Parametric study of a free piston linear alternator

This work presents the modeling and simulation of a novel free piston linear alternator. The modeling consists of two parts, a thermodynamic model and dynamic model, and these are combined and solved by matlab/simulink. The effects of various intake pressures, moving masses, ignition positions, and resistance loads are studied. The simulation results show that the free piston motion is different from that of the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE). The free piston accelerates and decelerates more quickly at the end of the stroke and additionally, the top dead center is free and changes accordingly with the studied parameters. Thus, a high compression ratio can be easily achieved.