Bekaert regenerator material

Discussion on Stirling or "hot air" engines (all types)
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Blaf
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:50 am

Bekaert regenerator material

Post by Blaf »

Hi,
i just found this. The company is producing a material intended to use as a regenerator in stirling engines.
https://www.bekaert.com/en/products/aut ... -materials

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Y0TMsSr9o[/youtube]

Does anyone have any experience with it? Would you like to share how big is the effective difference compared to commonly used steel wool/mesh?
Ian S C
Posts: 2218
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 5:15 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Bekaert regenerator material

Post by Ian S C »

No experience with this stuff. The best material I'v heard of is stainless steel foil, properly prepared this is better than gauze, wire or steel wool.
Ian S C
Trevor
Posts: 228
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2016 4:07 am

Re: Bekaert regenerator material

Post by Trevor »

Looks very interesting. I would think this would be good for LTD engines if the product is lightweight.
Nice find Blaf - Trev
Ian S C
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Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 5:15 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Bekaert regenerator material

Post by Ian S C »

It's probably quite expensive Too.
Ian S C
Blaf
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:50 am

Re: Bekaert regenerator material

Post by Blaf »

It looks like it could be expensive, true. Maybe it would be worth asking if they are willing to send free sample :)
Ian S C
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Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 5:15 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Bekaert regenerator material

Post by Ian S C »

Basicly these thing are similar to Oilite sintered bronze/iron bearing bushes without the oil, maybe a little less dense. Btaf, worth a try.
Ian S C
Blaf
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:50 am

Re: Bekaert regenerator material

Post by Blaf »

Unfortunately i don't have any project right now for which i could use it :( I just found it interesting and wanted to share this finding.

Btw, how is this connected to bearing bush? Am i missing something? :)
Ian S C
Posts: 2218
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 5:15 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Bekaert regenerator material

Post by Ian S C »

It's similar to the bearing bush in that it is porous, and formed together by squashing it together under heat if sintered. When Whispertech were developing the WhisperGen they even tried using automotive catalytic convers as regenerators(they didn't work too well).
Ian S C
Blaf
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:50 am

Re: Bekaert regenerator material

Post by Blaf »

I see. Yes, the construction might be quite similar.

Catalytic converter sounds like a nice low cost regenerator alternative. But do they have at least some regenerating effect?
Ian S C
Posts: 2218
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 5:15 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Bekaert regenerator material

Post by Ian S C »

Dr Clucas of Whispergen didn't think that they had much use as regenerators in Stirling Engines, I think they ended up using a matrix of stainless steel wire, but after they lost the research lab in Christchurch NZ in the earth quake we had 7 years ago I lost touch with them, they may even have gone to something like the Bekaert regenerator material. As far as the Catalitic Converters go, I asked about there use,(I didn't know they had tried them), and was shown shelves of them, probably over 100, the fuel in NZ in those days was not compatible with the use of the C converters, so they were readily available
Ian S C
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