Free Piston Stirling Engine

[blairmc]

Does anyone know of good references on the web regarding free piston Stirling engines?

How does one determine the size of the bounce cavity and the mass of the displacer?

I am interested in a linear alternator so that the entire engine is encased and therefore the internal pressure can be high.

Thanks

[Ian S C]

I have a free piston motor with a linear alternator. My first attempt was a coaxial design but I had problems controlling thr stroke of he displacer, and it knocked thwe end out of the hot end, my second go was one with parallel cylinders, and that was a bit easier to control. The alternator consists of a magnet from the magnetron out of a microwave oven attached to the power piston. The coils are 4 little transformers, I removed the laminations, then replaced the Es only, all facing the same way(normally alternately placedwith the I on the open end). These are conected in series, and fed to a diode so that I get a DC current. On a good day it will power a 3V radio. Its not what your looking for, but it can be done, this one has springs, I imagine yours with gas springs rather than wire ones. Ian S C