Make a Stirling Engine
Make A Stirling Engine
Make your own demonstration Stirling Engine
educationA
Stirling Engine is an extremely efficient device at extracting energy from heat differences (i.e. one side hot and one side cold) and it can be run from any fuel or energy source from the sun, to a candle, or from burning wood to the heat from your hand. Best of all, it is surprisingly simple to make a
working model stirling engine from readily accessible free or cheaply available parts and without expensive tools. Below are a list of links to some of the better free stirling engine plans available online.
Stirling Engine Plans
SFA Stirling Engine Project
Easy to Build Stirling Engine
Build a Can Stirling Engine
Buy a Stirling Engine
If you don't have the time, or if you feel you do not have the necessary skills to build a
Stirling engine, it is possible to buy complete stirling engines and also high quality
stirling engine kits relatively inexensively.
Article Last Modified: 16:37, 6th Apr 2010Comment on this Article
If you have any comments on this article, please email them to
neil@reuk.co.uk.
I think you will find much better instructions here Stirling Builder. They also have a book available now that has instructions on LTD Stirling Engines you can build without a machine shop.
Josh
21st June 2010
I would like to correct you on one point.
You state that a Stirling engine is an extremely efficient device at extracting energy from heat differences.
This is very misleading to most non technically minded people. Stirling engines apart from huge extremely expensive ones
using compresssed helium as the operating gas, are in fact very inefficient, and most of the model ones are more like 1%
of the efficiency of a similar sized internal combustion engine... i.e. so inefficient that they have to be made very free
in their bearings etc, just so they can run at all.
Dave
August 5th 2009
Don't be misled by Dave. Efficiency is the amount of energy out, divided by the amount of energy input, to a system. The amount of energy useable is directly proportional to the temperature difference across the motor, top and bottom in this case. You have very little temperature difference in most of these motors shown on the internet. Also you are only using the temperature difference; internal combustion engines also use the chemical energy of the fuel that you don't have. The amount of energy that internal combustion engines waste is many many times what you have available.
Chris
September 7th 2009 |
Recommended Related Articles
People who read this article also enjoyed the following articles:
Stirling Engine Solar PowerGenerate electricity from a solar powered Stirling Engine
Article Last Modified: 16:33, 6th Apr 2010solarBuild a Concentrated Solar Water HeaterPlans for building a cheap advanced solar water heating system
Article Last Modified: 07:54, 8th Apr 2010heating | solar | waterSimple Solar Tracker ConceptMake a very simple sun tracker to maximise electricity generation from a PV solar panel
Article Last Modified: 10:37, 9th Feb 2008solar | electric circuit | generalSolar TrackerSet up solar panels to track the motion of the sun across the sky to maximise power output
Article Last Modified: 10:37, 9th Feb 2008solar | electronicsPVC Wind Turbine BladesLearn how to make your own PVC wind turbine blades
Article Last Modified: 15:16, 19th Aug 2008windDIY 2kW Wind TurbineRead about a home built 2kW wind turbine constructed from scrap
Article Last Modified: 08:46, 4th Oct 2007wind | recyclingConcentrated Solar PowerFind out about CSP - an alternative to PV solar panels and oil
Article Last Modified: 11:47, 8th Jan 2007solarPermanent Magnet GeneratorBuild a wind or water power system with around a PM Generator
Article Last Modified: 16:43, 6th Apr 2010wind | hydroGrid Tie InvertersFind out more about Grid Tie Inverters - connect your RE system to the grid
Article Last Modified: 16:36, 2nd Jan 2007general | wind | solar | electronicsSimple Solar Water HeatingMake a simple solar water heater with easy to find materials
Article Last Modified: 13:17, 30th Jun 2008heating | solar | water
|
|
|
