Hybrid vehicle with stirling engine and thermal energy storage

Abstract

Advances in electric technology and automotive components make feasible a new kind of hybrid vehicles. The hybrid technology allows gathering advantages from different energy concepts and allows it to eliminate disadvantages which a single energy source or engine concept would present. Hybrid technologies allow using different power sources in one vehicle. Concentrated thermal solar energy is used as primer energy in a vehicle. Basic components are thermal energy storages and Stirling engines. Heat from the sun is gathered in a place outside the car and stored in a tank. The tank is placed in the vehicle and connected to a Stirling engine. A Stirling engine is a device that converts heat energy into mechanical power. The mechanical power is used in a generator to produce electric energy. The vehicle has an electric system with batteries serving as an energy buffer. Physical bases, components and vehicle concepts are described. A market study provides benchmark of Stirling engines and serial hybrid busses. In a case study several options for a possible prototype are revised. For the Circuito Tec service (a service for students living near the university) a detailed analysis is made. With a GPS the driving profile is recorded. A Matlab model uses this data to calculate energy storages sizes and required engine output. In Autodesk Inventor several CAD models are created in order to represent different space concepts. A vehicle with thermal energy storage based on molten glass is compared to conventional and alternative concepts. MSC Adams/car is used to simulate the vehicle dynamics. The influence of a thermal storage tank with the weight of 996kg is observed. Size, weight and price estimation of different thermal-electric vehicles are compared to conventional vehicles.