Design and development of a test rig to validate the concept of an Active Stirling Engine

In this paper, the design and development of a test rig to evaluate the performance of an Active Stirling Engine (ASE) is explained. Conventional Stirling engines have two moving elements; the piston and the displacer. Both the piston and displacer move sinusoidally, maintaining the same phase since they are mechanically connected to the same crank. In the ASE test rig, the displacer is disconnected from the mechanical crank and connected to an independently controlled linear servo motor. This allows the displacer to lead or lag the power piston. The displacer travel may also be non-sinusoidal, increasing the area enclosed by the PV diagram and the work done in one cycle.