Experimental study on entrainment of Stirling engines to an external pacemaker

抄録

The Stirling engine, originally development in 1816 by R. Stirling, has been considered as one of the most efficient systems that convert energy resource to electric power using a thermodynamic cycle ideally close to the Carnot cycle. Use of the Stirling engine for real-world problems, however, has been limited because of its relatively low output power. Towards its more practical applicability, simultaneous operation of many individual Stirling engines is indispensable to increase the output power. This paper presents an experimental study of entraining two Stirling engines to an external pacemaker. Our aim is to achieve synchronized oscillations of the Stirling engines without lowering their oscillation frequencies, because both synchrony and high frequencies are important factors to enhance the total output power. Compared to our previous study of directly coupled Stirling engines, it is shown that the output power is significantly improved in the present framework.