Numerical simulation of Stirling cycle heat pumps by simple adiabatic method

The building industry significantly increases energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), particularly in residential areas, due to the power source that the buildings use fuel and hydrochlorofluorocarbon working fluids for heating and cooling applications. Therefore, the Stirling heat pump is a heating technology for residential and commercial buildings due to its natural working fluids. Several researches have been done on Stirling engines and cry coolers, but there is little attention to the Stirling heat pump development. A reliable numerical model shall be developed to estimate the power input, coefficient of performance, and other characteristics of a Stirling cycle heat pump and give valuable information for future research. The current study develops a numerical model called the simple model, which considers regenerator imperfection losses and conduction losses. This model is applied to the geometry of the FEMTO-60 engine to investigate the effect of different parameters on its performance. The simulation result shows the pressure drop in the regenerator, cooler, and heater at different crank angles, and it is maximum at the regenerator. The study also shows the effect of working fluid on its performance and compares the simple model with the ideal adiabatic and Schmidt Analyzes of the Stirling heat pump. The simulation results using Helium a working fluid at a pressure of 4.13 MPa indicate a COP of 1.2, 1.3 and 1.42 for simple, ideal adiabatic, and Schmidt analyses, respectively.