Abstract
A fundamental study on solar Stirling power generation system has been performed in National Aerospace Laboratory. The research work involves both a solar receiver and a Stirling power generation technologies. The former work is focused on developing a high efficiency solar receiver. It is composed of a cavity receiver, thermal energy storage and sodium heat pipes, and aims at transporting solar heat to a bottoming system with the minimized heat loss. A ground test model of solar receiver system has been fabricated and the performance test has been carried out. As a result, it was found that the receiver system was able to provide enough temperature for enabling engine operations under the simulated in-orbit cycle of solar heat. In parallel, semi-free piston Stirling engine generators have been experimentally studied as one of candidate converters for future space power generation. Through a series of bench tests, the thermodynamic efficiency of 33% and system efficiency of 20% was obtained. Based on these achievements, the design work for an improved linear alternator was carried out.
