Review on the technological advancement of Stirling cycle heat pumps

This review paper provides a detailed examination of the technological developments in Stirling cycle heat pumps, highlighting their development, advances, and possible applications. Stirling cycle devices can operate as a heat engine, a heat pump, and a refrigeration system. Stirling heat pumps and refrigeration are the reverse processes of Stirling engines. Additionally, this study provides an outline of the Stirling heat pump machine and the findings that have been conducted in this field. The review starts with an overview of the general working principles, configurations, and drive mechanisms, as well as research results on the heat pump application. In addition, the current research addresses and highlights several modeling and optimization strategies for enhancing the Stirling cycle heat pump’s performance for different classifications of Stirling heat pumps.