Abstract
The sudden expansion and contraction flow in the regenerator ends greatly influences the performance of the Stirling engines. The regenerator is installed between the heater and the cooler. The cross-sectional flow areas of regenerator ends of typical Stirling engines are smaller than the cross-sectional area of the regenerator matrix. So, the gas flow in the matrix becomes a flow field with non-uniform flow at end of the regenerator. The non-uniform flow causes increased pressure loss and decreased thermal performance. In this paper, the effects of gap in the regenerator ends on the engine performance have been examined experimentally and confirmed.
