Nuclear Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 3-18-2024

Abstract

Through the development of microreactors, a free piston Stirling engine (FPSE) is an excellent candidate to support the development of the microreactors applications. This study proposes a 20 kWe design of the FPSE for microreactor applications. The model has been developed and analyzed through a MATLAB code that was verified and benchmarked with both RE-1000 engine’s experiment data and Sage software. The MATLAB code has been developed from scratch using the first and second order approximation to simulate the engine’s steady state operation. There are three operating conditions that were applied to the code such as ideal isothermal, ideal adiabatic, and non-ideal adiabatic. Through the process, a design of 20.7 kWe with the efficiency of 21.7 percent has been proposed. Overall, this study provides a theoretical support for design and analysis of the FPSE for microreactor applications.

Keywords

free piston Stirling engine, simulation, MATLAB, Sage, microreactor

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Nuclear Engineering

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Nuclear Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Minghui Chen

Second Committee Member

Cassiano R.E. de Oliveira

Third Committee Member

Chi Wang

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