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[Ian S C]

Ali, I'd have to think about that, but to get a piston to fit to the correct size (proberbly a bit less than a thousandth of an inch) would be difficult, you can't just bung a lump of glass in the lathe and turn it to size. The glass cylinders used are for the graphite pistons, they are for door closers (they might open the door too), think they are call "Airpot". There is a Japanese site that uses glass syringes, can't remember if the plunger is used as a piston, must have a look. I'm back, been for a wander through google, yes the glass plungers are used in the glass syringes as pistons, and the friction is not too bad. Ian S C

[Ian S C]

Ali, good to hear you are going to get building, I'v built a thermoacoustic motor, the cylinder is mild steel with a cast iron piston, the hot end is stainless steel, whith stainless steelwool. It has a bore of 3/4"and a stroke of 5/8", although I have a number of cranks I can fit from 3/8" to 1". I tried building a bigger one (maybe did'nt try hard enough), but it did not work, it had a bore of 1.25".
Just make your piston fit well, without leaks, and friction, you want it to run with no oil on the piston, it causes drag which will stop the motor going. Ian S C

[Ian S C]

Would it be too cheeky to ask for a free sample from Airpot, see the bit at the bottom R/H corner of the first page of their web site, might be worth a go, if you are in USA, they proberbly would not send outside the USA. Ian S C

[Ian S C]

Ali, the glass cylinder, and graphite piston is the cold section of the motor, On some motors a glass test tube is used for the displacer cylinder, the light weight metal (steel, or stainless) displacer works inside that, or in the thermoacoustic motor it gets packed with steel wool, preferably stainless. Ian S C

[bokerjony]

I work as a certified master mechanic with emphasis on diagnostics. Been doing that for about 20yrs, so I've picked up on some engineering and learned how to criticize some so-called engineers. Comes with the experience.tHANKS
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[Geoff V]

My name is Geoff Vaizey from Cambridge UK, my interests in Stirling cycle engines started in 1980 and over the years I have built several Se's and some hot air engines, most have been useless until recently. My desire has been to build an engine capable of doing usefull work, generating electricity or powering a small boat with low grade fuels. Over the years my designs have been hampered by mis-information, uncorroberated theories and ignorance on my part. Now retired, I conducted a number of simple experiments on past engines to try to discover where the theories fall down and have at last made good progress towards a usefull engine design.
The following link is a reasonably recent video of my current project.

http://youtu.be/TUFUR8lav6o

I look forward to helping members of the forum where ever possible.

[Ian S C]

Thats a great looking motor Geoff, What's the bore and stroke, and have you rigged some sort of dynometer to estimate the power out put. As Stirling Engined boats, there seems to be a small group who build them and sail them on the Thames, proberbly within a reasonable distance to you (maybe a bit far if your like me and ride a bike, with my engines on a trailer). Just don't expect a performance like Bluebird. Ian S C ps: as you see I wrote the above before looking through the whole film, seen it now, I'll look at pt 2 later. I'm on dial up, so loading takes a wee while. 'Fraid my motors are built down to a price (preferably zero or less), it does effect performance, and the looks arn't always the best, some of them have just grown, bits tacked on as I go. Ian S C

[Geoff V]

Ian
Thank you for your kind comments. The engine has a stroke of 31mm, displacer cyl bore 60mm, compression cyl bore 48mm giving a Lambda of 0.64. The video is of my test rig where the engine is driving a small propeller in a water tank which has been previously calibrated by an electric motor. The best output todate is 132watts at 1220rpm 520c and 3barg precharge. I am working towards 4barg precharge (10.2 bar peak, structural limit) and hope to see 165watts at 550c on air, He next?
The 'Thames' SE boating group are all good friends and I plan to join in with them this year as I'm currently installing the engine in a 5Mt motorised catamaran.
Geoff V

[ganuganu89]

hello everyone iam ganesh from india. Iam a mechanical engineering student, interested in making pulsejet engines, stirling engines and animation. Two years experience in making pulsejet engines but till date i have made only two stirling engines one using glass syringe and marble, the other one is thermoacoustic engines using water as piston. Now i have decided to make a stirling engine using cans and balloons. I need your help guys.

[jjohnson1]

hi im new here, thought i should probably post. i am currently working on a project for school, a small 3 inch diameter LTD engine. i am working in a "no ferrous metals" workshop so i am working with brass copper and nickle. and there's also no lathe, machine tools of any sort, just my hands, saw, torch, and a press and acid bath. should be a fun project and maybe it will even run :)

[fabian]

Hello

I was hoping to find a forum or blog about building Sterling Engines before I start building my first engine in case anything goes wrong. So here I am.

Will keep in touch.

Thanks.

[santu398]

hi any1?

[coldrunning2002]

Hello,
I am looking to build a air source heat pump for a domestic house that runs from gas.
I hope to use a Stirling engine to power the compressor in the heat pump, I need a Stirling engine that produces 1000W of electricity, 500W to power a standard refrigerator brushless compressor motor and some inverter electronics with a microprocessor. After a standard heat pump configuration I intend to use 500W of electricity to cascade the heat pump output using thermo electric Peltier cells in a special high C.O.P configuration.
I also intend to feed some of the exhaust gas from the Stirling engine to the heat pump cold condenser to improve efficiency.
I hope President Obama will sponsor my project.

[JohnH]

Hi

I am new to this forum, I have built several small stirling engines in gamma and beta configuration. However I'm trying to build an alpha stirling without any success.
Has anyone made a successful alpha and please they could share their design or post a pic or video of it on in gallery.

I have have heard of building one from a V twin compressor, does this work?

John H

[Ian S C]

Hi John,there's a photo or two of my ALPHA motor, a Ross Yoke type in my album. Would not recomend a compressor for a basis of a motor, although with a lot of moderfication it is possible.
Look at Geoff V's theads and his GV - 3c motor, this is a good one. Ian S C