A WASTE HEAT POWERED STIRLING TRUCK REFRIGERATOR

AN INNOVATIVE WASTE HEAT POWERED DUPLEX STIRLING COOLER FOR HEAVY DUTY TRUCK REFRIGERATION IS PLANNED. THE MACHINE WILL EXPLOIT A PORTION OF THE WASTE HEAT ENERGY CONTAINED IN THE DIESEL ENGINE EXHAUST TO POWER THE STIRLING ENGINE COMPONENT OF THE REFRIGERATOR. A UNIQUE DESIGN PROVIDES HIGH EFFICIENCIES, WHILE ELIMINATING THE FRICTION, WEAR, SEAL LEAKAGE, AND CONTAMINATION PROBLEMS OF CURRENT STIRLING MACHIENS. THE USE OF HELIUM AS THE WORKING FLUID MAKES THIS MACHINE ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN AND ELIMINATES THE RELEASE OF CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS (CFCS) TO THE ATMOSPHERE FROM CONVENTIONAL TRUCK REFRIGERATORS. THE THERMODYNAMIC BASIS AND CRITICAL COMPONENT RELIABILITY OF THIS MACHINE DESIGN HAVE ALREADY BEEN EXPERIMENTALLY DEMONSTRATED I NPREVIOUS WORK. THE FEASIBILITY DEMONSTRATION IN PHASE I WILL THEREFORE FOCUS ON IMPLEMENTING AN INNOVATIVE METHOD OF SCALING PREVIOUS CRYOCOOLER DESIGNS TO THIS SPECIFIC APPLICATION, AND ON A PROOF-OF-PRINCIPLE HARDWARE TEST TO EXAMINE SPECIFIC APPLICATION QUESTIONS AND VERIFY EXPECTED PERFORMANCE. THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN PRODUCED IN PHASE I WILL ADDRESS FABRICATION ISSUES, COOLING AND HEATIN GPERFORMANCE, EFFICIENCY, DIMENSIONS, AND WEIGHT, AND WILL SET THE STAGE FOR FULL-SCALE PROTOTYPE FABRICATION AND TESTING IN PHASE II.