Title: Multi-objective optimisation of solar-driven combined stirling engine/LNG burned micro gas turbine based on exergy and energy analysis

Authors: Mojtaba Babaelahi; Hamed Jafari

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Qom, Qom, Iran ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

Abstract: An appropriate method for electricity generation is one of the challenges that have been investigated by many researchers. Due to the limited fossil-resources available, access to new resources and methods for power generation is critical. In this paper, a 200-kW Capstone microturbine is considered as a base model and a stirling engine is used as an auxiliary unit. Solar energy and LNG-fuel have been used as the system's hot-source. For the evaluation of the proposed system, energy analysis and exergy methods have been used. The results show that thermal efficiency improves from 34% (base cycle) to 38% and the exergy efficiency from 35% (base cycle) to about 43% in the proposed cycle. Finally, to find the optimal design point, multi-objective optimisation was accomplished through the particle swarm optimisation (PSO) procedure. The results of the optimisation showed that the exergy and energy efficiencies are increased by 6.42% and 15.92%, respectively.

Keywords: solar; micro-gas-turbine; stirling engine; LNG; exergy; optimisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2021.115900

International Journal of Exergy, 2021 Vol.35 No.3, pp.342 - 357

Received: 28 Jun 2020
Accepted: 14 Nov 2020
Published online: 05 Jul 2021 *

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