TY - JOUR TI - Exergy loss analysis of the regenerator in a solar Stirling engine AU - Ye Wenlian AU - Yang Zhe AU - Liu Yingwen JN - Thermal Science PY - 2018 VL - 22 IS - 12 SP - 729 EP - 737 PT - Article AB - In order to evaluate the irreversibility and exergy losses of the regenerators in a solar beta-type free piston Stirling engine due to flow friction, one-dimensional thermodynamic model to quantify exergy loss in the regenerators are built. The effects of important parameters, such as oscillating flow pressure drop, the exergy loss to flow friction, the exergy losses to conduction heat transfer at the hot and cold side of the regenerator and the percentage of Carnot efficiency of Stirling engine are presented and studied in detail. Results show that exergy loss decreases with the increase of the porosity and matrix diameter. As for the regenerator length, there is an optimum value that is equal to 0.035 m where the exergy loss is minimal and the percentage of Carnot efficiency is maximal. Therefore, some parameters above should be selected reasonably to meet the overall design requirements of a solar Stirling engine.