AERODYNE RESEARCH INC — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: S3.01
AERODYNE RESEARCH INC — SBIR Phase I award from National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
- Amount
- $124,996
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Program / Phase
- SBIR · Phase I
- Topic
- S3.01
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- MA
- Period
- 2015-06-17 → 2015-12-17
Description
Proposed is a displacement dwell mechanism for increasing Stirling engine power output and efficiency. The dwell mechanism allows for deviations from a sinusoidal displacement profile found in crank-driven Stirling engines. Longer dwell allows slightly more time for heat transfer to occur in both the hot- and cold-side heat exchangers. Preliminary simulations using freely available Stirling engine simulation code by Israel Urieli indicates that even a modest increase in dwell time increases power output and efficiency. Increasing the power output and efficiency of a Stirling engine by way of a simple mechanical device represents the ?low hanging fruit? compared to complex and expensive regenerator/heat exchanger optimization and development.