Thermoacoustic stirling power generation from LNG cold energy and low-temperature waste heat
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Wang, Kai
Dubey, Swapnil
Choo, Fook Hoong
Duan, Fei
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Recovering cold energy generated in the regasification process of liquefied natural gas (LNG) can help to improve the energy efficiency of LNG power generation systems, meanwhile, abundant low-grade waste heat can also be exploited from the exhaust gas of gas turbines. This study proposes to apply the thermoacoustic Stirling electric generator to recover LNG cold energy and waste heat simultaneously. A pair of linear alternators is directly coupled with the thermoacoustic loop by replacing the long and bulky resonator completely. Numerical simulation is conducted on the basis of the thermoacoustic theory to characterize and optimize the operations of the system. The effects of the back volumes of linear alternators, feedback tube length and regenerator length on the output performances are investigated. The distributions of key parameters, including pressure, volume flow rate, phase difference, acoustic power and exergy flow, are further studied. One design of the thermoacoustic Stirling electric generator operated with 4 MPa helium gas is capable of generating 2.3 kW electric power with the highest exergy efficiency of 0.253 when the cold and hot ends are maintained at 110 K and 500 K. Performances can be further improved if the conversion efficiency of the linear alternators is further increased.
Date Issued
2017-05-15
Date Acceptance
2017-03-25
Citation
Energy, 2017, 127, pp.280-290
ISSN
0360-5442
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
280
End Page
290
Journal / Book Title
Energy
Volume
127
Copyright Statement
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000403991400024&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Technology
Thermodynamics
Energy & Fuels
Stirling engine
Thermoacoustic engine
Liquefied natural gas
Cold energy
Waste heat
Linear alternator
LIQUEFIED NATURAL-GAS
ELECTRIC GENERATOR
THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
LIQUID-NITROGEN
ENGINE DRIVEN
SOLAR-ENERGY
CYCLE
EXERGY
REFRIGERATOR
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2017-03-29