Coal-Fired Stirling Engines for Railway Locomotive and Stationary Power Applications

Abstract

Increase in the price of oil has stimulated interest in coal-burning engines including the Stirling engines. Applications for large (> 1 MW) coal-burning Stirling engines are foreseen for marine propulsion, stationary power, railway locomotive and the heavy off-highway rubber-tyred equipment used in mining, agriculture, construction and forestry. This paper is directed principally to speculations about large coal-fired Stirling air engines with water lubrication for railway locomotive application, but similar philosophy is applicable in the other applications for large slow running engines. A brief discussion is included about mechanical arrangements and the use of air as a working fluid with water as the lubricant in Stirling engines combined with fluidized bed coal combustors and sodium vapour heat transport systems. The possibilities for railway locomotive application are explored in terms of a large unit designed from the start to utilize Stirling engines and the conversion of existing steam locomotives. Related studies have considered the conversion of diesel-electric locomotives and the designing of a free-piston Stirling engine hydrostatic drive yard locomotive.