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Title:
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Limitation of Piston Centre Shift in Free Piston Stirling Engines
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Author(s):
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Published by:
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Publication date:
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ECN
Energy in the Built Environment
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23-1-2007
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ECN report number:
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Document type:
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ECN-M--06-088
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Conference Paper
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Number of pages:
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Full text:
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8
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Download PDF
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Presented at: Conference Proceedings of the International Stirling Forum 2006, Osnabruck, Germany, 26-28 september 2006.
Abstract:
Piston centre shift is one of the phenomena setting Free Piston engines apart from traditional kinematic engines. In kinematic engines the piston centre position is determined by the design of the engine's internal mechanisms. In Free Piston engines however, the piston's mid-stroke position is determined by the balance of forces acting on the piston, in particular flexure and gas pressure forces. As a result, a mean pressure difference across the piston emerging during engine operation will cause the piston mid-stroke position to shift away from the geometrical centre. This process will continue until a new balance is reached with the flexure forces counteracting the new mean pressure balance. Yet, before the new equilibrium is reached, the resulting piston centre shift may have grown to such an extent that piston overstrokes have become inevitable.
In order to limit piston centre shift and prevent piston overstrokes, several solutions have been proposed in the past. Popular solutions include ingenious mechanisms to vent gas between the spaces separated by the piston, in an attempt to limit the pressure difference. Enatec however has adopted a different approach by applying a precisely determined clearance between the piston and cylinder. With the right shape the clearance effectively limits the mean pressure difference across the piston and therefore limits the extent of the piston centre drift. Taking benefit of tightly controlled tolerances of both piston and cylinder, Enatec has demonstrated the effectiveness of this simple concept in series produced engines.
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