Maximum Work and Efficiency of an Irreversible Regenerative Stirling Cycle

The effect of two sources of irreversibilities (limited rate of heat transfers and heat leak) on a stationary irreversible regenerative Stirling cycle model is investigated. The goal of this research is to obtain the partial optimization criterion described in [1]. Since with this criterion, the optimal relations for the allocation and effectiveness of the heat exchangers of Stirling power plant are obtained; when two design rules are applied, alternatively: internal thermal conductance fixed, or areas fixed. For optimum particular power and efficiency, these optimal relationships are the same. For example, the greatest specific power and efficiency can be found by substituting these optimal values in the specific power and efficiency. The maximum efficiency and specific power are then compared, and it is discovered that under both design rules, the maximum efficiency is greater than the maximum particular power. The efficiency higher is when the design rule is the constrained given by the areas fixed of the heat exchangers.