Power analysis on stirling engine

Stirling engines are external combustion engines that operate by cyclic compression and expansion of working fluid in closed cylinder at different temperatures. Stirling engine simply convert thermal energy into mechanical work and for other subsistence usages. Theoretically, Stirling engine has thermal efficiency that close to the efficiency of Carnot engine (engine that possibly has highest thermal efficiency). In this project, a small scale gamma configuration of Stirling engine is built with some basic engine components. A gamma configuration of Stirling engine was set up in this project to study its working principles. The engine was also tested on its performance including the power produced and the system efficiency as well. From the obtained result, the efficiency of this Stirling engine was around 6.43%. Practically, the engine does not operate in an Ideal condition and some parts of the energy are lost or transformed during the operation. This issue is also a part of the concern of the study and it will be discussed in the later parts this project.