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Stirling Engines


Coytee

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Being one that likes mechanical things....  and likes to disassemble / assemble things...  this caught my eye.  I saw a reference to it on "How its made" or something like that (TV show).

 

They showed the engine alone....when I looked it up, saw the extras that you can do with it.

 

I'm half tempted to order this as a kit.  (I'd not buy the finished version as 99% of the fun is in putting it together) I'd love the assembly process.  It would however, probably gather some dust after being built.  Looks like you put denatured alcohol in a burner which activates the air pump ("engine").  Kind of cool seeing it work. 

 

https://www.boehm-stirling.com/shop/en/index

 

 

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Stirlings are amazing. I've researched quite a bit and have yet to determine why they are not used more. So much waste heat that could be put to use! Best I ever saw was at a nautical antique store in Singapore. There was an upright fan about 4 feet high with a piston. I couldn't figure it out as steam powered so I asked the guy. He brought a propane bottle with a torch head, lit it, and said "watch." He put it on the cylinder and the thing took off in a few seconds. He didn't hold the torch to it for more than a minute but it continued spinning for a long time. It was a ships fan from a hundred years ago and had been designed to operate on waste heat, of which an old steamer would have an ample supply.

I can only assume it is something about the materials required. They may well be inefficient as to the heat in and hp out, but that's irrelevant when operating on heat that would be wasted anyway...so it remains a mystery to me. No matter how much it costs to build, that one would have paid for itself LONG ago if in continuous use as it wasn't remotely worn and so would probably have merrily chugged on for decades to come.

Dave

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1 hour ago, Coytee said:

I think I even saw a solar powered version???

Of course. Can't beat free fuel and these things are highly efficient. That's why I can only assume it is materials cost or something else that prevents their common use. Wish I'd bought that one in Singapore. Probably could have had it for a hundred bucks, and it would have been both cool and USEFUL. 

If you find out why these things are not more commonly used I'd love to hear it. Hard to imagine anything more efficient than, say, putting one or more large Stirlings in mechanical contact with a hot nuclear reactor and converting the heat directly to mechanical energy.

Dave

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I bought my "Hot Air" engine in 1977 when I was teaching Math & Science to 5th graders. (made by Solar Engines in Arizona)

It still fascinates my 6 and 8 year old granddaughters.

 

@Mallette 

 

1 hour ago, Mallette said:

Of course. Can't beat free fuel and these things are highly efficient. That's why I can only assume it is materials cost or something else that prevents their common use. Wish I'd bought that one in Singapore. Probably could have had it for a hundred bucks, and it would have been both cool and USEFUL. 

If you find out why these things are not more commonly used I'd love to hear it. Hard to imagine anything more efficient than, say, putting one or more large Stirlings in mechanical contact with a hot nuclear reactor and converting the heat directly to mechanical energy.

Dave

 

The issue is low efficiency. In the 60% range I believe. I haven't read on this in years, not certain if there are other problems with the technology.

 

 

 

 

Solar Engines .jpg

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