COMPOSITE REGENERATOR FOR STIRLING ENGINE

ENERGY SCIENCE LABORATORIES, INC. PROPOSES TO STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF USING CARBON-CARBON AND CARBON-CERAMIC THERMAL COMPOSITE MATERIALS IN REGENERATORS FOR STIRLING ENGINES. BY CONTROLLING THE DISPERSION OF HIGH-CONDUCTIVITYGRAPHITE FIBERS IN THE MATRIX, COMPOSITE MATERIALS MAY BE TAYLORED FOR HIGH THERMAL PERFORMANCE IN REGENERATOR STRUCTURES HAVING LOW FLOW IMPEDANCE, SMALL DEAD VOLUME, AND DIMENSIONAL STABILITY OVER A WIDE TEMPERATURE RANGE. MEANS OF ENHANCING GAS HEAT TRANSFER FROM THE FLOW CHANNEL INTO THE REGENERATOR MATRIX WITH COATED GRAPHITE FIBERS CROSSING THE GAS FLOW CHANNEL IS INCORPORATED. THE SCOPE OF THE WORK INCLUDES DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF REGENERATOR TEST COMPONENTS USING GRAPHITE FIBERS AND C CARBONACEOUS AND CERAMIC MATRIX MATERIALS. THERMAL AND MECHANICAL TESTING WILL BE DIRECTED AT ESTABLISHING THE EFFECTIVNESS OF HEAT TRANSFER IN THESE MATERIALS AND THEIR MECHANICAL STABILITY UNDER DYNAMIC HOT FLOW CONDITION RELEVANT TO HIGH POWER STIRLING ENGINES. THERMAL TEST DATA WILL BE ANALYSED USING ESL COMPOSITE MATERIAL NUMERICAL MODELS. PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF AN ANNULAR COMPOSITE REGENERATOR WILL BE DEVELOPED BASED ON THE RESULTS OBTAINED IN PHASE I. A PROTOTYPE REGENERATOR WOULD BE FABRICATED IN PHASE II AND TESTED IN EXISTING SPACE STIRLING ENGINES.