Implementation of artificial neural-networks to model the performance parameters of Stirling engine

¹ Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pardis Branch, Islamic Azad University, Pardis New City, Tehran, Iran
³ Department of Petroleum Engineering, Ahwaz Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum University of Technology (PUT), Ahwaz, Iran

^a Corresponding author: mohammadhosein.ahmadi@gmail.com

Received: 5 October 2014
Accepted: 5 July 2015

Abstract

The Stirling engine is defined as a simple form of external-combustion engine which employs a compressible working fluid. From a theoretical point of view the Stirling engine can be very effective at Carnot efficiency to convert heat into mechanical work. It is an environmental friendly heat engine which could reduce CO₂ emission through combustion process. Performance of Stirling engine changes via changing several variables and the aforementioned variables should be optimized to accomplish maximum performance of Stirling engine. Among all the variables representing the performance of Stirling engine, output power and shaft torque are most common for illustrating the performance of Stirling engines. In this research predicting two aforementioned variables with high accuracy and flexibility is investigated. To gain this goal, a predictive and easy-to-use tool is developed based on the concept of the artificial neural network (ANN) to predict output power and shaft torque of the Stirling engine. Furthermore, precise data samples from previous researches are employed to construct this easy-to-use model. Based on the outputs obtained from an easy-to-use model developed in this research, ANN model could help experts in designing of Stirling engine with low degree of uncertainty.