Stirlingengineforum.com

I am going to start my first tin can engine & go by the book, I had a few idea's/questions for down the road after I get 1 done.

#1 does the hole in the piston cylinder into the dispacer cylinder have to be small like that to keep pressure or could the entire 1" be cut out as long as there is no leaks to improve efficientcy?

#2 would the engine still operate if it where inverted so the heat was on top & the cold on the bottom as heat rises & this would give you a greater temperature difference that would be easier to maintain.

Also If you shorten & widen the dispaler cylinder keeping the same volume & match the piston stroke to it would the rpm's increase?

After reading here the last few days it reminds me of when I started reading on windmills, it gets addicting..

Nice Forum

Devin

Hi Devin,

#1 does the hole in the piston cylinder into the dispacer cylinder have to be small like that to keep pressure or could the entire 1" be cut out as long as there is no leaks to improve efficientcy?

I found if it is too small it will give you problems. You will loose power. A little larger is OK, but too large and the same thing happens. Not sure why it is for a larger hole. Some say it causes turblance in the air and that is good. I don't know why.

#2 would the engine still operate if it where inverted so the heat was on top & the cold on the bottom as heat rises & this would give you a greater temperature difference that would be easier to maintain.

Yes I would think so. Doesn't matter on wich side the heat is placed but.......keep in mind the heat is murder to that "seal bearing" where the displacer rod comes out. If you look at my Horizontal engine I have that problem. You have to keep oiling it all the time and it burns the oil away. I guess you could "flip" the entire thing. Then it would be hard to get heat to the top of the engine efficiently.

Also If you shorten & widen the dispaler cylinder keeping the same volume & match the piston stroke to it would the rpm's increase?

Maybe. I do a lot of "Hit N Miss" antique engines also. We are always trying to see how slow we can make them run and still keep going. It seems like Stirling engines everyone wants to go faster.
Keep in mind this is a demo engine with a "Walking Beam". It won't go too fast!

After reading here the last few days it reminds me of when I started reading on windmills, it gets addicting..

You got that right!

DB

Thanks DB

After reading here on the popular Mechanics stirling engine I got my wife to dig out the old set from 1968 we bought then years ago at a yard sale. It has a real neat steam engine & some kind of roatary 6 cylinder engine with 5 moving parts called the incredible elbow engine. No stirlings though.

On another note having a heck of a time getting the lid off my Raid can for the displacer cylinder.

Devo