Page 27 - Piston Engine-Based Power Plants
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20 Piston Engine-Based Power Plants
variety of sources. The main engine of this type for power generation
use is the Stirling engine. Stirling engines have been widely used in
solar power generation using heat collected using large solar dish
reflectors. They have also been developed for use in domestic
combined heat and power systems where natural gas is used to gener-
ate heat that drives a Stirling heat engine with additional heat from the
combustion process utilised for hot water and space heating. In
principle the engines can exploit heat energy from any source but the
applications where they offer a cost effective solution are limited.
