Abstract:
Concerns about the environmental impact of refrigerants used in vapour-compression
heat pumps and refrigerators, have prompted the Stirling-Cycle Research Group at the
Military Institute of Science and Technology to investigate the feasibility of low-cost
Stirling-cycle machines that use air as the refrigerant. Such machines theoretically have
the highest efficiency possible for any practical thermodynamic system, and thus provide
a tempting alternative to traditional vapour compression technology. This paper outlines
the working principles of Stirling-cycle heat-pumps and refrigerators, and describes some
of the work performed at Military Institute of Science and Technology. Some of the heatpump development program results are also presented, and briefly discussed.
