Stirlingengineforum.com

Hello,

This is my new engine based on one I have built last year. I have modify it to make it pressurized and water-cooled.

Here is a video of the first tests and assembly.

[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTJvUXD8 ... ature=plcp[/BBvideo]

Very neat!!

what are you using for a shaft seal?

sam

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... xpgubUbAzE[/youtube]

Very impressive engine especially in regards to the truly extreme pressure ratio. A 50+ psi pressure difference in an engine that is only pressurized to a P_min of about 4 bar is exceptionally high for any engine. The fact that the hot cap was not red hot, the forced water cooling system was absent and there was a lot of added dead volume from the pressure gauge make it truly amazing.

IIRC the world record specific power for an air filled stirling engine is about 2 watts/cc per atmosphere. You may have broken that record already with an engine practically idling.

I would love to see the engine with a burner that will make a large portion of the hot cap bright red, the forced water cooling system back on, and a generator that is able to take the power and also over 80% efficient instead of the 30% to 50% of most small repurposed brushless motors.

Looks good, I'm going to make some suggestions, don't be too upset, they are my ideas. First, you only need a Heylandt Crown on the hot cylinder. Second, I would get rid of the fins, and replace them with water jackets. Little things like for example the con rods, you could loose a good bit of weight there. The connection between the cylinders could well be adapted to a regenerator chamber. If you have, or can get a look at Andy Ross's book, "Making Stirling Engines" (free on line) there's a bit about his V-15engine, and a lot of stuff about ALPHA motors in general. It would be worth building a second motor, with the modifications to compare them.
OnecycleDan 1990, The best you'll get , even from a purpose made generator, or alternator, in these small sizes is about 50% efficiency, it's not till you get well over a Kw that the efficiency starts to improove. proberbly the best efficiency would come from a brushless 3phase alternator, even then you loose .7 of a volt per diode if you rectify the AC current. Ian S C