A17 Prototype Control System for Generation of Electricity by 1 kW Stirling Engine

Abstract

This paper presents a prototype electric-power control system for generation of electricity by free-piston type 1kW Stirling engine. Converter unit developed in our Laboratory can realize to start the Stirling engine softly with no stress and to keep it stable in normal state including battery and dynamic load in collaboration machine mechanism of the Stirling engine with control of output voltage and current of generator. The converters consist of an AC-DC boost converter for generation control of the Stirling engine, a DC-DC buck converter for charging or discharging batteries and an inverter for commercial power-supply. The proposed system can process and handle in the best condition in any states of the Stirling engine, dynamic load, batteries and external power supply.