Articles techniques et présentations

The alternative engines of Stirling type, are engines running on "hot air", using both an external heat source and regeneration. They should be considered as an alternative for the effective conversion of renewable energy sources into work, with their theoretical yield equal to the theoretical Carnot limit. The output efficiency and the power of these engines are strongly related to the geometrical and physical parameters. Using a multiphysics software with moving grid like COMSOL Multiphysics® is essential to achieving realistic numerical simulations of energy conversion processes at work in those devices. By a systematic and rational sweep of the geometrical parameters and physical properties, one deduces from the exchanged energy fluxes and other outputs, the optimal characteristics of the regenerator.