Abstract
Free piston Stirling engine (FPSE) converters have been developed as heat-to-electricity power converters for future aerospace applications at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. In the case of FPSE, the linear alternator is one of the most important converter components, because its characteristics govern the performance of the Stirling power converter, Therefore, as a part of the project, many types of linear alternator have been designed, fabricated and tested. The target power outputs of these altemators ranged from less than 10 W to 1kW electricity at the rated operational frequencies from 35 to 70Hz. Based on these achievements, this paper details the design methodology of the high efficiency linear alternator for FPSE and test results of the prototype models. Furthermore, a new application of linear alternator technology is described.
