Portable Cogeneration of Power and Cooling

The escalating use of electronic equipment on the battlefield requires increasing amounts of field deployable electric power. Air conditioning is required when these systems are used in warm environments. A quiet, efficient, and low exhaust emissions electric generator to provide mission power and additional power for air conditioning is needed. TIAX proposes to reconfigure its free piston Stirling engine (FPSE) design to provide sufficient electrical power for the 5 kW of 120 VAC, 60 Hz mission load and reserve power for an air conditioning (AC) unit capable of providing 10 kW of cooling at an ambient temperature of 140 F. The fuel for the power/AC package will be JP-8, leveraging TIAX’s existing JP-8 burner technology. A primary concern for military applications is total fuel consumption. We will evaluate system efficiency based on delivered cooling power to input fuel usage. A survey of existing cooling technologies will be performed to identify candidate AC units that are light, efficient, and capable of reasonably efficient operation at 140 F ambient temperature. Based on the results of the survey, a Stirling generator will be sized and designed to meet the electrical load and acoustic emissions requirements.