Design and investigation of the performance of a solar powered Stirling engine

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Innovative Solar Power Inc. (ISPI) is a Montréal based company which is technology to convert solar energy into electricity using their novel device to concentrate solar energy into a thermal storage device and then use this thermal energy to generate electricity. Core to this approach is the use of a Stirling engine to convert heat into electricity via mechanical motion. This application will continue work begun in an NSERC Engage Grant to design and build a gamma type Stirling engine for research and testing for this unique application of solar energy conversion. There are many aspects of the engine that need to be uniquely designed and tested to address such issues as thermal transfer of energy into the engine working fluid, addressing sealing of the working fluid, helium, which has a high which has a high thermal capacitance for good engine efficiency but is difficult to seal because of its low molecular weight and high diffusivity. There are several possible configurations of Stirling engines, some of which have many potential advantages. Initial design work will also be carried out on a free piston Stirling engine which is inherently very simple with one moving part but has instability issues in operation. This application will bridge the research while an NSERC CRD application is being evaluated and will fund HQP working on the project.