Search found 54 matches

by Hopper
Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:28 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Stirling engine as college project
Replies: 29
Views: 18532

Re: Stirling engine as college project

Take a look here: http://diystirlingengine.com/stirling-engine-plans/ Not much plans about for alphas though. As far as ratios etc go, a standard rule of thumb is that the swept volume of the displacer piston should be about 1.5 times that of the power piston. Bore and stroke should be about equal. ...
by Hopper
Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:37 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Stirling engine as college project
Replies: 29
Views: 18532

Re: Stirling engine as college project

The type of engine in the animation is an Alpha Stirling engine. Plans for them are hard to find. You should base your design on an existing model, or at least look at a few existing models to get an idea of the basic design principles. Here are some starting points: Jan Ridders' wonderful site. He ...
by Hopper
Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:23 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Philips Stirling Bus and Boat Video!! (and other stuff)
Replies: 7
Views: 5334

Re: Philips Stirling Bus and Boat Video!! (and other stuff)

Hopper, I don't know about the LOX cooling the cold end, the main reason for it is to burn the diesel used to heat the hot end, on the Gotland subs, it gives them about 3 weeks under water. One of the Swedish boats was on loan(?) ot the US, I think they are looking at a cheaper replacement for thei...
by Hopper
Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:21 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Kockums Gotland Class, Stirling Powered Submarines
Replies: 4
Views: 8904

Re: Kockums Gotland Class, Stirling Powered Submarines

Vamoose, Yes I had a job for a while writing the maintenance manuals for the Collins. Got to crawl all over the boats and look at pretty much anything I wanted except the classified weapons and sonar/radar systems etc. It was very interesting. I worked mostly on the propulsion system and refrigerati...
by Hopper
Tue Mar 05, 2013 9:47 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Kockums Gotland Class, Stirling Powered Submarines
Replies: 4
Views: 8904

Re: Kockums Gotland Class, Stirling Powered Submarines

More good stuff. The last SESUSA brochure link gives a pretty good overview and of the Stirling system on board. and the same modular building system used on the Aussie Collins versions. The plan was at one stage to retrofit the Stirlings to existing Collins subs by putting them up in the shed on th...
by Hopper
Tue Mar 05, 2013 9:29 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Philips Stirling Bus and Boat Video!! (and other stuff)
Replies: 7
Views: 5334

Re: Philips Stirling Bus and Boat Video!! (and other stuff)

That's cool. They were getting ready to put Kockums stirling engines in the Australian Collins class submarines when I worked at the boatyard where they were built. I think they were supposed to run partially on liquid oxygen that cooled the cold end as it was expanded into a gas. I never knew until...
by Hopper
Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:14 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Piston Help
Replies: 2
Views: 2483

Re: Piston Help

Maybe. here is what master stirling builder Jan Ridders says about glass tube: "The tolerance of the inner diameter of the tube in what the working piston is running must be fairly small: +/- 0.03mm or smaller; most common test tubes don’t fulfill this requirement. You can find suppliers for th...
by Hopper
Mon Mar 04, 2013 5:47 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. Help!
Replies: 91
Views: 46637

Re: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. H

Lol, yea all 50-65 rpms worth! It's not the best by any means but man I got to tell you, it has came along way! Thank you Hopper. I am using an iPhone to upload my video to YouTube but the thing is it keeps saying it could t be uploaded. When I try to upload the vid strait to here, my browser gets ...
by Hopper
Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:54 am
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. Help!
Replies: 91
Views: 46637

Re: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. H

Insainhouserecords wrote:I got it!! It works! Omg! I was like, damn. I must have spun it hard... Wait.. Wait.. Oh god! Get me that camera! It works!!!
Cool! Congratulations!!! You did it!!!!!
Got video of the beast in action?

Have fun.
by Hopper
Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:47 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. Help!
Replies: 91
Views: 46637

Re: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. H

Hmm, I didn't know it was actually that finicky. I figured the measurements would be slightly different. So, basically I just took two tin cans and attached a 90' PVC almost at the very top of one. Then I made my displacer 2 1/2 inches thick because the inside of the can to the top of the PVC pipe ...
by Hopper
Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:37 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. Help!
Replies: 91
Views: 46637

Re: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. H

Heres a video that explains how the displacer works better than I can explain it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRN5o9qVL8w
In your case the power cylinder is directly connected to the can with no small tube but it all works the same.
by Hopper
Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:23 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. Help!
Replies: 91
Views: 46637

Re: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. H

Thank for the info, I was thinking maybe my displacer had too much loose room and was letting the air pass by without this cycle taking effect. I was thinking piston but I guess that why its called a displacer. I was going to even try a solid arm displacer but its more complex for sure. So, Are you...
by Hopper
Sat Mar 02, 2013 8:47 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. Help!
Replies: 91
Views: 46637

Re: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. H

Should the diaphragm only swell when the displacer falls down or when its pulled up? What causes the diaphragm to swell upwards is the expansion of the air trapped inside the can when it is heated up by the burner or candle. The displacer itself does not make any direct difference to the air pressu...
by Hopper
Fri Mar 01, 2013 12:10 am
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. Help!
Replies: 91
Views: 46637

Re: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. H

Insainhouserecords wrote:Thanks man. I'm going to try again tomorrow using some of these figures. Hopefully things will workout!
You'll get there. It just takes patience
by Hopper
Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:11 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. Help!
Replies: 91
Views: 46637

Re: Sterling(beta) refuses to work at all after 7 builds.. H

PS If you are building an engine with the small diaphragm off to the side from Scrap To Power, did you see this template: https://037b0921-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/reukpower/pdf-downloads/Quick%20And%20Easy.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7cpMiqyaoxIen2LXorwv_-iJU1QdQ8l_TF8kU84g0Za__5YMogYdmv2QmS...