Study of a low-temperature Stirling engine driven by a rhombic drive mechanism

In this paper, a parametric study of the rhombic drive mechanism of a solar low-temperature Stirling engine was conducted. The goal is to find out the relationship between the rhombic drive mechanism parameters and the performance of a low-temperature differential Stirling engine. The results indicate that the offset distance from the gear center and gear radius of the rhombic drive mechanism have to be maximized, in order to increase the indicated power, while other rhombic drive parameters should be reduced for the same reason. Another result is that for realizing the optimized phase angle for beta-type Stirling engines, one should act on working piston-related bars and rhombic drive gear radius.