Rolling thunder - integration of the SOLO 161 Stirling engine with the CPG-460 solar concentrator at Ft. Huachuca

Abstract
Project "Rolling Thunder" is a dish/Stirling demonstration project at Ft. Huachuca, an U.S. Army fort in southeastern Arizona. (Huachuca means "rolling thunder" in Apache.) It has been supported by the Department of Defense (DoD) Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). As part of a 1992 SERDP project, Cummins Power Generation, Inc. (CPG) installed a CPG 7-kW_e dish/Stirling system at the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) in Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. The primary objective of the SERDP "Dish/Stirling for DoD Applications" project was to demonstrate a CPG 7-kW_e dish/Stirling system at a military facility. Unfortunately, Cummins Engine Company decided to divest its solar operations. However, as a direct result of Ft. Huachuca's interest in the Cummins dish/Stirling technology, Sandia retrofit a SOLO 161 Stirling engine on the CPG-460 at Ft. Huachuca. Project "Rolling Thunder - The SOLO 161 Demonstration at Ft. Huachuca" has been a challenge. Although, the SOLO 161 PCU has operated nearly flawlessly and the CPG-460 has been, for the most part, a solid and reliable component, integration of the SOLO PCU with the CPG-460 into a functional system has required significant attention. In this paper, the integration issues and technical approaches of project "Rolling Thunder" are presented. Lessons of the project are also discussed.