Simulation of a Stirling Engine Solar Power Generation System Using Simulink

In order to fully study a Stirling engine based solar power generation system, a detailed model that considers all thermal, mechanical, and electrical aspects of the system should be used. Research in the area of Stirling engine systems has been performed either without considering the electrical parts, or with a simple model for the electrical parts. Hence, the effects of interactions between electrical and mechanical components are neglected. In this paper, simulation of a solar powered Stirling engine system is proposed that considers all thermal, mechanical, and electrical aspects of the system. The system is mainly composed of two parts that are the mechanical and electrical parts. The mechanical part includes the Stirling engine that is modeled using thermal and mechanical equations in Matlab/Simulink environment. The electrical part consists of a synchronous generator, an ac/dc converter, a battery, and an electrical dc load that are simulated using Simulink blocks.