Experimental Investigation on Heat Transfer and Combustion of a Stirling Engine Combustor Fueled by Reformed Gas and Diesel Fuel

Thermochemical recuperation heat recovery is an advanced waste heat utilization technology that can effectively recover exhaust waste heat from oxy-fuel Stirling engines.The novel combustor of a Stirling engine with thermochemical recuperation heat recovery system is expected to utilize both reformed gas and diesel fuels as sources of combustion.In this research,the effects of various factors,including the H2O addition,fuel distribution ratio（FDR）,excess oxygen coefficient,and cyclone structure on the temperature distribution in the combustor,combustion emissions,and external combustion system efficiency of the Stirling engine were experimentally investigated.With the increase of steam-to-carbon ratio（S/C）,the temperature difference between the upper and lower heating tubes reduces and the circumferential temperature fluctuation decreases,and the combustion of diesel and reformed gas remains close to complete combustion.At S/C=2,the external combustion efficiency is 80.6%,indicating a 1.6% decrease compared to conventional combustion.With the increase of FDR,the temperature uniformity of the heater tube is improved,and the CO and HC emissions decrease.However,the impact of the FDR on the maximum temperature difference and temperature fluctuation across the heater is insignificant.When the FDR rises from 21% to 38%,the external combustion efficiency increases from 87.4% to92.3%.The excess oxygen coefficient plays a secondary role in influencing temperature uniformity and temperature difference,and the reformed gas and diesel fuel can be burned efficiently at a low excess oxygen coefficient of 1.04.With an increase in the cyclone angle,the heater tube temperature increases,while the maximum temperature difference at the lower part decreases,and the temperature fluctuation increases.Simultaneously,the CO and HC emissions increase,and the external combustion efficiency experiences a decrease.A cyclone angle of 30° is found to be an appropriate value for achieving optimal mixing between reformed gas and diesel fuel.The research findings present valuable new insights that can be utilized to enhance the performance optimization of Stirling engines.