You are on page 1of 6

97033

DESIGN, SIMULATION, AND TEST RESULTS OF


A HEAT-ASSISTED THREE-CYLINDER

STIRLING HEAT PUMP (C-3)


Sumio Ya yu & lchiro Fujishima
KU OTA Corporation
1-1, Hama 1-Chome, Amagasaki, Hyogo 661, Japan
(+81)-6-494-7561, faX (+81)-6-494-7694

John Corey
Clever Fellows Innovation Consortium, Inc.
302 Tenth St., Troy, NY 12180
518-272-3565, fax 51 8-272-3582

Naotsugu lsshiki & lsao Satoh


Tokyo Institute of Technology
12-1, 0-Okayama 2-Chome, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152, Japan
(+81)-3-5734-3238, fax (+81)-3-3729-0587

ABSTRACT
This paper describes recent results in aproject at KUBOTA to
develop a gas engine-driven Stirling heat pump using both
engine shaft power and engine exhaust heat source. The
design, simulation, and test results of the third prototype
three-cylinder machine (C-3) are presented.
The threecylindermachine is modeled as a combination of two Stirling
sub-systems, one a power producer and one a heat pump.
These have been separately optimized, then joined into the
three-cylinder heat-assisted heat pump case. Shaft power is
augmented by thermal power. Performance is effectively
controlled by the phase shifting of the third piston to adjust
the absorbing of thermal power. The test results of the C-3
prototype machine are given and are shown to compare well
with predictions made in the Sage simulation code.
INTRODUCTION
Under the sponsorship of the New Energy and Industrial
Technology Development Organization (NEDO), through a
contract with the Energy Conservation Center (ECC), KUBOTA
is developing the Multi-Tcmperature Heat Supply System (ECC
1995).
This system consists of a gas-fueled internal
combustion engine and a novel Stirling heat pump utilizing
shaft power and thermal power in a hybridof several cylinders.
The heat pump is mainly driven by engine shaft power and is
partially assisted by thermal power from engine exhaust heat
source. The heat pump includes a specialized cylinder, which
is heated by the exhaust gas of the driving engine and phased
to produce added mechanical power.
This arrangement
recaptures some of the waste heat in the exhaust to reduce shaft
power needed for driving the heat pump. The system is
controlled by phase shifting of the cylinder to match the
engine heat balance and to match heat demand characteristics.
The system simultaneous 1y sup p 1ies four-temperature heat
sources (263 K, 280 K, 3 18 K, and 353 K) for air-conditioning,
hot water supply, and refrigeration. ?his compares with other
heat pumps using helium in a g a s cycle, including Stirling and
Vuilleumier (VM) machines. They utilize either shaft power

1033

or thermal power. In this heat-assistedStirling heat pump, by


proportioning the two energy sources to match the
characteristics of the driving engine, the heat pump is supplied
with the maxinium share of the original energy fueling the
engine. ?his freon-free system is expected to produce cooling
and heating water at high COP.
Otomo and et al. (1996) have been performing experiments
on a similar three-cylinder machine, mostly for validation of
the vector method of cycle analysis, using the Schmidt
assumption. Yagyu and et al. (1996) presented a third-order
method for analysis and optimization of multi-cylinder
regenerative machines and applied it to a three-cylinder heatassistedStirling heat pump case. The three-cylinder machine
is modeled as two Stirling sub-systems, one a power producer
andone a heat pump, using the Sage simulation code (Gedeon
1994). The heat pump sub-system, a two-cylinder Stirling
cycle device, was reported at the first prototype (A-type) level
(Yagyu and et al 1995), the second prototype (B-type) level
(Yagyuand et al 1996), and the third prototype (C-type) level
which incorporates improved heat exchanger sizing and
arrangement (Yagyu and et al 1997). Test results of the Ctype heat pump sub-system were shown and the predictions
made in the Sage simulation code were also validated. Tnis
paper describes the design andsimulation of the complete third
prototype (C-type) three-cylinder machine. The test results of
the C-3 machine are given and are shown to compare well with
predictions made in the Sage simulation code.
PROTOTYPE OF THE 3-CYLINDER STIRLING
HEAT PUMP
The three-cylinder machine is a kind of heat pump which is
driven by an engine and assisted by its exhaust heat.
Simulating combined inputs of shaft power and thermal power,
the prototype was planned to use a motor and electric heaters.
CONCEPT OF C-3 PROTOTYPE MACHINE

Figure I shows a concept of the C-type prototype


machine(C-3). This machine employs three single acting

pistons not displacer pistons, which is different from VM


machines, and utilizes both shaft power and thermal power.
The prototype consists of a two-cylinder on one crank and a
third cylinder on another crank. The two-cylinder set is for
cooling and heating outputs and the third cylinder is for

MOTOR

thermal power input. The two crank shafts are connected by a


phase shifter and the phase of the third cylinder can be
arbitrarily set. Shaft power is supplied by a motor and
thermal power is supplied by a DC electric power device and
resistance heaters.

TORQUE
METER

HEATING DEVICE

,/

(263- 280K)

COLD

DC POWER
SUPPLY

L - HEX

H - HEX
COOLING
DEVICE (318K)

REGENERATOR
WITH PIPING

FIGURE 1 3-CYLINDER STIRLING HEAT PUMP

HEAT F L O W
Figure 2 shows a heat flow diagram of the three-cylinder heat
pump. The heat pump comprises two 2-cylinder Stirling subsystems: one between high andmedium temperature (H-M); one
between medium and low temperature (M-L). The M-L subsystem acts as a heat pump andthe H-M sub-system serves as a
power producer which assists with extra shaft power. The
downstream heat of the H-M sub-system, which is waste heat of
the sub-system, is also utilizedas an additional heating output.
Taking both shaft power and thermal power, the three-cylinder
produces coolingirefrigeration and heating water.
3 - CYLINDER
STIRLING
HEAT PUMP

COOLING /
REFRIGERATION

FIGURE 2 HEAT FLOW DIAGRAM

TESTED C-3 PROTOTYPE MACHINE


Figure 3 shows a configuration of the tested C-type threecylinder prototype machine. The machine was a kinematic
type and the crank case was pressurized. Helium as a working
gas was sealed at the end of each crank shaft by mechanical
seals. The M-L sub-system was constructed as a Stirling cycle,
whose cylinders were set in 130 degree phase difference. me
phase of the third cylinder can be arbitrarily set by using a
phase shifter located between crank shafts. Four low friction
side thrust rollers made of hard plastic were employed o n the
piston and the side force was effectively sustained With
careful consideration for minimizing flow loss in the helium, a
regenerator of stacked stainless steel meshes was installed
between opposing bayonet heat exchangers and was connected
by smoothly bent pipes from the cylinders. The bayonet heat
exchanger consisted of 16 annular flow paths with extended
surfaces. These were employedfor coldand hot water outputs.
The hot heat exchanger was an annual type which contained
electric heaters.
The performance tests were conducted in various conditions
at mean pressures ranging from 0 . 8 t o 2.4 MPa and at
revolution speeds ranging from 400 to 1,000 rpm. Each inlet
water stream was controlled by cooling or heating device and
was regulated in outlet temperature at (280 K in cold side and
3 18 K in hot side). The thermal power was supplied by DC
electric heaters and shaft power was supplied by the motor and
measured by the torque meter. Encoders were equipped with
each crank shaft and the difference of the crank angles was
precisely measured. RTDs were used for water temperature
measuring and TCs were used for gas temperature measuring.
Dynamic gas pressures were measured by quarts pressure
transducers.

1034

FIGURE 3

C TYPE THREE-CYLINDER PROTOTYPE MACHINE

SIMULATION
The three-cylinder heat pump was modeled as shown in Figure
4. The C-type three-cylinder model was modified from the
two-cylinder machine by adding the thirdcylinder (H-cylinder),
the second regenerator (H-M regenerator), and heaters (H-hex).
The M-Lsub-system was constructed as a Stirling cycle, whose
pistons were set in constant phase difference. The third
piston phase can be arbitrarily set. The H-M part was
connected to the M-L sub-system using a common midtemperature cylinder (M-cylinder) and a heat exchanger (Mhex).
The Sage simulation code has been applied to analyze and
optimize this model. The two sub-systems were separately
optimized, then joined in to the three-cy 1inder heat-ass i s ted
HOT HEAT FLOW

heat pump case subjected to M-cylinder pressure constraints.


The characteristics of engine heat balance limit the heat
available to the hot third cylinder and the power contribution
from H-M subsystem, so the performance of the M-L cycle
dominates the overall performance of the system. Therefore
the M-L cycle was first optimized, without prior constraints.
Then the H-M cycle was optimized subject to a complex
pressure constraint that forces its mid-temperature pressure and
phase to match those in the M-L mid-temperature cylinder.
The cylinder temperatures were set for an engine driven heat
pump for air-conditioning application. That is, 278 K at Lheat exchanger wall, 3 18 K at M-heat exchanger wall, and 500
Kat H-heat exchanger wall individually.

M-L REGENERATOR

COLD HEAT WOW

H-M
REGENERATOR

.INDER

-@

..........

HCYLINDER

ABSORPTIONOF
THERMAL POWER

FIGURE 4 3-CYLINDER SIMULATION MODEL

1035

The optimization of the M-L cycle was critical to total


system performance and sets the main geometry of the machine.
The optimized H-M cycle was scaled andcombined to match the
heat and shaft output balance of the driving engine. This
produced the first 3-cylinder simulation. Since some practical
adjustments must be made to construct areal 3-cylinder device,
that first 3-cylinder model was similarly adjusted. Then a
sensitivity analybis was done by varying key parameters in
repeated Sage runs. This provided guidance as to which
parameters might respond to further optimization and which
might be ignored in improving the 3-cylinder model.
Regenerator characteristics and dead volume distribution
proved the most important. Optimization in Sage of the full
3-cylinder nioclcl was coniplctcd by rcfining thesc parameters.

power PVh, and the indicated shaft power PVnet arc plotted
there. The simulation results arc shown by continuous curves
in the same figure as well. PVnet is summation of PVs at Ccylinder, M-cylinder, and H-cylinder and it means net shaft
power. The indicated work from thermal power input had the
maximum value at the phase of 170 deg. At that phase, the
shaft power was most assisted by the thermal power. The
COPind-c derinedas the ratio of PVc to PVnet and the maximum
value was around the same phase.
The machine has two major features. The first is that the
assistedpower is varied by altering hot piston phase, in other
words, input ratio of shaft power to thermal power can b e
changed. When the system uses an engine, it can be operated
to accommodate with engine heat balance. The secondis that
the phase has a large effect on the cooling andheating capacity
as well. Capacity control of the heat pump is available by
changing the H-phase. The cooling andheating capacity can
be changedaround 30 % in upward anddownward from the best
efficiency operating point in this machine. Capacity control
of the heat pump by phasing is different from the conventional
capacity control by changing speed The simulation results
agree with the test results within 10% accuracy. PVc and PVh
in the simulations are nearly coincident with test results,
however PVm deviates from them. Then PVnet and COPind-c
as calculated results are not so g o o d lhe PVm in the test may
have phasing effects from local, unmodeled turbulence or
restrictions, especially near the three way mixing zone,
PV diagrams of C-cylinder, M-cylinder, and H-cylinder at the
mean pressure of 1.6 MPa and 600 rpm are shown in Figure 6.
The indicated work at each cylinder had a goodoval shape and
the presstire ratio is around 1 . I . The simulation results were
agreed well with the test results.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS O N 3-CYLINDER


TESTS AND SIMULATIONS
EFFECT OF H-CYLINDER PHASE
Figure 5 shows primary characteristics of the C-3 prototype
machine on a PV basis. The heat exchanger (H-hex) in the
engine driven three-cylinder Stirling heat pump was planned to
be a gas to gas heat exchanger. Therefore, the heating
capacity Qh has not been evaluated in the C-3 tests and a
comparison based on indicated works was appropriate to this
case.
Changing the H-cylinder phase, the tests were
performed at various phases at the mean pressure of 1.6 MPa
and a speed of 600 rpm. The wall temperature of the H-hex
was maintained at 500 K in every test run. The independent
paramctcr, Phasc, was dcfincd as thc phase difference between
H-cylinder and M-cylinder. The cooling indicated work PVc,
the hcating indicated work PVm, the indicated work of thermal

5.0

800
700
600

0
.O

z>
e

500

4.0
PVh
PVnet

,A
3.0

400

2.0

300
200

1.0

100

0.0

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

PHASE [DEG]
FIGURE 5 C-3 PROTOTYPE PERFORMANCE VS. PHASE

1036

220

1.75

1200,

-am

z>

0
0

r_
W

o
0

600

3
W

a
a

400
200

200

100

400

300

500

400

VOLUME [Xl 04m3]

1000

800

-o

600

-A

>
a

400

6.0

PVC
Qc
PVm
Qm
PVh
PVnet

5.0

3.0 -

l.O
1.o

1000

1.5

2.0

2.5

-.

t
1.o

0-

0-

0.5

PRESSURE [MPa]

4.0

2.0

0.5

800

FIGURE 7 PERFORMANCE AT VARIOUS SPEEDS

200 -

600

REVOLUTION SPEED [rpm]

FIGURE 6 PV DIAGRAMS

PVC
QC
PVm
Qm
PVh

800 -

1000

1.5

CoPind-c
COPind-m

2.0

1
2.5

PRESSURE [MPa]

FIGURE 8 PERFORMANCE AT VARIOUS MEAN PRESS.

FIGURE 9 COP VS. MEAN PRESS

EFFECT OF REVOLUTION S P E E D
Figure 7 shows the speed dependence of the machine at the
mean pressure of 1.6 MPa, keeping 170 deg for the H-cylinder
phase. Qc, Qm, and PVh were almost proportional to the
revolution speed at this test range. The simulation results
shown by continuous or dottedlines agree with the test results.
The maximum cooling capacity was 500 W a n d the maximum
heating capacity was 900 W at the revolution speed of 1,000
rpm. The bayonet heat exchangers in cold and hot spaces
showed good performance and the efficiency defined as Q to PV
exceeded 85 YO.

the test results andespecially deviate at higher mean pressures.


It seems that the pressure effect has not been fully reflected in
the simulation model.
COP characteristics on a PV basis are shown in Figure 9.
IndicatedCOP was defined as a ratio of cooling indicated work
(PVc) or heating indicated work (PVm) to net shaft power
(PVnet), excluding mechanical loss from actual shaft power.
COP characteristics also showed pressure depcndence in this
machine. The maximum COPind-c was 3.0 andCOPind-m was
5.0 in this test range. In the simulations, the indicated work
in M-cylinder tendedto be largerthan measured in test, so the
indicated shaft power (simulated) became large. This led to
deviation in the indicated COP, especially in higher mean
pressure region.

EFFECT OF MEAN PRESSURE OF WORKING G A S


Figure 8 shows the mean pressure dependence of the
performance at the speed of 600 rpm. Qc, Qm, and PVh were
almost proportional to the mean pressure at this test range.
Qm and PVm of the simulation results are higher than these of

The actual COPc andCOPm are not shown there and they were
decreased by the large mechanical loss in the prototype

1037

machine. For instance, the mechanical loss corresponding to


the shaft power of 5 5 0 W at the mean pressure of I .6 MPa and
600 rpm was about 420 W. It is a critical issue to improve
mechanical loss characteristics in this type of machine.
However the C-3 prototype machine was constructed as a
performance model of gas engine driven machines. In future
work, we will construct a practical 3-cylinder machine with
higher mean pressure, basedon the C-3 prototype machine and
Its
the simulations with parametric sensitivity studies.
mechanical loss will be relatively small, compared to the
greater (kW level) inputs andoutputs. Accordingly, the threecylinder machines with large capacity are expected to provide
higher performance than conventional freon-free heat pumps.
CONCLUSIONS
KUBOTA is developing a heat-assisted Stirling heat pump
for the Multi-Temperature Heat Supply System.
From
examinations for design, simulation, and testing of the C-type
three-cylinder prototype machine, the following results are
known:
1 . A Hcat-assisted Stirling heat pump was successfully

designed with Sage simulations and the performance is


expected to be high COP in a freon-free system.
2. The machine has two major features. The first is that the
input ratio of shaft power to thermal power can be changed
by phase control. The second is that the capacity control
of the heat pump is also available by changing the H-phase,
which is different from the conventional capacity control
by changing speed.
3. The maximum COPind-c was 3.0 and COPind-m was 5.0 at
the C-type 3-cylinder machine in this test range, and actual
COP was very much affected by mechanical loss.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Theauthors wouldlike to thank theECC andNEDOfor their
support of this work and especially thank Mr. K. Maekawa of
the KUBOTA AdvancedTechnology Laboratory for discussions
on the three-cylinder heat pump concept.
REFERENCES
ECC, 1995, Multi-Temperature Heat Supply System,
El ernen t Techno logy Dev eloprn en t Prog rani at Eco - Energ y
City Project, pp 32-33
Ohtomo M., Isshiki N., andwatanabe H., 1996, Studies on
Three-Temperat ure, Th ree-Cy I i nder St irl i ng Cycle Machine,
Proceedings of 3lrh IECEC, Vol. 2, pp 1238- 1242
YagyuS., FujishimaI., Corey J., and Isshiki N., 1996, An
Analytical Approach to Mu1t i -Cy 1i nder Regenerative Machines
with Application to 3-Cylinder Heat-Aided Stirling Heat Pump,
Proceeding of 31sr IECEC, Vol. 2, pp 120 1 - 1205
Gedeon D., 1994, Sage: Object Oriented Software for
Stirling Machine Design, Proceedings of 29rh IECEC, Vol. 4,
pp 1902- 1907
YagyuS., Isshiki N., and FujishimaI., 1995, AStudy o f a
Type Stirling Refrigerator Using Bayonet Heat Exchangers,
Proceedings of 7th ICSC, pp 495-500
Yagyu S., Fujishima I., Isshiki N., and Satoh, I., 1997,
Design, Simulation, and Preliminary Test Results of a HeatAssistedStirling Heat Pump, Proceedings of 8rh ISEC, Paper
No. 0 0 0 9

1038

You might also like