Development of a Dynamic, End-to-End Free Piston Stirling Convertor Model

A dynamic model for a free‐piston Stirling convertor is being developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The model is an end‐to‐end system model that includes the cycle thermodynamics, the dynamics, and electrical aspects of the system. The subsystems of interest are the heat source, the springs, the moving masses, the linear alternator, the controller and the end‐user load. The envisioned use of the model will be in evaluating how changes in a subsystem could affect the operation of the convertor. The model under development will speed the evaluation of improvements to a subsystem and aid in determining areas in which most significant improvements may be found. One of the first uses of the end‐to‐end model will be in the development of controller architectures. Another related area is in evaluating changes to details in the linear alternator.