Electrical power generation from heat engines

There has been recent interest in the application of heat engines for conversion of different forms of heat source into electrical energy. One of the favoured forms of heat engine is the Stirling engine. he best way to commercialise the engine is to look for applications where conventional engines cannot compete. So an engine capable of operating from unusual energy sources, may find wide application. The need, then, is to solve the problems associated with electrical generation from such engines. A variety of generators have been used including DC, induction and synchronous types. Engine speeds are not usually constant and some form of power conditioning based on power electronics will be necessary to provide for stand-alone and/or grid-connected operation. The authors discuss the principles of the Stirling engine, combined heat and power systems using heat engines, the electrical generation aspects, and the power electronics interface for 3- and single-phase PM generators. The power converter adopted is a boost converter input stage and an H bridge output stage