Abstract
Stirling engines have either 2 pistons in 2 cylinders or 2 pistons in a single cylinder, with the heater, regenerator and cooler installed between the pistons. The single piston type Stirling engine, on the other hand, consists of a single piston in a single cylinder, a cooler, a regenerator, a heater and a gas damper. The gas damper has a role equivalent to the expansion piston. For this research, in order to examine the effect of external and internal heating on the engine performance, a simple prototype engine using air at normal atmospheric pressure as the working gas, was fabricated. Effects of heating methods on the engine performance were examined experimentally. In addition, based on the external heating engine performance examined, the pressurized engine using helium at 1MPa as the working gas was designed and manufactured.
