This project was submitted unsuccessfully for consideration for funding under the DIT Fiosraigh Research Excellence Award scheme. Perhaps I did not provide sufficient detail or maybe it was not clear what I was trying to achieve and, of course, I was up against very strong competition.
Abstract
The objective of the proposed PhD project is to develop a novel decoupled Stirling Engine for sustainable energy applications. The concept has been described at an international conference and in a journal publication by Barry Cullen and Jim McGovern. This project will refine the concept and develop a prototype. Many sustainable energy applications could benefit from a heat engine of the type that is proposed. The expected benefits, compared to other Stirling engines, are significantly enhanced efficiency over a wide range of operating conditions and greatly enhanced flexibility of operation. These will be achieved through a novel heat-transfer-enhancement process and the decoupling of the thermodynamic cycle from dependence on any fixed-geometry mechanical linkage. The novel Stirling engine will be applicable to power production from low-to-moderate-temperature heat sources and will also be applicable to heat-pump or refrigeration installations. Potential application areas include solar thermal power production, waste-heat to power applications, micro-CHP (domestic scale), and thermally driven heat pumps or refrigerators.
