Title: Economic and exergetic evaluation of solar-powered combined LNG-burned micro gas turbine and Stirling engine

Authors: Mojtaba Babaelahi; Hamed Jafari

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Qom, P.O. Box 6765-1719, Qom, Iran ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Qom, P.O. Box 6765-1719, Qom, Iran

Abstract: In this paper, a new system for power generating based on micro gas turbine and Stirling engine using solar heliostat field is introduced. The proposed system uses the solar energy and combustion of liquified natural gas (LNG) as heat sources. The Stirling engine used the exhaust of gas turbine and cold exergy of LNG as the hot and cold source. Cost and exergy analysis has been used to achieve the evaluation of the proposed design. In the first step, the energy and exergy analysis for the considered cycle has been performed, and then the cost equations are evaluated using the exergoeconomic balance equations. To calculate the purchase cost of different equipment, the detail design of the solar heliostat system, PCM storage tank, micro gas turbine, Stirling engine, and LNG evaporator has been made. Then the sensitivity analysis of the design parameters has been evaluated on the efficiency and cost.

Keywords: micro gas turbine; Stirling engine; solar; phase change material; PCM; exergy; cost.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2020.108946

International Journal of Exergy, 2020 Vol.32 No.4, pp.356 - 372

Received: 19 Sep 2019
Accepted: 18 Jan 2020
Published online: 10 Aug 2020 *

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