The potential market analysis of a small cogeneration system based on Stirling cycle

In the past decade there have been rapid improvements in small-scale combined heat and power technologies. With the deregulation of electric power, observers see little future for large, expensive central power plants that require miles of transmission wires and take decades to pay off. Future demand will be met by smaller power generation systems located closer to where the electricity is used. In the coming years, the world´s electricity systems will change beyond recognition. This change is being driven by the need to address growing environmental challenge. The global policy response to climate change will probably be most important influence on the power sector in the future. Localized forms of the power production-based on cogeneration, renewable energies, fuel cells and other forms of distributed power system-have less environmental impact than conventional centralized electricity systems. In this paper, the authors emphasise Stirling technology. The Stirling engine (SE) is a heat machine which operates on a closed thermodynamic regenerative cycle, is capable of very high efficiency and can be used as a power system, refrigerator or heat pump. SEs may be used as power systems, converting heat to work, as refrigerators for cooling, and as heat pumps for elevating the temperature of heat drawn from an ambient temperature source