Browsing by Autor "Luis A. Choque Campero"

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A Case Study of the Development Experience of Using a Prototype Stirling Engine in A Novel Bioenergy Driven Co-Generation Plant in Bolivia
(Taylor & Francis, 2023) Luis A. Choque Campero; Adhemar Araoz
The necessity for green technology to generate power in rural regions is becoming more widely recognized. Stirling engines have attracted a lot of interest in recent years due to their relative ease of maintenance and simple design. Practical experience from the operation and maintenance of the Stirling engine Genoa-01 in Bolivia is the subject of this case study. The project uses a trial-and-error approach to maintain the engine in order to find relevant lessons that may be used in training of power plant personnel based in locations with limited technical resources. Analysis of the information gathered during the study identified the main challenges to overcome for small, decentralized power technologies as supply chain of spare parts, technical capacities, and promotion of the technology.
Biomass-based Brayton-Stirling-AGMD polygeneration for small-scale applications in rural areas
(Elsevier BV, 2024) Luis A. Choque Campero; Wujun Wang; Evelyn Cardozo; Andrew R. Martin
The lack of access to electricity and clean water still affects a substantial proportion of rural areas worldwide, in particular the global south. This paper presents a sustainable polygeneration system that can provide electricity, heat, and drinking water by using agricultural residues in remote rural areas. This polygeneration system consists of a solid biomass-fueled Brayton-Stirling combined cycle system, a boiler, and an air-gap membrane distillation unit. Four different system operation modes were designed to examine the most ideal configurations for maximizing power output, overall efficiency, and/or clean water production, considering a polygeneration system designed for a rural village with daily demands of 13450 kWh electricity and 7.5 m3 drinking water. A thermodynamic analysis are employed to analyze and compare these modes, each operating under steady state conditions. The highest electricity output, up to 160 kW, while the highest clean water is up to 0.7 m3/h. The fuel consumption can reach 0.9 kWh/kg of solid fuel and provide up to 0.0045 m3 of freshwater. In addition, nonlinear multi-objective optimization is used to meet the power demands of typical day in rural areas by varying the polygeneration operation modes and turbine inlet temperature.
Decentralized biomass-based Brayton-Stirling power cycle with an air gap membrane distiller for supplying electricity, heat and clean water in rural areas
(Elsevier BV, 2024) Luis A. Choque Campero; Wujun Wang; Evelyn Cardozo; Andrew R. Martin
Ensuring access to essential services, such as clean water and electricity, is a key challenge for achieving sustainable development goals in rural areas. This study proposes a novel Brayton-Stirling combined cycle-based cogeneration system for utilizing locally available biomass waste to generate both electricity and clean water. The system employs an externally fired gas turbine, a Stirling engine, and an air–gap membrane distiller. Four operation modes—parallel-powered, fully-fired, straightforward, and by-pass—were modeled for their efficiency and output. Four operation modes can be switched by two three-way valves. Sunflower husk, identified as the most effective biomass source, enabled the system to achieve up to 160 kW of electricity and 0.7 m3/h of freshwater. The electrical and exergy efficiencies of the system peaked in the parallel-power mode, offering a practical solution for enhancing rural sustainability. Moreover, the by-pass mode maximized water production, highlighting its effectiveness in addressing water scarcity along with energy generation. Through a case study, the cogeneration system has demonstrated its capability in satisfying both rural electricity and water demands throughout the day by controlling the combination of different operation modes and parameters. Therefore, it provides a promising solution for advancing rural electrification and water purification in rural areas.
Performance Analysis of a Stirling Engine Hybrid Power System
(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2020) Pablo Jimenez Zabalaga; Evelyn Cardozo; Luis A. Choque Campero; Joseph Adhemar Araoz Ramos
The Bolivian government’s concerns that are related to reducing the consumption of diesel fuel, which is imported, subsidized, and provided to isolated electric plants in rural communities, have led to the implementation of hybrid power systems. Therefore, this article presents the performance analysis in terms of energy efficiency, economic feasibility, and environmental sustainability of a photovoltaic (PV)/Stirling battery system. The analysis includes the dynamic start-up and cooling phases of the system, and then compares its performance with a hybrid photovoltaic (PV)/diesel/battery system, whose configuration is usually more common. Both systems were initially optimized in size using the well-known energy optimization software tool, HOMER. An estimated demand for a hypothetical case study of electrification for a rural village of 102 households, called “Tacuaral de Mattos”, was also considered. However, since the characteristics of the proposed systems required a detailed analysis of its dynamics, a dynamic model that complemented the HOMER analysis was developed using MATLAB Simulink TM 8.9. The results showed that the PV/Stirling battery system represented a higher performance option to implement in the electrification project, due to its good environmental sustainability (69% savings in CO2 emissions), economic criterion (11% savings in annualized total cost), and energy efficiency (5% savings in fuel energy conversion).
Thermodynamic and exergetic analyses of a biomass-fired Brayton-Stirling cogeneration cycle for decentralized, rural applications
(Elsevier BV, 2023) Luis A. Choque Campero; Wujun Wang; Andrew Martin
Access to electricity in many remote rural areas of the world is wanting and often relies on decentralized concepts that are environmentally detrimental, costly, and unreliable. The purpose of this study was to examine an approach to meet this need that is based on an external biomass-fueled cogeneration system incorporating combined cycles for maximizing efficiency while ensuring robust operation. Specifically, the first and second laws of thermodynamics were analyzed in a system composed of a Brayton-Stirling cycle and a water boiler to compare efficiency, heat and electricity generation under three different power layouts of cogeneration for applications in the range of 100–200 kW electrical power output. The results show that overall efficiency is maximized at 85% with a hybrid power layout for cases where the turbine inlet temperature is 1273 K, the pressure ratio is 0.4, the regenerator effectiveness is 0.95, and the dead volume of the Stirling engine is 0.3. These findings provide a basis for implementing cogeneration systems to improve the reliability and robustness of power systems for rural electrification.