What are Sterling and Ericsson Cycles?
Channel: MechanicaLEi
Date: 2018-06-04

Welcome back MechanicalEI, Did you know that Sterling Engines hold the record for running at the lowest temperature difference and Ericsson cycle is used to extract power from the exhaust heat of gasoline engines? This makes us wonder, What are Stirling and Ericsson cycles? Before we jump in check out the previous part of this series to learn about what the diesel cycle is? Now, The Sterling cycle has four main processes. In process 1,The expansion space is heated externally, and the gas undergoes isothermal expansion. Process 2, is an isochoric process wherein gas is passed through the regenerator, thus cooling the gas, and transferring heat to the regenerator for use in the next cycle. In process 3, The compression space is intercooled, so the gas undergoes near-isothermal compression. Process 4 is again, an isochoric process. Here,  The compressed air flows back through the regenerator and picks up heat on the way to the heated expansion space, completing the cycle. The Ericsson cycle again has four main processes. In Process 1, The compression space is assumed to be intercooled, so the gas undergoes isothermal compression. The compressed air flows into a storage tank at constant pressure. Process 2, is Isobaric heat addition. From the tank, the compressed air flows through the regenerator and picks up heat at a high constant-pressure on the way to the heated power-cylinder. In Process 3, The power-cylinder expansion-space is heated externally, and the gas undergoes isothermal expansion. Finally, Process 4 is Isobaric heat removal. Before the air is released as exhaust, it is passed back through the regenerator, thus cooling the gas at a low constant pressure, and heating the regenerator for the next cycle. Hence, We first saw what the Stirling cycle is and then went on to find out what the Ericsson Cycle is?
In the next episode of MechanicalEI find out what the Atkinson and the Brayton cycles are?

Attributions:

Doh De Oh by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100255
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Subtle Library by Fabian Measures (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Fabian_Measures/) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Fabian_Measures/Emotion_Music/Subtle_Library