TY - JOUR
TI - A critical parametric investigation of a solar dish concentrator integrated with a stirling power engine
AU - Korres Dimitrios N
AU - Sammoutos Christos
AU - Lykas Panagiotis
AU - Pavlović Saša R
AU - Perić Marko S
AU - Tzivanidis Christos
AU - Bellos Evangelos A
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2026
VL - 30
IS - 2
SP - 1613
EP - 1625
PT - Article
AB - In this work, a novel solar parabolic dish collector with an integrated  rhombic Stirling engine is investigated. The collector is studied in  steady-state conditions for several different operating cases, while an  analytical solution is developed for calculating the useful power output as  a function of the receiver’s temperature. The results are successfully  verified via a numerical model developed in SolidWorks software, resulting  in deviations lower than 5.3%. Subsequently, the verified analytical  solution is used for conducting a parametric study in which the aperture  diameter of the dish is modified, considering a receiver temperature range  from 300 to 600oC. The collector’s thermal efficiency is calculated for each  operating case. Moreover, the mechanical efficiency of the Stirling engine  is calculated via a developed model. The overall efficiency is then  calculated, and the optimum operating point in each diameter case is  revealed. The maximum overall efficiency considering a reflector’s outer  diameter of 1.2 m is calculated at 38.71%, whereas it is determined at  41.51% for a diameter of 1.4 m. Finally, it is found that the greater the  diameter, the higher the optimum efficiency and the receiver temperature at  which the optimum efficiency is achieved.
DO - 10.2298/TSCI250707200K
ER -