Stirling engine is an external combustion engine, whose efficiency approaches that of Carnot engine with the help of a regenerator. The regenerator is a heat exchanger composed of porous medium, whose performance is dependent on the pore structure. Three types of pore structures are considered in the present study. They are wire screen, random wire and composite structure, i.e. a combination of wire screens with different hydraulic diameters. The porosity more highly affects the performance of a regenerator compared to the hydraulic diameter. The random wire can yield high effectiveness even at a high porosity. The composite mesh gives better performance when the hydraulic diameter decreases in the direction from hot side to cold side.