Stirlingengineforum.com

EDIT: I meant potentially over 4psi.. as the can shot up with speed. I know, I need to get more scientific with experiments at this point. With a compression ratio of 1.1:1, and a delta t of no more than 170 degrees, the piston with an area of .34sqin was able to lift one pound of weight. That means...

Here is some theory on my new housing design. I now believe that the ideal displacer should neither be hot or cold. It should essentially be highly insulative and inert and function simply to shuttle the gas back and forth while blocking the hot end while at rest. I was thinking about thermal conduc...

A heat engine though, does not, or apparently, or theoretically, does not necessarily run on energy but rather on contraction and expansion of the elements. I think this sums it up well. We are driving a piston after all, and all the piston cares about is PSI. To make heat "energy" do wor...

This is not true for the acrylic top engine I have. The acrylic is basically an insulator so holds in the heat, so the displacer does not need to cover the cold side to prevent heat loss and at times the displacer only makes a very slight lift off the hot bottom plate. Indeed, I think this may be t...

I thought I would share this with the forum. It's a 300kw-multi megawatt Stirling engine developed by China, with a claimed 40 percent efficiency. Pretty incredible feat of engineering I'd say. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202112/1243157.shtml?fbclid=IwAR0YV4cDLzNWXphexv_25ARUpkFmgsAtF2DDZCga5NFP...

And just for reference, this is the same weight on a completely cold engine to show the baseline air spring effect.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yLskVKkxjec8h2Qz9

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I'm still not sure, this little engine has become an obsession. I have gone through half a dozen wildly varying cam designs, as well as different displacers. For the displacer, I've found the stock foam piece is best, with the addition of my top foam piece with the cyl...

I was just about to post this when I read your response Tom. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Cylinder-pressure-versus-crank-angle-at-full-load_fig4_328074542 I believe you are correct. Above is a chart of diesel cylinder pressure v. crank angle. Most of the cycle is within 50 degrees and the com...

There's one amazing site which not only provides simulated animation of Stirling engines but also calculator for engine specs: Here's the engine calculator for gamma type: Thank you I may play around with this but all the numbers make my head spin. It would be interesting to make real world adjustm...

I've just ordered the exact same model for side by side testing, maybe I can have them lift a weight with a pulley and string. I want to be sure I'm not getting high on my own supply here. I couldn't get the stock engine to turn the gear after a few attempts but it could have been a fluke. Either wa...

I agree Tom, this is just for now. I plan to use the extra heat of the system to do more work. Just have to get around to the hardest part of making a new crank shaft and crank support stand. It will have a single support in the center to allow for easy stroke adjustments and cam changes. I hope to ...

Your video does raise some significant questions Tom. My engine with screws and metal top plate will quickly heat soak even on a rapidly cooling cup of coffee. We waste energy on ICE motors to run water pumps and fans, so even if the expansive cooling phase is a slight "waste" of energy, t...

Tom, I am starting to think as you do, in that the cold side may not be necessary for cooling the air in a theoretical perfectly insulated engine, that ALSO has enough working volume to start into expansive cooling before compression. I think the main reason the cooling jacket is needed is to preven...

Bumkin, sounds like an interesting project. You should definitely start a thread about it. I'm curious how you construct the rolling seal. I think that may be the way to go for a large scale easy to assemble engine. I have decided that in the interest of saving time, instead of engineering a complet...

Agreed Tom. There is not enough working volume to utilize the hot air. A problem I am happy to have instead of the opposite.