the equivalent of 1.5m barrels of oil of energy for every square kilometre.
4. A Europe-wide grid of HVDC Transmission lines could be stored underground and even under the sea.
5. Although capital costs would be high, running costs and maintenance would be low. After all, no uranium or fuel needs to be found - it is merely dependent on the sun as it’s constantly renewable source of energy.
6. Studies by the German Aerospace Centre demonstrate that by covering just 0.5% of the world’s hot deserts with CSP would provide the world’s entire electricity needs, with the technology also providing desalinated water to desert regions as a valuable byproduct, as well as air conditioning for nearby cities.
7. CSP is cheaper than oil (currently at $60 per barrel and increasing), calculated at around $50 per barrel of oil equivalent for the cost of building a plant, falling sharply to about $20, as the production of the mirrors reaches industrial levels. It is about half the equivalent cost of using the photovoltaic cells that people have on their roofs. The TRANS-CSP Report estimates that CSP electricity delivered to London would cost about 5.5 eurocents per kilowatt-hour, including the cost of transmission.
8. The electricity generated can be transmitted over very long distances with transmission losses of no more than about 3% per 1000 km. For the whole of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, it is estimated that average transmission losses would be about 10%. Considering that the ‘fuel’ is free, this compares well with the 70%+ losses that have been accepted for many years in conventional coal-fired power stations (where the fuel is far from being free).
9. Unlike nuclear with it’s storage problems, unresolved sequestration issues, high cost of obtaining uranium and high risk of terrorist intervention, CSP has none of these disadvantages.
10. It’s a brilliant solution.
The German scientist Dr Gerhard Knies states “Contrary to what is commonly supposed it is entirely feasible, and cost-effective, to transmit solar electricity over long distances. Solar electricity imported to Europe would be amongst the cheapest source of electricity and that includes transporting it,” he says. “CSP imports would be much less vulnerable to interruption than are current imports of gas, oil and uranium.” It’s a realistic solution, and it’s a solution we could implement now.
For further information, go to the comprehensive Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC-UK) website
pdf of Guardian article
Go to www.trecers.net/news.html for interview with Dr. Gerhard Knies at “BBC The World Tonight”
POSTED BY POLLY HIGGINS AT 8:07 AM
LABELS: CSP, DESERT POWER, MIRRORS, SOLAR THERMAL POWER, SUN ENERGY