Multi-Fuel Burner for Stirling Applications

Compact, efficient, and sustainable electric power generators are needed to provide mobile electric power for deployable military bases. Stirling engines are attractive candidates to meet the Army’s future deployed electric power needs because they are quiet, efficient, and have the potential to be highly fuel-flexible due to the external combustion process used to drive the engine. For low-power engines (~1 kWe) operated on heavy fuels such as JP-8 or diesel, fuel atomization and/or vaporization is a key aspect of burner design. Creare has previously developed fuel atomization technology compatible with JP-8 and diesel that addresses the fuel atomization issue. In the Phase I project, we utilized our innovative fuel atomization technology to develop a proof-of-concept microburner scaled to interface with a 1 kWe Stirling engine and demonstrated the microburner using Jet-A and gasoline fuels. In Phase II, we plan to refine the microburner, adding a propane-fuel capability, a recuperator to maximize efficiency, and developing an optimized thermal interface for the microburner and Stirling engine. We will then integrate the microburner with a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) 1 kWe Stirling engine and demonstrate the fully integrated multi-fuel system.