Experimental characterization of an innovative low-temperature small-scale Rotary Displacer Stirling Engine

Abstract This study experimentally investigates a low-temperature, small-scale, Rotary Displacer Stirling Engine (RDSE) prototype for the first time. The RDSE represents a novel configuration utilizing a rotary displacer rather than the reciprocating displacer found in many conventional Stirling configurations. The study aims to systematically evaluate the effect of working fluid, phase angle, heat input and charge pressure. The performance of the RDSE is compared to some of the previously reported performances of Stirling engines using the dimensionless Beale ( B n ) and West ( W n ) numbers. Initial results indicate that 125° phase angle provides more power than the theoretically optimum 90° phase angle. The results also show comparable B n and significantly higher W n values (0.047 and 0.465, respectively) compared to earlier studies, and suggest that the RDSE can potentially be a competitive alternative to other SE configurations.