Calculation and Performance Analysis of a Solar/Gas Receiver for a Stirling Power Generation System in Gas-Only Mode

Abstract

A thermal model for solar/gas Stirling power generation system was developed to achieve characteristics of the system in thermal balance. The thermal model was developed by building math models for a heat receiver, an air/gas heat exchanger, a Stirling engine and so on and coupling them. The effects of biogas flow rate, air flow rate, and CH4 concentration of biogas on the heat transfer characteristics of the solar/gas heat receiver (SGHR) was analyzed selectively in this paper. The calculation result shows that, with biogas mass flow rate increasing by 25%, the heat transfer power of the SGHR increases by 19.97% and the heat transfer efficiency of the SGHR decreases by 4.44%. With air mass flow rate increasing by 30%, the heat transfer power and efficiency of the SGHR both decreases by 13.84%. With CH4 concentration of biogas increasing by 18.18%, the heat transfer power of the SGHR increases by 27.14% and the heat transfer efficiency of the SGHR decreases by 2.96%.