HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT IN STIRLING ENGINE USING FINS WITH DIFFERENT CONFIGURATIONS AND GEOMETRIES

Abstract

The temperature difference across a Stirling engine cylinder is one of the main factors contributing to the power output and efficiency. Stirling engine is a heat engine that operates through expansion and compression cycles through different fluid temperatures. In addition, the engine was noted to have three different configurations, which include the alpha, beta, and gamma types, which are discussed in work. This study aims to investigate the effect of adding various fin geometries on different engine cylinder locations to simulate and visualize heat transfer enhancement across the cylinder. The various configurations were simulated through the ANSYS Fluent commercially available CFD model, which was used to simulate the temperature difference on the hot and cold ends of the tested fins. A validation model of mesh element sizing has also been implemented to determine the accuracy of the achieved numbers. Moreover, Fusion360 has been used to 3D design different geometries, including annular, conical and rectangular fins.Furthermore, lastly, validation of the obtained simulated results will be conducted to monitor the accuracy of the simulation through two different methods. An effectiveness of 8.17 has been obtained through the simulation for annular fins; in addition, it has been determined that annular fins achieve the best temperature distribution among the selection of geometries and configurations simulated which was recorded as 223°C for the hot end and 40°C for the cold end.

Keywords

• cfd
• simulation
• fins effectiveness
• fins efficiency
• stirling engine
• heat transfer