Stirlingengineforum.com

Dubbing a thermal device of some sort as being Stirling does Not make it a Stirling engine which is a unique design of a closed volume of gas (a generic term) such as air, helium, hydrogen, or one having the right thermal properties. One portion of the Stirling engine is heated externally to as high...

Start a new Walking Beam engine using two #10 cans that are used by restaurants and food services. Cut the bottom out of one can and solder it to the top of the second can to make a large displacer cylinder. Either a water jacket will have to be made or copper tubing soldered to the upper can to pro...

Building a working Stirling engine from a 55 gal. drum is a very difficult proposition as you run into the problems of scale. A simple tin can (food container) is easy and almost anything within reason will work. When scaling up liner dimensions increase linearly, areas increase by the square of the...

A potential source of rigid plastic to make an LTD Displacer Cylinder is to be found in the housewares/kitchenwares section of department stores and the large sprawlmart stores. Look for the vertical storage jars with a clamp down sealable top. Select the appropriate size and cut to length on a band...

When you bring the engine up to dead center and hold it in that position, how long does it take for the pressure to dissapate and the blade stay there? If it takes more that 10 seconds the engine is most likely too air tight. First be sure there are NO leaks anywhere in, on, or about any part of the...

The purpose of the displacer piston is to move the air from the hot side to the cool side. In order to do so efficiently it, in and of itself, must be air tight, i.e. no leaks can be tolerated. A metal can with the rod secured at each end with one through a packing gland, a piece of foam material, o...

Whether the flywheel in question is a flat disc or a spoked heavy rim it is the "Moment of Inertia" that matters. A thin flat disc has a low value and take the same amount of material and reform or reshape it to a spoked rim design and the Moment of Inertia increases dramatically! stanhbaker

Follows is a link to a video that shows what appears to be a Ross Yoke mechanism or mechanical movement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3rsqLEzNv0

Courtesy of "teemu.hayrinen' of GB.

stanhbaker

List:
There are quite a few Stirling engines on YouTube.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBeZn2AQfbY>
Even one with a liquid piston! A must see.
stanhbaker

As usual "it depends." For an LTD pancake displacer Stephan is right, offset from center, but not too far. For other configurations make the passageway as short as possible and large enough but not too large. Say about 25% of piston diameter. The passageway is "dead space" that c...

FYI: The book "How I Built a 5 HP Stirling Engine" is due out imminently, target date in December. They are taking advance orders. This engine was not built from "scrap" as far as I could tell from an earlier copy of the manuscript and photos which I had an opportunity to examine...

A relatively new web site has a lot of information of interest to model builders of Stirling and Hot Air Engine. He has a simplified valving arrangement for Flame Licker engines which eliminates any fancy cams, linkages and levers. The owner, Jan Ridders is a first class model maker. His site is at:...

The Stirling Engine Society USA at <SESUSA.org> has made the following information availabe to anyone interested and willing to spend the necessary time and effort to produce a useful SE.

stanhbaker

Lee White of SESUSA has prepared an excellend primer on the basic of Stirling engines suitable for newcomers as an introduction and to all others as remider of the basics.

http://www.sesusa.org/StirlingPrimer.htm

stanhbaker

This battery charger was designed for NASA/ARMY Charges 6 AA batteries in 15 minutes and weighs ONLY 50# http://www.oanow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=OAN/MGArticle/OAN_BasicArticle&c =MGArticle&cid=1149190163501 Cut and past link into browser window or better yet into "WORD" for...