Stirlingengineforum.com

Check out this hot air engine..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xmf_s_5Ev0[/youtube]

Although it looks complicated at first glance, its actually a very simple design.

vamoose

Its an LTD using hot and cold water? Pretty weak and slow. A nice radial mobile.

wouldn't it be more efficient if it was a stationary 5 cylinder alpha? The engine wouldn't have to turn its entire mass and the hot side wouldn't have to lose all its heat each cycle. Its probably just a piece of art.

fullofhotair wrote:wouldn't it be more efficient if....

Hahaha

OK ...not to make fun of the engine, however I cant resist a little poke here.
As a Painting Contractor Ive done this thousands of times. Finish it off fluffed out, and its ready to go again immediately or hang to dry and the roller cover will last almost forever if the core is a good quality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtWtoaFD84o

Now if the water used in the Stirling video was merely shot thru the hose at it, the power increase would be er uh "more efficient" Hahahahaha

Amazing the lengths we Stirling guys will go at times getting caught up in the mere dynamics forgetting the practicality(me included).

I remember talking about a rotary Stirling here a few months back. I still think a common/shared hot end would work great. I sure don't have the machining ability to even begin to make this work, but maybe a crude 4 cylinder isn't out of the question. "Borrowing" the crank ideas from old plane engines might be a good start.

I couldn't get the video to run smoothly for me, crap net link, but I got the idea. I agree that turning the entire mass is a waste.

R

Theropod2,
I was thinking of that thread also , after seeing this engine. As I remember, the big problem was were do you grab the output from? The center is where all rotary engines put the perpendicular axil. When you place your central heat pipe there, it makes it complicated to replace that central axil for directing output. Things get in each others way.

Hubert Stierhoff design originally. His website offline actually, but some design on the google yet. His idea was a high torque air engine for sun. That engine's had 3 or 4 segments from can and the piston was a diaphragm. I think it is a high quality replication, not a new invention. But the torque is great and the water is better for this engine. For sun should be flat containers with tempered glass front and black inside wall. I started few years ago to built one, but I not finished it yet... (Yep, I'm a lazy bastard)

Bladeattila,
Why would you want to turn the whole engine ? Why not have connecting rods turn a flywheel in the center ?

Because that is so complicated. Here we haven't got any displacer in the cilinder. But my opinion is a flat cilinder much more effective.
The heat exchange could be faster also the engine.
Anyway: How you can solve your ideal displacer here segment by segment?