• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.139-144
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• 2008

The focus of this research is that the scavenging aspect of in-cylinder is visualized by the PIV method and its characteristic is analyzed so that the scavenging performance of the free piston hydrogen fueled engine can improve with loop scavenging. As the results, the piston of convex type shows the best scavenging performance among the presented pistons. In case of the abnormal expansion, the scavenging of area between cylinder head and cylinder wall doesn't operate well.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.404-411
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• 2012

This research numerically analyses the effects of the damping device on the operation characteristics of a free piston linear engine. In this paper, the free piston linear engine uses spring as a damping device. The investigated parameter is spring hardness which is varied at 0.5, 1, 2.9, and 14.7 N/mm. The effects of spring hardness on the dynamic characteristic, thermodynamic characteristic and electric power of the engine are investigated. Beside, the equivalent ratio is also changed to provide more information for this study. The simulation results show that, by increasing spring hardness from 0.5 to 14.7 N/mm, all of parameters related to dynamic characteristic such as piston velocity, acceleration, displacement, and frequency increase accordingly. Beside, the peak pressure in the cylinder and electric power are also increased when increasing spring hardness. The tendency is also observed at varied equivalent ratios.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.294-299
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• 2015

Free piston linear engine (FPLE) is a promising concept being explored in the mid-20th century. On the other hand, Arficial neural networks (ANNs) are non-linear computer algorithms and can model the behavior of complicated non-linear processes. Some researchers already studied this method to predict internal combustion engine characteristics. However, no investigation to predict the performance of a FPLE using ANN approach appears to have been published in the literature to date. In this study, the ability of an artificial neural network model, using a back propagation learning algorithm has been used to predict the in-cylinder pressure, frequency, maximum stroke length of a free piston linear engine. It is advised that, well-trained neural network models can provide fast and consistent results, making it an easy-to-use tool in preliminary studies for such thermal engineering problems.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.472-479
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• 2013

A free piston linear engine could be operated under HCCI combustion due to its variable compression ratios. To obtain HCCI combustion, the free piston linear engine needs a high compression ratio to achieve auto-ignition of the fuel/air mixture. In this study, an idea for obtaining a high compression ratio using the transition from SI combustion to HCCI combustion was proposed. The fuel used in this study is hydrogen, which is considered to be an environmentally friendly fuel. Besides, the effects of key parameters such as equivalence ratio (${\phi}$), load resistance ($R_L$) and intake temperature ($T_{in}$) on the SI-HCCI transition were numerically investigated. The simulation results show that the SI-HCCI transition is successful without any significant reduction of in-cylinder pressure as the intake temperature is increased from $T_{in}$=300K (SI mode) to $T_{in}$=450K (HCCI mode), while the load resistance and equivalence ratio are retained respectively at $R_L=120{\Omega}$ and ${\phi}$=0.6 in both SI mode and HCCI mode.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.114-120
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• 2016

This paper describes generating efficiency characteristics of the double acting Stirling engine/generator for domestic small-scale CHP (Combined Heat and Power) system. In small distributed generation applications, Stirling engine has competition from fuel cell, microturbine and etc. In order to be economical in the applications, a long life with minimum maintenance is generally required. Free piston Stirling engine (FPSE) has no crank and rotating parts to generate lateral forces and require lubrication. Double acting Stirling engine/generator has one displacer and two power piston which are supported by flexure springs. Two power pistons oscillate with symmetric displacement and are connected with moving magnet type linear generators for power generation from PV work. In experiments, 1 kW class double acting free piston Stirling engine/generator is fabricated and tested. Heat is supplied to hot end of engine by the combustion of natural gas and converted to electric power by linear generators which are assembled with power pistons. The electric parameters such as voltage, current and phase are measured with for variable flow rate of fuel gas. Especially, generating efficiency of FPSE is measured with three different measurement methods. Generating efficiency of the double acting Stirling engine/alternator is about 24%.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.648-655
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• 2014

This paper describes the continuing effort to develope a single acting free-piston Stirling engine/alternator combination for use of the household cogeneration. Free piston Stirling engines(FPSE) use variations of working gas pressure to drive mechanically unconstrained reciprocating elements. Stirling cycle free-piston engines are driven by the Stirling thermodynamic cycle which is characterized by an externally heated device containing working gas that is continuously re-used in a regenerative, reversible cycle. The ideal cycle is described by two isothermal process connected by two constant volume processes. Heat removed during the constant volume cooling process is internally transferred to the constant volume heating process by mutual use of a thermal storage medium called the regenerator. Since the ideal cycle is reversible, the ideal efficiency is that of Carnot. Free-piston Stirling engine is have no crank and rotating parts to generate lateral forces and require lubrication. The FPSE is typically comprised of two oscillating pistons contained in a common cylinder. The temperature difference across the displacer maintains the oscillations, and the FPSE operate at natural frequency of the mass-spring system. The power is generated from a linear alternator. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design process of the single acting free-piston Stirling engine/alternator. Electrical output of the single acting free-piston Stirling engine/alternator is about 0.95 kW.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.638-644
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• 2015

This paper describes the continuing effort to analysis and design on dynamic and electrical behavior of gamma-type free piston Stirling engine/generator with dual-opposed linear generator for domestic micro-CHP (Combined Heat and Power) system. The double acting Stirling engine/generator has one displacer and two power piston which are supported by flexure springs. Two power pistons oscillate with symmetric sinusoidal displacement and are connected with moving magnet type linear generators for power generation. To operate Stirling engine/generator, combustion heat of natural gas is supplied to hot-end and heat is rejected from cold-end by cooling water. The temperature difference across the displacer induces the oscillating motion, and it can be explained with mass-spring vibration system. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design process of linear generator for the double acting free-piston Stirling engine.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.321-327
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• 2010

Current rechargeable battery cannot provide high energy density and the operational durations required. But linear engine/generators provide high energy density for portable power applications because fuel is more high density. In this paper, we suggest that basic design of powerpack using linear engine for assisting power output. Efficiency is relatively high because linear engine don't have crank mechanism compared with rotary engine. We made prototype engine and had experiments to know moving characteristic about the Linear Engine. It was possible to operate velocity at 50 Hz at the firing and pressure in cylinder was 16bar.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.512-519
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• 2011

Current rechargeable battery cannot provide high energy density and the operational durations required. But linear engine/generators provide high energy density for portable power applications because fuel is more high density. In this paper, we suggest that basic design of powerpack using linear engine for assisting power output. Efficiency is relatively high because linear engine don't have crank mechanism compared with rotary engine. We made prototype engine and had experiments to know moving characteristic about the Linear Engine. It was possible to operate velocity at 50 Hz at the firing and pressure in cylinder was 16bar.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.66-73
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• 2005

Hydrogen linear power system is estimated as the next generation power system which can obtain a performance as same as fuel cell. In order to develop Hydrogen combustion power system with high thermal efficiency, it is very important to understand the basic characteristics of hydrogen combustion and establish combustion stabilization technique of its system. In this study, RICEM(Rapid Intake Compression Expansion Machine) for researching of hydrogen combustion linear power system was manufactured and evaluated, and the basic characteristics of linear RICEM were analyzed.