Micro Combined Heat and Power (CHP)

I've had an interest for a number of years in the field known as Micro Combined Heat and Power, or more simply, micro CHP. I would add a 'B' to the end representing biochar as a byproduct from a well engineered system. I had an idea for a TLUD micro CHP system using a large 'Navigator Burner' combined with a free piston Stirling Engine (SE) for bioelectricity. The most commonly used Stirling Engines for domestic micro CHP seem to be produced by microgen https://www.microgen-engine.com/

I did some research into a range of free piston Stirling Engines and found that less than 1.0kW output seems to have more engineering problems, with most of the low powered models relegated to academic research and the space industry. I should mention that there are a range of SE platforms to choose from as well as 'Free piston' eg.TASE.

It's an interesting field of research which I recommend having a look at. If you're really keen and can afford a conference, here's the cutting edge of SE R&D: https://21isec.sciencesconf.org/

Here are some specs for the Microgen Engine Corporation (MEC) 1.0kW 'Free piston' Stirling Engine:

• economic at 1.0kW output
• starter kits available
• almost definitely used in the BioGS-1.0 micro CHP system
• almost definitely used in the Oekofen domestic micro CHP system

A little bit more information:
BioGS-1.0
https://www.kiratechnology.com/

• biomass to power a downdraft gasifier->burner->heat + 'Free piston' SE->bioelectricity and top notch Biochar byproduct (for single purpose applications eg. electrodes or Carbon Removal in a Cascade of uses (CRCU))
• could be used as a model for larger microCHP systems
• no external power needed...it can power its own augur plus excess for batteries
• claims >95% overall efficiency but I struggle to believe this due to the ~25% efficient MEC SE probably used in their system

https://www.oekofen.com/en-gb/pellet-heating/

It seems the smoothest biomass material flow is using downdraft gasifier systems but there's definitely an engineering space for using batch mode TLUDs eg.a 4" Navigator Burner which I got an ~2h burn time on with 1kg of wood pellets (see 'Navigator Kitchen (NK) 2026' page), especially for smaller off-grid jobs eg. using the microCHP to charge a solar generator (when the sun aint shining) with heat used to heat an insulated hot water tank when hot water is needed (which may not be 24/7).

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