Cumulative Heat and Work Energy
Figure 6 shows a graph of the alpha-type Stirling engine data, where 'Q' denotes heat energy, and 'W' denotes work energy. The blue dotted line shows the work output of the compression space. As the trace dips down, and work is done on the gas as it is compressed. During the expansion process of the cycle, some work is actually done on the compression piston, as reflected by the upward movement of the trace. At the end of the cycle, this value is negative, indicating that compression piston requires a net input of work. The blue solid line shows the heat flowing out of the cooler heat exchanger. Notice that the heat from the cooler and the work from the compression piston have the same cycle energy! This is consistent with the zero-net heat transfer of the regenerator (solid green line). As would be expected, the heater and the expansion space both have positive energy flow. The black dotted line shows the net work output of the cycle. On this trace, the cycle ends higher that it started, indicating that the heat engine converts energy from heat into work.
Read more about this topic: Stirling Cycle
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